Psalm 8:1–9

Bible Studies for Life 
Associate Professor of Religion, Samford University

Cherished in God’s Eyes

Psalm 8:1–9 

Today’s lesson is a capstone for the previous six Sundays: “Priceless: Finding Your Value in God.”

Like many psalms, the heading of Psalm 8 provides a clue about how it was used. “To the leader/director of music/choirmaster” indicates that a group, maybe the whole congregation, probably sang the psalm. “The Gittith” might refer to a particular melody (see also Psalms 81 and 84). “A Psalm of David” was probably not part of the original composition. It could indicate that people thought David had written it, that it expressed a devotion to God like David’s or that it had some other association with the king. One may turn to Genesis 1:1–2:4 and read the psalm along with that creation story.

Another thing to look for in any example of Hebrew poetry is “parallelism:” two or three adjacent lines with similar meanings and structures.

God created us for His glory. (1–2)

Don’t let “Oh Lord, our Lord” pass you by. The psalmist is not content to refer to God as “Lord.” God is “our Lord.” That opening line is simply packed with good theology: The God who flung the stars out onto the expanse of heaven is the God who created and called us.

In these verses we meet our first example of parallelism: God’s name is “majestic in all the earth” and God has “set Your glory above the heavens.” The division echoes God’s creation of the dome of the sky above and dry land below (Gen. 1:6–10). God is both transcendent, above the heavens, and imminent, present in all the earth. God exists both within and outside of creation.

The psalmist understands even the babbling of infants as praise glorifying God. That all of creation praises God is considered “strength” (your translation might say “a stronghold” or “a bulwark”) to withstand God’s enemies. Who are these? In our context, perhaps they are people who cannot see creation as God’s work. As “enemies,” they are not to be fought but to be prayed for and loved (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27–36).

God crowns us with His glory. (3–9)

While creating in Genesis 1, God repeatedly calls the creation “good.” After God created people He said everything was “very good.” Genesis 1 presents humans as the apex of creation. Step-by-step God prepares the world for their arrival — they would not have survived in the dark, watery chaos present in the beginning. The psalmist agrees with that assessment, expressing amazement that the God of creation cares for one small part of it, and that God partners with them to care for creation.

In verse 3, to say that God “established the moon and the stars” in the heavens is to deny that the moon and stars are gods, or dwellings for gods, as they were in many religions of the psalmist’s day. In verse 4, “man” and “son of man” are two ways of saying “humans” or “people.” This verse gives us one of our clearest examples of parallelism.

In verse 5, a Hebrew word can mean either “God” or “gods.” Because it is plural, some translators take it to refer to divine beings, hence “angels” (see Heb. 2:9, where the author is talking about Jesus). The point is that no other earthly being has the honor humans do.

Psalm 8:9 repeats verse 1. The psalmist reminds readers not to end with pride in human glory, but to end by giving God’s majesty the final word. What is our purpose? It is the same as creation’s purpose: to give glory to God.