Psalms 8

Psalms 8:5-9

This psalm is a divine meditation on the glory of Christ, who is the subject of it, Heb. ii. 6—8. God displays much of his glory in the works of creation and providence; but it is in redemption to appears most transcendently excellent, and worthy our highest education. We have here, the glory of God manifest, 1. In making the weakest instruments serve the grandest purposes, ver. 1, 2. 2. In the works of creation, ver. 3, 4. 3. In the incarnation of Jesus, and the mediastinal kingdom delegated to him, ver. 5—9.

¶ To the chief musician upon Gititah, A psalm of David. a H. 10. B. 10. M.

1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hath set thy glory above the heavens. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hath thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

v. 1, 2. Gititah seems to be the instrument for which the psalm was let. It opens with the Psalms’ high admiration of the glory of God: O Lord our God. It is a pleasing task to contemplate the divine excellencies, and his wondrous works, when we can claim an interest in him as our God, for then all things are new. How excellent is thy name in all the earth? bright is the display of glory which appears in all the works of creation and providence throughout the earth; but brighter far this glory shines in the eternal world, where God hath hard his radiant throne, and angels and archangels adore him, yet cannot reach his praise, who hath yet his glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hath thou ordained strength: for the weak things of this world, such as were the apostles and preachers of the gospel, whom men despised as babes and sucklings, hath God lest forth his mighty word, which is the power of God unto salvation; because of thine enemies; either to confound them, as in the temple, when the infants lifted up their voices in Midianus to the confusion and condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees; or to convert them, when, unable to testify the powerful evidence, they should fall down and give it to God. That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger, yet, cause him to soothe; that is to say, the power of Satan, and his kingdom upon earth, whoever is broken, and the prey of captive souls taken from his prison, which he can no more recover. Note, (1.) The kingdom of Christ shall finally be triumphant, however despicable its propellers may now appear in the eyes of a carnal world. (2.) The weaker and more helpless we are before our Spiritual foes, the more is God’s glory exalted in bruising Satan under our feet, and making us, through faith, more than conquerors.

3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou wisest him? 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hath crowned him with glory and honour. 6. Thou made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field: 8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

The great condescensions of the Divine Grace to man still further awaken the Psalms’ wonder, love, and praise; especially the glories of the man Christ Jesus, so highly exalted for us men, and for our salvation.

When I consider the heavens, that stupendous frame, the work of thy fingers, so curiously formed, so astonishingly magnificent, the moon and stars, with all the various bodies, that with such order revolve in their several spheres, which thou hast ordained, or prepared, fasted and admirably disposed to answer the sins for which they were intended; what is man, Enoch, miserable man, that thou art mindful of him? either man is poured, to whom in a sense all that is said may be applicable; for whose benefit the heavens are spread abroad, the luminaries thine; in nature, next to angelical; in dignity, the head of this lower world; to whom all creatures are put in subjection, and for whose support, use, and comfort, they are given. Well might thou sustain our admiration, and make us astonished at the greatness of the gift; but greater far is the glory put upon man, and to which the Apostle, Heb. ii. 6. applies their words. God hath been so mindful of man as to take the human nature into an hypnotical union with the divine, in the person of his own Son, who now is become the Son of man, and thou wisest him with the most unbounded

bounded favour and regard, giving the spirit without measure unto him, and anointing him with oil of gladness above his fellow. For thou hast made him a little lesser than the Elabim; by the assumption of the human nature, Christ is inferior to the Father as touching his manhood; or angels, as the apostle interports the word, Christ having taken that nature, which in excellence is inferior to the angelical, and particularly as subject to death and misery: a little, not so much respecting the degree as the duration; but a little while, that is to lay, during his days of humiliation, especially when he lay in the grave, and experienced that loveful abatement of humanity. And all this was God’s work, whatever instruments were used in the humiliation of Jesus, to set forth his own glory, and magnify his grace towards the sons of men. Thou hast aroused him with glory and honour, by ending him from the dead, and setting him on the mediastinal throne on high. Thou made it him to have dominion over the need of thy hands, all things are committed into his hand, in heaven and in earth; and he is above all, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Thou hast put all things under his feet, not only the affairs of this sublunary world, and the inferior creatures here specified, now again recovered for his people’s benefit and life, but angels in heaven, and devils in hell, all own his sovereign sway; and men, whether his loyal subjects, who enjoy his protection, or his enemies, who must lack the dust. Such an exaltation of our divine Lord, fills the heart with the deepest acknowledgment to that gracious God, who thus willed us in our low estate, and above all other manifestations of his glory and grace, excites our highest admiration. O Lord, our Lord, now in the incense Jesus especially related to us, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. Note, (1.) The more we behold of the visible glories around us, the more should our hearts be led to the contemplation of the glorious author. (2.) Redemption will ever furnish sources of wonder and praise. Indeed the more we search, the more we shall find this ocean unfathomable; and after endless ages spent in the delightful task, still cry, O the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of love that passeth knowledge.