“O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth” (Psalm 8:1, 9)
Psalm 8 is a glorious hymn of praise directed to God! David, the writer of this Psalm, starts and finishes praising God alone in verses 1 and 9. He declares Yahweh’s name is excellent, majestic, and mighty throughout the earth! Unlike our modern names, in the Hebrew mind the Lord’s name encompasses all that God is, all of His attributes are manifested in His name.
David not only starts off with God’s covenant name, Yahweh (O Lord), but also secondly Adonai. He is Adonai, our Lord!
David, for the most part of this psalm, marvels at the Lord’s creation, particularly man. As David looks to the heavens he declares “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? As he considers the Lord’s creation he asks “What is man that you are mindful of him?” as insignificant as we are compared to thousand upon thousand stars that the eye can see, this speck of dust upon the earth, what is man that the Lord of all cares for us? In vs’ 5-8 we see the place the Lord has graced mankind with. Mankind is crowned with glory and honor. Man has been given dominion over God’s creation and has put all things under our feet.
Is David speaking of mankind pre-fall or a time to come? Can man ever fulfil what is written here?
Please meditate on Psalm 8 as we prepare to open the Word this Sunday.