Psalms 8:1 «To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. » O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. _To the chief Musician upon Gittith_] Upon the cittern, or gittern, brought from Gath, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; or, that... [ Continue Reading ]
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Ver. 2. _Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings_] For whom God hath filled two bottles of milk against they come into the world; and in whose birth sust... [ Continue Reading ]
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Ver. 3. _When I consider thy heavens_] And that men should be much in this consideration, both the bolt-upright figure of their bodies may admonish them, and also that fifth muscle which God hath... [ Continue Reading ]
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Ver. 4. _What is man, that thou art mindful of him?_] Sorry, sickly man, a mass of mortalities, a map of miseries, a mixture or compound of dirt and sin? And yet God is mindful of him; he not only takes care of h... [ Continue Reading ]
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Ver. 5. _For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels_] Compare here with Hebrews 2:6,7, and it will appear that whatsoever is spoken here of man is applied to Christ, and so is proper to the... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet: Ver. 6. _Thou madest him to have dominion, &c._] He had so at first, Genesis 1:26, shall have again, Zec 8:12 Revelation 21:7; meanwhile (though _Rebellis facta est creatura homnini, quia homo n... [ Continue Reading ]
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; Ver. 7. _All sheep and oxen, &c._] There are beasts _ad esum et ad usum,_ saith one. Some are profitable dead, not alive, as the hog; some alive, not dead, as the dog, horse, &c.; some both, as the ox; yet none so profitable as the sheep, who ha... [ Continue Reading ]
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, [and whatsoever] passeth through the paths of the seas. Ver. 8. _The fowl of the air_] These Moses seemeth to have forgotten, in that discontented speech of his, Numbers 11:22, but God sent those murmmurers such a drift of quails (meat of kings, with th... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth! Ver. 9. _O Lord our Lord, &c._] _Prius incipit Propheta mirari quam loqui, et desinit loqui non mirari._ The psalmist endeth as he began, transported with an ecstasy of admiration. So he begins and ends many of his psalms with Halleluja... [ Continue Reading ]