seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Psalm 8:1 (a)For the director of music. According to gittith.(b)
Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]
5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
a. Psalm 8:1 In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.
b. Psalm 8:1 Title: Probably a musical term
c. Psalm 8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?
d. Psalm 8:5 Or him
e. Psalm 8:5 Or than God
f. Psalm 8:5 Or him
g. Psalm 8:6 Or made him ruler . . . ; / . . . his
Apparently a gittith was like a harp... something David picked up on his way through Gath.
This morning the commentary at Bible.org is my favorite. The others just seem to be missing something. These are outtakes from the whole long message at Bible.org.
Psalm 8 explores the theme of God’s majestic splendor and our puny insignificance by way of comparison. And yet at the same time, God has created us in His image and graciously crowned us with glory and majesty. He has assigned us the role of ruling over His creation. All of these thoughts should lead us, as the psalm both begins and ends, to declare in worship, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”
We don’t know when David wrote this psalm. Obviously, it stemmed from his experience (which most of us have had) of gazing up at the night sky and marveling at its vastness compared to his own puniness on this speck in the universe called planet earth. We don’t know for certain what the term “Gittith” in the title means. It refers to the Philistine town of Gath, which means winepress. Thus it may refer to a psalm for the grape harvest (such as the Feast of Tabernacles); to the ark’s journey from the house of Obed-edom the Gittite to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:11); or to a tune or musical instrument named after the city.
Have a nice day.... stop and smell a daffodil...
