Second Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: Psalm 8

[For a look at the first pass and an explanation of what this is about, go here.]

Verse-by-Verse Comments, Psalm 8:
1O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
(1) While the psalm becomes a meditation on the place God has given to the human race, it begins and ends with praise for the Creator of the universe. More than one commentator familiar with the liturgical rhythms of the psalms, especially Weiser, has said that verses 1 and 9 are probably congregational responses to the revelation of God's majesty in worship.

(2) This verse sets the tone for the psalm, about which Carl Schultz observes, "Psalm 8 is anthropology in the context of doxology." (Doxology, remember, is a word of glory to God.) He continues, citing Artur Weiser:

As Weiser notes: "There is no revelation of God except it also throws at the same time a special light on the nature of man; and conversely, a true understanding of man cannot be achieved if God is disregarded."

The biblical view of God is critical to our understanding of the identity of human beings. Anthropology is an essential element of theology. Man-talk and God-talk are closely related and only possible as they are related one to the other. Themes such as sin, grace, faith, redemption, and the church must not only be viewed from the God-side, but also from the human side. While God is absolute in the Old Testament, he revealed his Godness through his contact with humans in words and deeds. In the incarnation in the New Testament he is completely defined.

Now this is not to suggest that the human being is the measure of all things. Anthropocentric concerns must not so dominate theology that its focus is the nature of the human being, rather than the character of God. But there is real danger when the consideration of anthropology is pursued in isolation--quite apart from theology. It is critical that anthropology be considered from a biblical prospective. Human preoccupation results in narcissism. The question "What are Human Beings" must be answered biblically.

As Martin Buber has observed it is difficult, if not impossible, to derive dignity, to derive an ought if the relationship is an I/it rather than an I/Thou. Human beings can be defined somewhat by reference to the animal kingdom but ultimately only adequately identified by reference to their relationship to God.

2Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
(1) Claus Westermann explains this passage:

Even the babbling of a tiny infant bears witness to God's creative power and is thereby stronger than all gainsaying of God's enemies.

(2) Weiser writes:

Even the adversaries (skeptics and atheists) cannot disregard the fact that the child utterly and completely surrenders to the impression produced by things which are great and glorious, and does so in an unaffected and direct manner...in short, they cannot disregard those first stirrings of a naive and unaffecting piety which are after all a fact...

3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
(1) These verses bring to mind an old Randy Stonehill song, Faithful, which begins:

WHEN I WAS A BOY
I OPENED MY EYES
LOOKING FOR THE HAND
THAT MOVED THE CLOUDS ACROSS THE SKY
AND IN MY SIMPLE WAY
I BELIEVED
THE ONE WHO TURNS THE WORLD AROUND
WAS REACHING DOWN FOR ME

That is the sentiment of the psalmist here.

(2) Westermann points out that another psalm, Psalm 113:5-9, contains similar sentiments.:

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,

who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

The vastness of God's creation doesn't result in a feeling of insignificance, but wonder that the big God of all cares about us. We see ourselves through God's eyes and thereby, see ourselves aright. The confession of sin I've written for this coming Sunday talks about this:

...we confess to You today two different inclinations when considering our place in the universe...Sometimes, Lord, we survey the vastness of all You have created and seem small and insignificant in comparison...We therefore underestimate the importance of our lives and decisions. Suspecting that our lives don’t matter, we excuse our failure to love You completely, to love others as though they were other selves, or to care for Your gifts with awe and reverence...At other times, Lord, we block all but ourselves and our own little worlds from view and, like Adam and Eve, tell ourselves in countless ways that we are our own gods...We therefore overestimate our own importance and so fail to love You completely, fail to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and fail to take care the blessings of time, talent, treasures, and world You have entrusted to us...Help us, Lord, to see ourselves rightly...Help us to understand that in all the universe, only You are greater in power or influence...Help us to understand that without You, we lack the wisdom or the grace or the power we need to live our lives, to love You, to love others, or to use Your gifts rightly...For the sake of Jesus, forgive us our sins... Amen

(3) This sense of wonder corresponds to Mary's song, sometimes called the Magnificat, which appears in Luke 1:46-55:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

More tomorrow, I hope.