สดุดี 8:9 วิจารณ์

This psalm is a solemn meditation on, and admiration of, the glory and greatness of God, of which we are all concerned to think highly and honourably. It begins and ends with the same acknowledgment of the transcendent excellency of God's name. It is proposed for proof (Psa 8:1) that God's name is excellent in all the earth, and then it is repeated as proved (with a "quod erat demonstrandum" - which was to be demonstrated) in the last verse. For the proof of God's glory the psalmist gives instances of his goodness to man; for God's goodness is his glory. God is to be glorified, I. For making known himself and his great name to us (Psa 8:1). II. For making use of the weakest of the children of men, by them to serve his own purposes (Psa 8:2). III. For making even the heavenly bodies useful to man (Psa 8:3, Psa 8:4). IV. For making him to have dominion over the creatures in this lower world, and thereby placing him but little lower then the angels (Psa 8:5-8). This psalm is, in the New Testament, applied to Christ and the work of our redemption which he wrought out; the honour given by the children of men to him (Psa 8:2, compared with Mat 21:16) and the honour put upon the children of men by him, both in his humiliation, when he was made a little lower then the angels, and in his exaltation, when he was crowned with glory and honour. Compare Psa 8:5, Psa 8:6, with Heb 2:6-8; Co1 15:27. When we are observing the glory of God in the kingdom of nature and providence we should be led by that, and through that, to the contemplation of his glory in the kingdom of grace. To the chief musician upon Gittith. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 8 To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of David. Some think this psalm was composed when the ark was brought to the house of Obededom the Gittite; and that it was delivered to him and his sons, as others were to Asaph, to Jeduthun, to the sons of Korah, &c. (l). But against this lies a strong objection, that Obededom and his sons were porters, and not singers, Ch1 26:4; and for the same reason "gittith" cannot be the name of a musical instrument which was kept in his family, and presided over by them (m). Some are of opinion this word had its name from Gath; and that this psalm was wrote by David when he was there (y); or that it is the name of a musical instrument invented and made there, and which was brought from thence (z): And so the Targum paraphrases it; "upon the harp which was brought from Gath.'' A word like this signifies "winepresses": and hence the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, render it "for the winepresses": which Theodoret interprets of churches, where Christ the true vine is gathered by believers, and they prepare the mystic wine. Some think (a) the psalms which bear this name were composed for the feast of tabernacles: when, having got in their vintage, they filled their presses, and squeezed their grapes, and therefore gave thanks; it was usual, even with the Heathens (b), to make use of the harp, and other instruments of music, at the gathering of the grapes to be squeezed and pressed. Some of the Jewish writers (d) apply it to the times of Edom's destruction, who was to be trodden down as in a winepress, foretold in Isa 63:1; and others interpret it of the times of Gog and Magog, when the prophecy in Joe 3:13; shall be fulfilled (d) and some have thought this psalm to be a song of praise, like one of those sung by them that tread in the winepress; the time of vintage being a time of joy. The ancient Christian writers explain it of the sufferings of Christ, when he trod the winepress of his Father's wrath. But the word "gittith" is either the first word of some song, as Aben Ezra thinks; or the name of the tune, as Kimchi; or rather of the musical instrument to which this psalm was set and sung. Though the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 2:6; citing some passages from this psalm, only says, "one in a certain place testified"; without mentioning either the number of the psalm, or the name of the writer; yet it is certain that David was the penman of it: and both from the testimony of that writer, and from a citation of Christ himself, it is evident that the subject of this psalm is the Messiah, and that it belongs to his times; see Heb 2:6. So the Syriac scholiast; "the eighth psalm is concerning Christ our Redeemer.'' (l) Aben Ezra in loc. (m) R. Moses apud ibid. (y) Ben Melech in loc. vide Kimchi ibid. (z) Jarchi in loc. (a) Vide Godwin. Synops. Antiqu. Heb. l. 2. s. 1. c. G. (b) Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 84. (d) Rabbini apud Jarchium in loc. (d) Midrash Tillim apud Viccars. in loc.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! The psalm ends with the same words with which it begins; which shows that the sense of this, with which the psalmist was affected, continued with him, and doubtless increased, after such a confirmation of it, by the instances he was led to take notice of. See Gill on Psa 8:1. Next: Psalms Chapter 9

Just as God is admirable for the eminence of his majesty, so he is shown to be admirable from his clemency; and therefore he concludes with wonder: "Lord, our Lord," etc. Yet it should be known that this Psalm is circular, because it has the same verse at the beginning and at the end. Some are semicircular, because they do not repeat the whole verse, but a part; such as "Bless the Lord, O my soul," whose end is "in every place of his dominion."

Upon [or according to the] Gittith, probably means that the musical performance was directed to be according to a tune of that name; which, derived from Gath, a "wine-press," denotes a tune (used in connection with gathering the vintage) of a joyous character. All the Psalms to which this term is prefixed [Psa 8:1; Psa 81:1; Psa 84:1] are of such a character. The Psalmist gives vent to his admiration of God's manifested perfections, by celebrating His condescending and beneficent providence to man as evinced by the position of the race, as originally created and assigned a dominion over the works of His hands. (Psa 8:1-9) thy name--perfections (Psa 5:11; Psa 7:17). who hast set--literally, "which set Thou Thy glory," &c., or "which glory of Thine set Thou," &c., that is, make it more conspicuous as if earth were too small a theater for its display. A similar exposition suits the usual rendering.

Appropriately, the writer closes this brief but pregnant and sublime song of praise with the terms of admiration with which it was opened. Next: Psalms Chapter 9

(Heb.: 8:10) 8:10. He has now demonstrated what he expressed in Psa 8:2, that the name of Jahve whose glory is reflected by the heavens, is also glorious on earth. Thus, then, he can as a conclusion repeat the thought with which he began, in a wider and more comprehensive meaning, and weave his Psalm together, as it were, into a wreath. It is just this Psalm, of which one would have least expected it, that is frequently quoted in the New Testament and applied to the Messiah. Indeed Jesus' designation of Himself by ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, however far it may refer back to the Old Testament Scriptures, leans no less upon this Psalm than upon Dan 7:13. The use the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 2:6-8) makes of Psa 8:5 of this Psalm shows us how the New Testament application to the Messiah is effected. The psalmist regards man as one who glorifies God and as a prince created of God. The deformation of this position by sin he leaves unheeded. But both sides of the mode of regarding it are warranted. On the one hand, we see that which man has become by creation still in operation even in his present state; on the other hand, we see it distorted and stunted. If we compare what the Psalm says with this shady side of the reality, from which side it is incongruous with the end of man's creation, then the song which treats of the man of the present becomes a prophecy of the man of the future. The Psalm undergoes this metamorphosis in the New Testament consciousness, which looks more to the loss than to that which remains of the original. In fact, the centre of the New Testament consciousness is Jesus the Restorer of that which is lost. The dominion of the world lost to fallen man, and only retained by him in a ruined condition, is allotted to mankind, when redeemed by Him, in fuller and more perfect reality. This dominion is not yet in the actual possession of mankind, but in the person of Jesus it now sits enthroned at the right hand of God. In Him the idea of humanity is transcendently realised, i.e., according to a very much higher standard than that laid down when the world was founded. He has entered into the state-only a little (βραχύ τι) beneath the angels - of created humanity for a little while (βραχύ τι), in order to raise redeemed humanity above the angels. Everything (כּל) is really put under Him with just as little limitation as is expressed in this Psalm: not merely the animal kingdom, not merely the world itself, but the universe with all the ruling powers in it, whether they be in subjection or in hostility to God, yea even the power of death (Co1 15:27, cf. Eph 1:22). Moreover, by redemption, more than heretofore, the confession which comes from the mouth of little children is become a bulwark founded of God, in order that against it the resistance of the opponents of revelation may be broken. We have an example of this in Mat 21:16, where our Lord points the pharisees and scribes, who are enraged at the Hosanna of the children, to Psa 8:3. Redemption demands of man, before everything else, that he should become as a little child, and reveals its mysteries to infants, which are hidden from the wise and intelligent. Thus, therefore, it is μικροὶ καὶ νήπιοι, whose tongue is loosed by the Spirit of God, who are to put to shame the unbelieving; and all that this Psalm says of the man of the present becomes in the light of the New Testament in its relation to the history of redemption, a prophecy of the Son of man κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν, and of the new humanity.