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“The Son of Man in Psalm 8”
Categories: Bulletin Articles
Unlike many of its neighbors in the early part of Psalms, Psalm 8 is an apparently straightforward song of praise to God. In vs. 1-2, it points out His power, revealed both in the glories of creation and in His exaltation of the lowly over the wicked.
The key question of the psalm appears in vs. 3-4. Given that God is so great, why does He have any regard for mankind ("the son of man" in v. 4), which is much less important than He is? The rest of the psalm points out that God's regard is evident in His blessings. He has made mankind the most exalted of the earthly beings, crowning us with glory and honor, and given us dominion over all other earthly creatures.
Makes sense, right? However, in Hebrews 2, the writer reveals that the psalm has a hidden meaning. It isn't only about the lower-case-s son of man, us. It's about the capital-s Son of Man, Jesus. Even though Jesus was not originally lower than the angels, He was made to be so.
Like us, He tasted mortality, but after His death, He was crowned with glory and honor and given dominion not only over the creatures of the earth, but over all of God's creation. However, we still await the time when everything will be put under His feet. Death has yet to be subjected to Him.
All of this might seem like a subversion of Psalm 8's original point, but in truth it confirms it. It is ultimately Jesus' death on our behalf, not our earthly preeminence, that proves how much God cares for us. In Hebrews 2:10, the writer observes that Jesus brought many sons to glory. Our salvation is the greatest way that God crowns us with glory and honor, all by causing His Son to become one of us and die for us.
In response to this, we can only echo Psalm 8's closing thoughts: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!"
