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

[Most weeks, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Hopefully, it's helpful to others as well, since most weekends, our Bible lesson is one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]

The Bible Lesson: Psalm 8
1O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

2Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

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?

5Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

7all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

General Comments:
1. The Psalms is sometimes referred to as the Old Testament's hymn book. It contains poetry originally set to music and used by the ancient Hebrews to worship God. The songs are what we call liturgy, a Greek term literally meaning work of the people. The work of the people is to offer praises to God, declaring His worth-ship (the compound Old English word from which we get our term, worship.) The Psalms created the orders for worship at the temple in Jerusalem.

2. Because the circumstances of our lives vary, the individual psalms can be identified as exemplifying various types or genres. (Some of the psalms display characteristics of several different types at the same time.) Scholars differ slightly on how they classify the psalms, but there is basic agreement.

Claus Westermann, author of a handy little book on the Psalms, has identified the following types or genres in the Psalms:

• Community Psalm of Lament
• Community Psalm of Narrative Praise
• The Individual Psalm of Lament
• The Individual Psalm of Narrative Praise
• The Psalm of Descriptive Praise or Hymn
• Creation Psalms
• Liturgical Psalms
• Royal Psalms
• Enthronement Psalms [used when new kings were anointed]
• Wisdom Psalms
• Psalm 119

3. Psalm 8 is sometimes seen as a Creation Psalm. But, in the end, it's a contemplation on the grace of God, how the Creator of the vast universe has regard for human beings, even making them "little lower" than Him.

4. Artur Weiser notes that in this Psalm we see the Bible's penchant for viewing anthropology as an element of theology:

It is only if man [sic] stands in awe of the greatness of God, which strikes terror into his heart and makes him aware of his total insignificance, that, taking that awe as a starting point and as the basis of his thoughts, he learns to gain a full understanding of the divine miracle which is made manifest in the relationship between Creator and creature, the miracle namely that it did not seem too small a matter for this Almighty God 'to be mindful' of man and loving 'to care' for him...

5. The Psalms isn't the only Biblical book in which psalms, worship songs, appear. Creation psalms alone can also be found in Amos, Isaiah, and Job.

I hope to begin to address the individual verses of the Psalm tomorrow.