Psalms 8
1 For the end, for the wine presses, a Psalm by David
2 O Lord our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth,
because your majesty has been lifted up far above heaven.
3 From the mouth of infants and nursing babies you prepared praise for yourself for the sake of your enemies;
to destroy enemy and avenger.
4 Because I will see heaven, the works of your fingers,
the moon and stars, which you founded.
5 What is man, that you remember him
or the son of man, that you are concerned about him?
6 You made him lower than the angels for a little while,
You crowned him with glory and honor.
7 And you appointed him over the works of your hands,
You subjected all things under his feet,
8 All sheep and cattle,
and furthermore, the animals of the plain,
9 The birds of heaven and the fish of the sea,
the things passing through the paths of the sea.
10 O Lord our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth.
(My Translation, LXX)
This Psalm is one that stands high. It is a Psalm to God for what God has done. The Psalmist marvels at what God has made as he looks up into the sky. It is much quoted and alluded to in the New Testament, which is where we will spend most of our time today.
When I was a kid growing up in the ’80s, one of the youth choir songs that we sang was based upon this Psalm. It was a praise song written by Michael W. Smith. That song was so popular, it is still sung today in churches. So, every time I read this Psalm, I think of singing that song.
Besides being a Psalm that’s recognized because of a song was written about it, it will also be recognized by those who read the New Testament. As I stated in the last message, the heading Εἰς τὸ τέλος (for the end) may indicate the Psalm is eschatological in nature. Remember, eschatology begins with Jesus.
With that said, we must look at “HOW” this Psalm was quoted in the New Testament.
The first part of verse 2 is directly quoted by Jesus in its Greek (LXX) form in Matthew 21:16. Here are the comparisons.
Psa. 8:3 ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον (LXX)
Psa. 8:3 From the mouth of infants and nursing babies you prepared praise for yourself
Mt 21:16d ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον
Mt 21:16d From the mouth of infants and nursing babies you prepared praise for yourself
You can see that this is an exact quote from the LXX. The “for yourself” is the nuance of the 2nd Person Aorist Middle verb κατηρτίσω.
But in what context was this used in Matthew?
Jesus has come into Jerusalem in triumph as the people sang praises to him:
ὡσαννὰ τῷ υἱῷ Δαυίδ·
εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου·
ὡσαννὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις.
Hosanna to the son of David
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest.
Jesus cleanses the temple and then heals blind and lame people. After that, the High Priests and Lawyers (scribes) hear and see all of this and they come to rebuke Jesus for letting the crowd sing to him! Jesus’ response to them is this quotation from Psa. 8:3.
So what makes it eschatological? Jesus quotes the passage and applies it to himself! He is the one who “prepared praises for himself”, and I will add, “for the sake of his enemies”.
The last citation that we will deal with is in Hebrews Chapter 2.
What is fascinating about Hebrews is that it was written to Hebrew Christians who were flirting with the idea that it would be better for them to return to Judaism than to stay in Christianity. There also seems to be some sort of controversy over angels, but that’s for another day.
The author of Hebrews starts out by reassuring that Jesus is who they’ve said Jesus is. The author quotes many Old Testament passages (from the LXX) for proof that Jesus is the one to place their trust in. He talks about how Jesus is the one whose act cleansed us from our sins (crucifixion) and how he is superior to angels. Angels don’t get to be God’s son. Angels don’t get to inherit God’s throne. Angels worship Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, is God’s son, inherits God’s throne, and is worshipped by angels.
Salvation was communicated through Jesus to the Apostles and the people will do well to remember it!
The world will not be under the control of angels, but it will be under the control of Jesus, the son of God. This leads us to our quotation from Psalms. First off, let’s compare them.
Psa. 8:5 τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ αὐτοῦ,
ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν;
6 ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ᾿ ἀγγέλους,
δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας αὐτόν·
7 καὶ κατέστησας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου,
πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ (LXX)
5 What is man, that you remember him
or the son of man, that you are concerned about him?
6 You made him lower than the angels for a little while,
You crowned him with glory and honor.
7 And you appointed him over the works of your hands,
You subjected all things under his feet,
Heb 2:6 διεμαρτύρατο δέ πού τις λέγων·
τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ αὐτοῦ,
ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν;
7 ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ᾿ ἀγγέλους,
δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας αὐτόν,
8 πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.
Heb 2:6 Now it was testified somewhere saying,
What is man, that you remember him
or the son of man, that you are concerned about him?
7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while,
You crowned him with glory and honor.
8 And you appointed him over the works of your hands,
You subjected all things under his feet.
Note that the quote is exactly like the LXX. The author has applied this quotation to Jesus. He even goes farther. Jesus was made “lower than the angels for a little while” in order to be that sin offering. Jesus was made “lower than the angels for a little while” in order to experience death for everyone! But now, Jesus is crowned with glory and honor because he experienced that death and will eventually be ruling over everything even though we may not see it now! So, he is now superior to angels!
Note the “now, but not yet” of the passage. Jesus reigns now in heaven and all things are under his feet in a spiritual sense, but soon, he will physically reign and all things will physically be under his feet.
You can see how powerful the writer of Hebrews has made this passage!
One final note on translation. Many of us who grew up reading the KJV would read this passage as
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.(KJV)
“Thou madest him a little lower than the angels” is a mis-translation. βραχύ τι denotes time. See below from BDAG (A GREEK - ENGLISH LEXICON of the NEW TESTAMENT and other EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE)
2. pert. to being brief in duration, brief, short, of time: β. (τι) for a short time (Ael. Aristid. 13 p. 276 D.) Ac 5:34; Hb 2:7 (quotes Ps 8:6, which refers to rank; in Is 57:17 β. τι denotes time), 9; μετὰ β. a little later Lk 22:58.
“βραχύς,” BDAG, 183.
Now for all you KJV only folks who combat such a treachery, note that the author of Hebrews understands that βραχύ τι denotes time. Otherwise, Jesus couldn’t be superior to angels if he was still “a little lower than angels”. No, he was made to be lower than angels for a short time in order to carry out his mission of being a sin offering for us. The author of Hebrews even makes this argument in his/her (Thanks Bro. Kozar!) context after she quotes the passage from Psalms 8. I’ve even consulting my Hebrew friends who have also confirmed that the Hebrew behind βραχύ τι also denotes time. Now, there is no more excuse.
O Lord our Lord, how marvelous is your name in all the earth!
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