Psalms 8:4

_WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM? AND THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU VISITEST HIM?_ How condescending that the Creator of such glorious luminaries (Psalms 8:3) should stoop to make man [literally, frail man, _ 'ªNOWSH_ (H582)] a special object of His regard! THE SON OF Man 1:-1 :e., mortal man; Hebrew, 'the son of Adam,' whose very name (Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19) implies that he is "of earth, earthy," and frail. VISITEST HIM? - with such favour (so visit is used, Ruth 1:6; Genesis 21:

3-9 We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In Hebrews 2:6, the apostle, to prove the sovereign dominion of Christ, shows he is that Man, that Son of man, here spoken of, whom God has made to have dominion over the works of his hands. The greatest favour ever showed to the human race, and the greatest honour ever put upon human nature, were exemplified in the Lord Jesus. With good reason does the psalmist conclude as he began, Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which has been honoured with the presence of the Redeemer, and is still enlightened by his gospel, and governed by hi...

Verse Psalms 8:4. _WHAT IS MAN_] מה אנוש _mah enosh_, what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin? _THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM?_] That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view. _AND THE SON OF MAN_] ובן אדם _uben Adam_, and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on Job 7:17. Some think eminent men are here intended. What is _man_ in _common_; what the _most eminent men_; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them? _THAT THOU VISITEST HIM?_] By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of _sin, righteousness_, and _judgment_. It is by these

WHAT IS MAN - What claim has one so weak, and frail, and short-lived, to be remembered by time? What is there in man that entitles him to so much notice? Why has God conferred on him so signal honor? Why has he placed him over the works of his hands? Why has he made so many arrangements for his comfort? Why has he done so much to save him? He is so insignificant his life is so much like a vapor, he so soon disappears, he is so sinful and polluted, that the question may well be asked, why such honor has been conferred on him, and why such a dominion over the world has been given him. See these thoughts more fully expanded in the notes at Hebrews 2:6. THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM - That thou dost remember him; that is, think of him, attend to him - that he does not pass away wholly from thy thoughts. Why should a God who is

EXPOSITION Psalm VIII. is altogether a psalm of praise and thanksgiving. Its primary idea is the condescending love and goodness of God towards man. That God, who had made the heavens, and sot his glory on them, should have a regard for man, and "visit him,"_ _and not only so, but give him so lofty a position, so exalted a destiny, is a thought that is well-nigh overwhelming. The psalmist, filled with the thought, can do no less than pour out his feelings of love and gratitude in song. The Davidical authorship is generally allowed. What "upon Gittith' means is very uncertain, but the most probable conjecture is that a melody, or musical style, which David had learnt at Gath, is intended. PSALMS 8:1 O LORD OUR LORD. In the original, _Jehovah Adoneynu_;_ i.e._ "Jehovah, who art our sovereign Lord and

WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM?.... That is, the psalmist, while he was considering the greatness and glory of the celestial bodies, thought this within himself, and so expressed it; which is to be understood, not of man in general, nor of Adam in a state of innocence; he could not be called "Enosh", the word here used, which signifies a frail, weak, sickly mortal man; nor could he with any propriety be said to be the son of man, as in the following clause: nor of fallen man, or of Adam's posterity, descending from him by ordinary generation; for all things are not put in subjection to them, as is hereafter said of man: but this is to be understood of the man Christ Jesus, as it is interpreted in Hebrews 2:6; or of that individual of human nature which Christ assumed. The name of Enosh well agrees with him, who was a man of no note and esteem among men, a worm and no man, a ma...

8 _:_ 1. _O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens._ They are very high, but thy glory is higher than the heavens. Psalms 8:2. _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. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?_ He, whose voice rolls the stars along, who makes those bright worlds to fly like sparks from the anvil of his omnipotence, how can he stoop so low as to regard his fallen creature, man, who is so small, so insignificant? Psalms 8

Psalms 8 THE SON OF MAN: ALL THINGS PUT UNDER HIS FEET _ 1. A little lower than the angels; crowned with glory (Psalms 8:1)_ 2. All things put under Him (Psalms 8:6) 3. How excellent is Thy Name over all the earth (Psalms 8:9) Psalms 8:1. In this Psalm we behold Christ again, and here as Son of Man. Three times this Psalm is quoted in the New Testament; in Matthew 21:16,...

VIII. A NATURE PSALM. Psalms 8:1 f. The majesty of God. In Matthew 2 defies the rudiments of Heb. grammar and all attempt at translation. Of many emendations the following is the most ingenious and does least violence to the text, Let me sing, I pray thee, of thy glory above the heavens, [though] with the mouth of babes and sucklings. Thou hast founded a stronghold because of thine enemies, to still the foe and the avenger. The reference may be to the chaotic power of darkness dispelled by the God of light, whom the Hebrews identified with Yahweh. Psalms 8:3 f. The insignificance of man. [Observe that son of man is equivalent to man. It has not the special significance it bears in the apocalyptic literature and the NT. Probably it bears the same significance in the quotation in Heb. as in the Ps. The

WHAT... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. Quoted in Hebrews 2:5. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:27 and Ephesians 1:22. MAN. mortal man. Hebrew. _'enosh._ MINDFUL... VISITEST. Figure of speech _Anabasis._ THE SON OF MAN. No Art. Occurs. times before this (Numbers 23:19; Job 25:6; Job 35:8). In singular 111 times in O.T. and 39 times in plural (the other occurrences in the Pss. ...