O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.9 O Lord, our Lord,
Psalm 8:1-9
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
So much of the Christian life is antithetical to the rules of life of non-Christian people. If I am going into battle for my life, I will want to choose the biggest, strongest, most well-trained troops to fight for me. I will not choose to bring children to fight on my behalf. That would be suicidal. And yet, God’s way is to bring babies and infants to the fight out of whom God has established strength and expects to defeat his enemies and avengers.
Psalm 8 begins and ends with magnifying the name of God, O Lord (Yahweh), our Lord (Adonai), how majestic is your name in all the earth! The name of God, Yahweh, is his covenantal name while Adonai is descriptive and could be translated “governor.” The point of the Psalm is the majesty of the name of God. But, everything between the two bookends, verse 1 and verse 9, has to do with human beings and their relationship to creation.
In verses 3 – 4 humans are seen in comparison to the heavens above and how insignificant we appear in comparison. What is man that you are mindful of him?
Verses 5 – 8 changes the point of view to the earth and the relationship between humans and all other created beings.
This Psalm leaves translators scratching their heads at times. This phrase translated “heavenly beings” is one of the problematic parts. Some believe it should be translated “angels,” others think it should be “gods.” The ESV translation committee settled on “heavenly beings.” The point is that humans are created in a very high position in God’s scheme of creation, we are the only beings identified in the creation story as being created in the image and likeness of God. Because of that uniqueness, God has given a charge to we humans to exercise dominion over all of creation; he has put all things under our feet.
And yet, we are aware of the frailty and weakness of human beings. We are a mess too much of the time. Witness the social unrest in the United States and some other parts of the world right now with rioting in the streets. We don’t appear to be “a little lower than the heavenly beings” or “crowned with glory and honor.”
As with many Psalms, we don’t get the real meaning until we see the Apostolic interpretation of the Psalm.
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:16-22
Jesus did tell us that everything written in the Old Testament was about him. When we take him into account as “The Man,” then the Psalm takes on new meaning. When Christ became a man, he not only became a literal baby and infant, relatively speaking, he was as a little child in comparison to the enemy of our souls. So much so that he laid down his life for us. The enemy thought he had won but was defeated by the babe who had been born in a manger. The immeasurable power and might were manifest when Jesus rose from the dead, and now, as was stated in the Psalm, “He put all things under his feet.”
The majesty of the name of the Lord (Yahweh) is manifest in the lowly birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The “enemy and avenger” is thus defeated permanently. How majestic is his name in all the earth! His name is to be declared in all the earth. The gospel is to be preached in every people group on earth.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
Psalm 8:2
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
In the grand scheme of things, we humans are babies and infants, powerless and weak. But God says that he establishes strength through these frail persons. We are the ones to still the enemy and the avenger. How is that to happen? It happens when we, in faith, exercise that authority which Jesus won in his work and delegated to us. It happens when we seriously enter into our prayer closet and take on ourselves the responsibility of intercession for others.
Godly intercession on the part of God’s people is the answer to the issues of social justice, racial prejudice, and tyrannical governments that harm the people they are meant to protect. When we give ourselves to prayer, we establish strength that overcomes these evil enemies. Nations are moved and changed by saints wielding their God-given authority in his name.
We begin to experience the majesty of his name when we enter into intercession in his name to bring the Kingdom of God to bear on earth. When we plead for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
When we exercise this God-given power and authority to set the captives free we deliver souls from the bondage of darkness and eternal death. Individuals are changed, families are changed, neighborhoods are changed, cities are changed, nations are changed. When? When we babies and infants open our mouths in prayer and praise and worship the God of deliverance.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
