Psalm 44: Communal lament

l   The fact that Yahweh has acted in a certain way in the past is the reason why we’re calling for Yahweh to act in the same way.

l   If God is to act, then God is going to act against the enemies.

l   When there is a temple, it involves worship. All ritual actions associated with death here.

l   Context not clear: Probably triggered by a military disaster.

l   Not just a mourning song, but also a prayer. “Funeral blues” is a sad mourning song, but not a lament. Prayer involves a horizon beyond the grief.

l   What communal lament does: It’s not so much the laments do, but what we do with these words when we use them in lament. 1) What lament does is to address God as the “people of God”. Individualistic West: sometimes we’re not used to communal. Jesus’ prayer which he taught the disciples: it’s for communal use. 2) It ties very tightly together the fate of God’s people, God’s purposes and God’s reputation. The way God will bring all things to its designated conclusion. Gives powerful poetic expression to that reality. Owns disastrous circumstances, but this ends not as the focus of the prayer. Not just us and our plight, but about God and the world. What God is about in the world, and where God is standing. God is the sovereign Lord of history. It’s holding the mirror to God to show Him the disasters when God doesn’t act on behalf of God’s people.

l   If we use these words, we become involved in what they’re doing, and these words become our words. When we use these words, we find ourselves lamenting. The phenomenon of addressing God as “our God” in prayer expresses a fundamental element of trust. A belief in God’s own commitment to His own justice: For God to act on behalf of the poor. God can be questioned and called to account. Disparity between the realities. These poems may seem the most arrogant thing we can do/claiming of rights over God, but these poems are in the canon of Scripture. So this is an invite from God to question. It fosters alignment between our interests and commitments and God’s interests and commitments. Do our concerns line up with God? If we are lamenting, are we lamenting for the right things? Praying for righteousness in the community aligns us up with God’s purposes.

l   When we are injured, one response is anger, usually through vengeance to one that’s wronged us. What these psalms require us to entrust this to God, and for us to know (in head and heart) that it is God who will avenge. Prayers like this allow us to not turn our back on a call for righteousness to the world. It is God’s business to enact justice in the end.

l   If we pray these prayers rightly, we might become uncomfortable to find us on the wrong side of these, that we are amongst the oppressors rather than the oppressed. Advantage us on the disadvantage of others. What starts out as lament might end as penitence.

Psalm 36

Psalm 36 is a contrast between character of the wicked and the character of God. This psalm is quite unique in that we cannot assign any precise genre to it. V1-4 sounds like a wisdom psalm, v5-9 a praise hymn, and V10-12 a petition for help. There is an emphasis on God’s characteristic hesed in the praise.[1] God’s hesed, faithfulness, righteousness and judgments. In V10, the psalmist pleads or God to “extend your hesed to those who know you”.[2] Knowing means God it is more than the intellect but implies a relationship that is experienced and lived out in daily life. In V11 there is a plea for deliverance from the wicked, and V12 a plea for judgment on the wicked.[3] So here we see an implicit contrast between the ‘self-ruled’ individual and the God-ruled cosmos.” The wicked is not described as a violent threat to the psalmist but pictured as one who lives life by setting up the self as the autonomous standard, living life according to “what seems good to me.” But every fragile finite human being has access to the hesed of God. The psalmist trusts God.[4] The “fullness of life” is a gift that comes from only one source: God.[5]

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[1] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 338.

[2] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 339.

[3] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 345.

[4] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 346.

[5] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 347.

Psalm 34

This psalm consists of both thanksgiving and instructions.[1] 
(Hebrew numbers)

V1-7: The psalmist announces praise, invites the community to join in,[2] and reports the psalmist’s personal encounter with Yahweh[3] in a situation of crisis where Yahweh listened and acted.[4]^,[5]

V7: “this poor one called, and Yahweh heard.”

V10: “Fear of the Lord” is the psalm’s most profound insight, where one simultaneous trembles in dread and joy due to the paradoxical awareness of one’s fragility, mortality and sinfulness as opposed to God’s almightiness, immortality and graciousness.[6]

V11: Lions is a metaphor for those who do not fear or seek the Lord.[7]

V12 is followed by a series of imperatives that speaks of living a life which embodies the “fear of the Lord.”[8]

V16-20 becomes descriptive, with statements about the Lord using anthropomorphic metaphors regarding eyes, ears and face of Yahweh in V16-18, followed by the description of God’s elected but suffering people, who has shattered hearts and crushed spirits, from V19-20.[9]

V21-23 concludes with God’s promise that those who hate the righteous will be held guilty, and those who seek refuge in him will not be held guilty.[10]

This is not so much a psalm on moral statements as it is a relational one. Yahweh is good in relation to us. When we are in need, Yahweh is near, listening to prayer and acting in response to the prayer. The answer involves rescue, deliverance, protection and redemption. Yahweh often seems far away and inactive, but those experiences must not be allowed to overwhelm.[11]

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[1] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 329.

[2] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 321.

[3] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 325.

[4] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 477.

[5] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 279.

[6] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 325.

[7] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 326.

[8] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 280.

[9] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 328.

[10] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 328.

[11] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 486.

Psalm 24

Genre:

Entrance – liturgy: For who? Worshipers. Double entrance liturgy, of Yahweh. (Psalms 15 and 24 fits the category)

Structure:

V1-2: Creator/implications of it including ownership and dominion.

V3-6: Opens with a question asking who gets to worship the creator in V1-2. Qualifications for worship. Q&As.

V7-10: Yahweh’s entry: trigger imagery of the ark. Q&As.

Q&As seem to suggests a performance piece: some people ask, some people answer.

V1: Priest making glorious affirmation of who Yahweh is.

V3,6: Worshipers ask “who gets to do this?”, then after explanation by, “that’s us”

V4,5: explanation of “who gets to do this”.

V7, 8b, 9, 10b: entrance of the holy one.

V8a, 10a:

So it’s a cultic piece used in the temple.

Andrew Sloane thinks the ark is like a syringe, once it’s injected God’s glory into the temple, it has no more function. In exile, there’s no mention about the lost of the ark. So it was probably before the fall of Jerusalem.

What does this Psalm do (what’s its primary job)?

Getting people ready for worship.

Takes us on a journey to the temple.

A reflection of the dominion of God.

Geographical presence of God in Jerusalem. In Christian thinking, there is no place on earth that is holier than another place. For Israel, there is: this place is holier than any other place.

Any space can become a holy space when Yahweh’s presence is acknowledged. The earth is Yahweh.

For ANE (3tiered universe), the reason for God’s dominion over the earth was that Yahweh established the waters. ANE thinks the ocean goes all the way above the stars, “ocean of heaven”.

V2: Water is associated with chaos.

Cultic context and cultic form, but also moral and relational, not merely cultic.

V4: “Clean hands”, “pure heart”: moral purity, commitment. Action, character.

Commandments 1&2. 3 or 9: One who does not swear deceitfully. “False testimony” is not equal to “lie”, so “you shall not lie” is actually not part of the ten commandments.

V5: “He will lift up blessings from Yahweh”: rightness from the God of your salvation. To be blessed is for things to go well in your life. Rightness is to be rightly lined up with God and others in your life (relationships). Right status is a gift from Yahweh, and is connected with salvation. Salvation is a force to correct something wrong in the world. Rightness in relationships with others is often connected with salvation.

V6: Identifying the worshippers: We are those who seek your face, we are Jacob.

V7: Lift up: Demanding the gates to be opened, in a metaphorical way. When you lift up your head, you are acknowledging the coming of a king. The gates are acclaiming the coming of a king. Affirmation of God’s kingly rule.

Repetition: For emphasis, to make your point clearer.

V10: “Armies”. Which armies is Yahweh lord of? Israel? Heavenly? Stars (Isaiah)?

This battle imagery is present in the start of the Psalms.

Pre-exilic Israel: Yahweh’s presence was focused in the temple, but not seen as being restricted to it. Because the psalm opened with earth as Yahweh’s.

Worship: not just music. It’s “bodies”, of living sacrifices.

Psalm 22: Lament

Prayers for help (laments) “are located at the intersection of the confession that God is faithful and some experience of the psalmist that either calls into question God’s fidelity or demands a faithful action from God.” (77:8; 6:5; 89:49; 17:7).[1] “The Lord invites hard questions and even denunciations form his people.” The ancient sufferers “both question God’s loving faithfulness and make God’s loving faithfulness the basis of their hope and their prayers.” Ps 89:49 is the turning point of Psalm 89, last psalm of Book II of a Psalter, may be the “most strident complaint verse” in the Psalter.[2] Other questioning verses: 22:1; 10:1; 44:23; 13:1; 35:17.[3]

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[1] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 114.

[2] Jacobson and Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms, 158.

[3] Jacobson and Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms, 159.

Structure:

1-21: Lament, God being distant.

22-32: Celebration of God’s sovereignty. God is no longer distant, God has heard.

V1-21 have an alternating structure, moving from a cry to God to a section of trust. This is reflective of the emotional turmoil that a person of faith undergoes when he tries to make sense of the suffering, pain and even attacks from others with faith in a powerful and loving God.[1]

V22-32: Pure praise.[2]

V2: the psalm begins by expressing a sense of being forsaken by God, expressed most powerfully in the divine silence in V3.[3]

V5-6: “Trust” repeated three times. Crying out in distress and expression trust can happen at the same time and are not incompatible, as “I know what I feel and I know what I believe.”[4] Ps22 is an expression of a mature spirituality where a person who is experiencing affliction demonstrates the ability to hold on to two contradictory set of facts.[5] 

V7: The psalmist felt less than human. This is further exacerbated by the taunting words of fellow human beings in V9. It seems the only reality was the distance of God, and the nearness of the taunting human beings.[6]

V12 the psalmist cries out for the removal of the divine distance.[7]

V13-14: Heightens the sense of being alone as the enemies surround the psalmist.

V15-16: describes the physical symptoms of fear[8], “spilled out like water” in the sense of being “washed out”[9], “tongue sticking to palate” as a sign of sympathetic overactivity.

V19: The psalmist is not dead and the enemies are already dividing up his clothes as if he was deceased.

V22: Begins with an imperative verb, “save me” and ends with a perfect verb “you answered me”.[10] It is a declaration of trust and confidence[11], based upon the faith that God would answer his prayers.[12]

V23 onwards: The psalmist lead the community into worship.[13]^,[14]

V25: The psalmist testified a total reversal of the experience in V2-3: he perceives that Yahweh has heard him and an answer was coming. God’s faithfulness, in promising deliverance, also requires faithfulness from the sufferer.[15]

This can be used for those who are severely sick and threatened by death.[16]

In suffering, the psalmist invites us to remind God and ourselves of God’s past acts of deliverance. Remind God and ourselves of God’s involvement in our individual lives. And we explicitly urge God to change. We also believe that God will respond and start talking that way.[17]

“God is not always available to the psalmist’s beck and call. Most anguished is the opening cry of abandonment in Psalm 22.”[18] “Theologically, the complaints acknowledge that God is elusive and not always available to human request. This God cannot be manipulated.” The absence is met by more strident cries of complaint and a greater resolve to wait for God’s intervening presence.[19]

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[1] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 227.

[2] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 227.

[3] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 199 Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 198..

[4] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 233.

[5] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 340.

[6] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 199.

[7] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 199.

[8] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 234.

[9] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 200.

[10] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 236.

[11] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 198.

[12] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 200.

[13] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 236.

[14] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 198.

[15] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 201.

[16] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 198.

[17] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 341.

[18] Brown, Psalms, 143.

[19] Brown, Psalms, 144.

Psalm 16: Psalm of confidence

Psalms of trust and declarations of confidence: “Express confidence in God’s fidelity”, despite “looming threats” (23:6; 13:5).[1] Completely give themselves over to God’s loving fidelity. Like prayers for help, trust psalms are prayed in the midst of a situation of crisis. But instead of dwelling in the questions, trust psalms have a mood of trust.[2]

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[1] Jacobson, ““The faithfulness of the Lord Endures Forever”,” 115.

[2] Jacobson and Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms, 161.

The opening of this psalm can be an appeal for deliverance from a crisis or an expression of the desire for continuing divine protection in the future.[1] It might not even be an appeal but a confession of trust in God’s providential guidance.[2] V2 “I say to the Lord, “You are my lord” is an emphatic element to the confession.[3] The psalmist wants us to not look elsewhere and place all trust in Yahweh. Yahweh is blessing and the source of blessing.

V7 The psalmist praises God for God’s counsel and subsequently we see in V11 “you show me the path of life”. Counsel here refers to having been guided by God’s law about how to live. This counsel helps the psalmist develop a sense of conscience.[4]

V9: The deliverance involves the “heart” and the “body”, which represents not merely the intellectual aspect but the totality of the psalmist’s life.[5]

V10: Many see this bit of Psalm as a prediction of the resurrection, because David obviously died and rotted. Jesus’ resurrection as the ultimate demonstration of Yahweh’s dependability.

Make people realise the confidence we have does not depend on our circumstances, but the dependability of Yahweh.

V11: there is a sense of a restoration to a full life in God’s presence.[6]

Circumstances of distress proves relationship with God in the sense of testing it. God has proven God’s fidelity to the psalmist: When the psalmist runs to Yahweh for refuge, in Yahweh he finds refuge.

It's about confidence, distress and relationship with God.
Yahweh, as the protector, the one whom we can rely, Yahweh is dependable.

Life with Yahweh: secure, joy, complete, perfect, blessing, shalom. Yahweh is both our good and giver of good gifts.

Causes of anxiety: success, financial security, careers, health, political stability, fear of missing out.
Look at how these anxieties are tied to false trust. Eg. Our insecure borders to be protected. Driven but anxieties and false trust.

It is a confidence Psalm: “In this, we can have security.” Confidence in the face of death and disaster. Our God comes through in the end, even if everything goes to hell and in handcuffs. Make people realise the confidence we have doesn’t depend on our circumstances, but the dependability of Yahweh.

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[1] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 156.

[2] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 178.

[3] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 178.

[4] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 181.

[5] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 181.

[6] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 158.

Psalm 2: Royal psalm

Ps2 is a Royal psalm as there are nouns indicating the theme of kingship: kings, rulers, his anointed.[1] 

Humanity is rebellious: the earthy rulers are rebelling against the God and the anointed human king he is installing (V1-3). 

God watches humanity from above and laughs at this human rebellion from his throne in heaven, because they have no chance of winning against the creator of the universe (V4). It is a ‘vain struggle’.[2] 

Warning is given to submit to Yahweh instead of rebelling or else be perished (V10-12)[3], as God is prepared to judge the rebellious.[4] 

“Rejoice with trembling”: how does it work? Trembling with fear? Two things in parallel. Yahweh is also just and have wrath, so the joy should come with fear.

The Hebrew word used for “son” in v7 is different from v12.  V12 is the Aramaic form. Aramaic only came in common usage after the exile. If it’s an early Psalm, there is a problem that an Aramaic word is used. There might also have been a textual corruption.

What does the notion of taking refuge do (those who submit=those who take refuge in Yahweh) for Yahweh’s rule? Yahweh will protect those who come to Yahweh for safety. It recognises the danger of this world. It also shows us how true wisdom looks.

Is Yahweh slow to anger? Sometimes yes, but when Yahweh faces those who stubbornly rebel against Yahweh, Yahweh does not muck around, or else the righteous is in danger.

The psalmist reminds us that happy are those who responds by taking refuge in God (V12).

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[1] Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 68.

[2] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms, 67.

[3] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 103.

[4] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41, 104.

Psalm 8: Creation hymn

This is an exegesis of Psalm8 where I will first translate the psalm from Hebrew to English, do a literary analysis, comments on key details and critical issues, and reflect theologically on the text.

Translation (Hebrew verse numbers):

V1: The director over the gittith. A psalm of[1] David.

V2: Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name on all the earth, that you set your splendour upon the heavens,

V3: from the mouth of babes and infants. You founded[2] strength on account of your foes[3], to stop the enemy and avenger.

V4: When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars that you have established,

V5: What is man, that you remember him, a mortal that you attend to him?

V6: You make him a little lesser than God, and in honour and glory you crown him.

V7: You make him Lord over the works of your hand. You set everything under his feet.

V8: Flocks and cattle, all of them, and even the beasts of the land.

V9: Birds of the heavens and fishes of the seas, that pass through the path of the seas.

V10: Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name on all the earth!

Literary analysis:

It is not possible to specify the authorship with certainty because in V1, לְ mean it is something associated with David, ie. it’s psalm by David, for David, or about David. The גִּתִּית probably has links with Gath, a Philistine town. It might be reference to a particular type of local instrument, melody, or a religious festival.^[4],[5] This is the only hymn in the Old Testament which is spoken directly to God throughout its composition.[6] The first word to come out of the psalmist is “Yahweh”.[7]

V2 have a variety of different translations. “You have set your glory above the heavens” (NRSV). “Your majesty is praised as high as the heavens” (REB). “I will adore your majesty above the heavens” (Dahood).[8] “Your splendour above the heavens is praised” (Mays).[9] The reason for these variations is because there may have been an incorrect word division of אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּנָ֥ה.[10] Since I have chosen “majestic” for אַדִּיר,[11] I chose “splendour” for הוֹד.[12] There is the further question as to whether v2b is best taken with the first half of v2, or with v3.[13] Many commentators[14]^,[15],[16] think that v2b can be taken with v3, otherwise we might expect verse 2b to occur at the end of v10.[17]

In V3, babes and infants is a poetic parallel to enemy and avenger. “Enemies” symbolize human strength, whereby the enemies of God do not recognise the name of God. “Babes” symbolise human weakness and humility.[18] Those who interpret the verse as “from the mouth of babes and infants, you founded your strength” see a strange paradox: in the weak “babes and infants,” God lays the foundation of a strength which can defy His enemies.[19],[20] Even when we interpret the verse as “that you set your splendour upon the heavens, from the mouth of babes and infants”, we still see God using the weak to display His glory. There is unexpectedness in the ways God’s assign roles to the strong and the weak.[21] Young children are often the strongest witness of God as they often respond with awe and wonder to the world around them.[22] It is not human arrogance but childlike recognition of God’s name that asserts such power.[23]

In V4, the speaker changes from “our” in V2 to “we”.[24] We see the greatness of the God, who created the boundless heaven by his ‘fingers’.[25] “Heavens” and “moons and stars” are word pairs, with the former referring to the daytime sky, and the latter referring to the night sky.[26] When we gaze at the stars and moon, we often find ourselves catching our breath[27] and becoming aware of one’s own insignificance. The finite is confronted with the infinite, the transient with the eternal.[28] In V5, “What is man?... Nothing.”[29] We see more parallel word pairs here: mankind vs human being, mindful vs attend. אֱנוֹשׁ and אָדָם are used to refer to human frailty and mortality.[30] זכר has a sense of compassion and purpose, since “remembering” implies God’s movement toward the object of his memory. פקד (lit. ‘you attend to’) similarly implies His action as well as His concern.”[31] God first thinks (be mindful) then acts (attend).[32] We even see a rhyme: rhyme: כִּֽי־תִזְכְּרֶ֑נּוּ and כִּ֣י תִפְקְדֶֽנּוּ.

In V6-9, we see God’s role for mankind as “a little lesser than God”.[33] אֱלֹהִים can mean “God, gods, divine beings”. Some interpreters (LXX, Tg, Syr) are prompted by modesty and use “angels”.[34]^,[35] “A little lesser than God” seem to contradict V4-5, which emphasises on the distinction between God, the majestic creator, and us, his frail creatures. I would keep “a little lesser than God” (Jerome, Aq, Sym, Th) because V6 seem to allude to the “image of God” mentioned in Genesis 1:26[36], which affirms the human race as being made in the image and likeness of God[37], and are crowned to take up God’s sovereignty in the world[38]. In Hebrew, V6 is a chiasm: verb (diminished), noun (angels), noun (honour and glory), verb (make a crown).

Some take the meaning of מְעַט temporally, “for a little while”[39], which implies that humans are only in the special position for the short period before the fall. Goldingay[40] does not think this interpretation will work, because “human disobedience did not undo humanity’s authority any more than it eliminated the divine image from humanity” (Genesis 9:1-2, 6), and “what God intended humanity to be, God still intends humanity to be.” Though mankind is small and insignificant, God has appointed man the divine function of governing[41], to extend mastery over all creating things, examples being living creatures in v8-9. [42]^,[43],[44] In V10, we see an inclusion, where the poetry begins and ends in similar ways.

Key details and critical issues:

Structurally, V2-3 is an invocation to praise the majesty of God’s name and God’s glory. V4-9 describes the motivation behind this: God is to be praised because God is the is the majestic creator, and God cares about us. V4-5 describes mankind’s sense of insignificance. V6-9 describes God’s role for mankind, which is to make them rulers over God’s creation. V10 is the conclusion, where there is repeated praise of the majesty of God’s name. Directionally, we see a movement from earth to heaven (V2-3), and from the heavens (V4) back to earth (V5-9); from Yahweh (V2) to humanity (V3), and from humanity (V5-9) back to Yahweh (V10).[45] There is also a horizontal movement that moves outward from human society from V8-9, from domesticated animals outward until it ends in the sea, the place of chaos, which is least hospitable to human society.[46]

In terms of language, there are many royal terminologies: The first stanza celebrates God as the king of creation, with words of royal divine attributes such as אַדִּיר and עֹז.[47] A metaphor is “a picture that is painted in words.”[48] The metaphor about the heavens, moon and stars being the work of God’s fingers is a way of identifying these as mere objects rather than deities.[49] The second half of this psalm honours humans, who have been crowned with royal responsibility.[50] Verbs such as עטר and משׁל are all royal terms. Terms such as כָּבוֹד, הָדָר and the phrase שַׁ֣תָּה תַֽחַת־רַגְלָֽיו carry royal connotations. The metaphor about God crowning humanity is a way of illustrating the extension of royalty from God the creator king to humanity.[51]

In terms of genre, this is a hymn of praise, and can be defined more precisely as a psalm of creation, as there is a relationship between this psalm and Genesis1.[52] Hymns celebrate the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who He is and what He has done[53], and relating us and our world to Him.[54] Psalm8 is a unique piece, combining hymnic material, wisdom material and lament material. For example, there is a point of similarity between Ps8:5 and Job7:17. The theme of creation seemed to have developed most fulling during and after the Exile, so this psalm is commonly thought of as postexilic.[55]

Theological reflection:

The central theme of this psalm is our covenant with the God whose glory fills the earth.[56] We see God’s revelation in Nature.[57] God’s reign in the world extends beyond his covenant people to include the whole humanity.[58] The Old Testament faith is such as that of the psalmist frequently had to fight against the idea of reducing God to a national level.[59] This hymn is “an expression of the sovereignty theology that is a hallmark of the Psalter”.[60] While acknowledging “the finiteness of a human being, his unimportance and limits”[61], this psalm also addresses the paradox that God “chose the weak… to shame the strong… so that no one may boast before him” (ICor.1:27, 29).[62] In Matthew21:15-16, when the Pharisees confronted Jesus at the temple about the children shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David”, Jesus quoted Ps8:3.[63]

Another important theme is the purpose of human existence: “What is man?”[64] Despite the finiteness of humanity, God conferred dignity and value upon us[65] by giving us “dominion” over creation.[66] “Dominion involved a pattern of responsibility. Glory belonged to the ruler, but the ruling was to be for the benefit of the ruled.”[67] Furthermore, according to Deut.17:14-20, “the king was given authority and responsibility in equal measures”.[68] God has placed all things under our feet not so that we may walk over them, but that we might care for them.[69] Currently we are depleting the earth and its resources, and a new sense of stewardship needs to replace this human greed.[70] Humanity should use their power over creation in a way that “serves the purposes and practices of their own sovereign.”[71] We are to view the “civilising work of humanity as honour and glory conferred on it by God and, therefore, as cause and content for praise of God.”[72] Man’s dominion over nature is second place to his calling as servant and worshipper.[73]

Bibliography:

Craigie, Peter C. Psalms 1-50. Waco: Word Books, 1983.

Davidson, Robert. The Vitality of Worship: a commentary on the Book of Psalms. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

DeClaisse-Walford, Nancy, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.

Goldingay, John. Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

Jacobson, Rolf A. and Karl N. Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms: A Reader’s Guide for Discovery and Engagement. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.

Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1-72. London: IVP, 1973.

Mays, James Luther. Psalms. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994.

Weiser, Artur. The Psalms. London: SCM Press, 1962.

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[1] לְ something associated with David, belonging to/of/by/concerning.

[2] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 156. “Founding” is a frequent image for God’s brining the world into being, which involves gaining control of dynamic forces that could work against God’s purpose to create a cosmos.

[3] צוֹרְרֶ֑יךָ “hostile towards you”=”foes”

[4] Nancy DeClaisse-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner. The Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 121.

[5] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 37.

[6] James Luther Mays, Psalms (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994), 65.

[7] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 122.

[8] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 37.

[9] Mays, Psalms, 65-66.

[10] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 105. אֲשֶׁ֥ר Usually followed by perfect or imperfect. It’s not the normal imperative either. It’s got paragogic heh. One interpretative option is the root is tanat: chant or sing. Craige suggest combining the letters, because an incorrect word division has crept in, and the verb root is sharat, and na is engergic, which means to serve or worship.

[11] John Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 155.

אַדִּיר is usually used “with the implication of mighty or powerful”.

[12] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 155. הוֹד suggests “awesome power and authority”. “Splendour” chosen because “majesty” was already used for אַדִּיר.

[13] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 37.

[14] Mays, Psalms, 65-66.

[15] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 121.

[16] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 155.

[17] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 37.

[18] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 107.

[19] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 38.

[20] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 107.

[21] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 66.

[22] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 38.

[23] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 108.

[24] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 158.

[25] Artur Weiser, The Psalms (London: SCM Press, 1962), 140, 142.

[26] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 158.

[27] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 38.

[28] Weiser, The Psalms, 143.

[29] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 108.

[30] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 39.

[31] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 67.

[32] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 158.

[33] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 108.

[34] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 39.

[35] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 122.

[36] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 67.

[37] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 39.

[38] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 159.

[39] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 67.

[40] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 161.

[41] Weiser, The Psalms, 144.

[42] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 107.

[43] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 108.

[44] Weiser, The Psalms, 145.

[45] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 37.

[46] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 125-126.

[47] Goldingay, Psalms Volume 1, 157.

[48] Rolf A. Jacobson, and Karl N. Jacobson. Invitation to the Psalms: A Reader’s Guide for Discovery and Engagement (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 120.

[49] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 124.

[50] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 124.

[51] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 125.

[52] Robert Davidson, The Vitality of Worship: a commentary on the Book of Psalms (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 36.

[53] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72 (London: IVP, 1973), 65.

[54] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 66.

[55] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 106.

[56] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 66.

[57] Artur Weiser, The Psalms (London: SCM Press, 1962), 140.

[58] Mays, Psalms, 69.

[59] Weiser, The Psalms, 141.

[60] Mays, Psalms, 66.

[61] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 68.

[62] Weiser, The Psalms, 142.

[63] Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 109.

[64] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 120.

[65] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 124.

[66] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 39.

[67] Mays, Psalms, 69.

[68] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 127.

[69] DeClaisse-Walford, Jacobson, and Tanner, The Book of Psalms, 127.

[70] Davidson, The Vitality of Worship, 40.

[71] Mays, Psalms, 69.

[72] Mays, Psalms, 69.

[73] Kidner, Psalms 1-72, 68.