Ps. 8 (babes and sucklings)

From / the mouths / of babes / and sucklings 
You / have established / strength / on account of / your enemies  
to put / at rest / both / foe and avenger.

This is a notoriously difficult passage to understand. Few commentators have been able to adequately make sense of it. What exactly is happening here and what have these “babes and sucklings” done that establishes Yhwh’s strength? Also, notice how this psalm seems to ‘work’ (according to our understanding) much better if you simply remove these lines: the psalm then becomes a hymn to the Creator, much like the Genesis creation accounts. Why is there this apparently odd reference to “putting to rest” foe and avenger? The entire rest of the psalm is concerned with creation. Beginning with the opening we see that it is “from their mouths” that strength is established. If our psalm gives us any indication about what they are saying it is probably that it is the divine name—Yhwh. The psalm opened with the “majestic name” in “all the earth”. The name has, therefore, already been portrayed as inhabiting the entire human realm. And, not just that, the majesty of the name is “above the heavens”. There may be a clue here: the ‘majesty’ as we saw is the regnal power of Yhwh to command and demand the obedient admiration of creation. The name of Yhwh is both that which attracts all of creation around and to him, and that which also establishes the absolute fact of Yhwh’s distance from creation (as Creator/Master). This name, though, was given to Israel in the Exodus. I believe it crucial here to recognize that the name was ‘established’ in Israel precisely at the time that they were under the complete and total domination Pharaoh and it was given as a source of power to deliver Israel from this Egyptian god-man (and, the Egyptian gods themselves). And, it was given to a group of people that were, truly, the least of all in the earth: slaves. It was not revealed or delivered to the strong, but to the weakest—those most incapable of delivering themselves. I do not think the name should ever be forgotten, then, as originating as a source of deliverance and as guaranteeing that that deliverance is understood as originating in Yhwh (due to the fact that it was given to those who would never be able to have claimed victory for themselves). Even when it ‘dwelt’ in the Temple it remained this pervasive force to establish Israel as the kingdom of Yhwh. Whether this is being directly referred to, I do not know. I do know that Israel, in the exodus, is referred to as Yhwh’s “first born” and could therefore be seen as a type of ‘babe’. There are also ample references in the prophets to the exodus being the time of Israel’s birth. Jeremiah refers to Yhwh finding Israel in the ‘dessert’ covered in her birth-blood (referring to the exodus). During the conquest of the land it is said that the inhabitants had heard of Yhwh’s great act of deliverance and were terrified that this Warrior God was now coming to displace them as he routed Pharaoh (this must have been truly terrifying). Likewise, Yhwh repeatedly tells Yhwh that he will route the enemies in the land so that they will “find their rest” (the land being a type of geographical Sabbath). This, I think, begins to point us the correct direction but, again, why put this here at all in the midst of a psalm about creation? As we proceed through the psalm it moves in this manner: the heavens, man, the living things of creation. The wording is very similar (and, at times, identical) to that of Genesis. There is also a very profound similarity in this: that the heavens are merely the work of Yhwh’s ‘fingers’. In Genesis the creatures of the deep were understood as Leviathon, a terrifying creature that, in every other mythological conception, was the source of chaos. The fact that Genesis seems to find him to but a plaything to Yhwh is similar to the heavens being but the work of his ‘fingers’. It shows Yhwh’s total mastery and the fact the he stands as the source of everything. Why is this important? Genesis opens with the watery chaos. Over this the spirit of the Lord hovers. It is at this point that creation ‘begins’. This watery chaos makes a reappearance in the Noah story—it is released from the bounds set by Yhwh earlier and covers the earth again (creation is returned to its pre-creation: Yhwh is ‘starting over’). In Exodus, this watery chaos can also be seen in the Reed Sea that Yhwh effortlessly parts for Israel and yet allows to descend upon Egypt. My point is this: when matched up to the Genesis account this opening is not odd. It is the taming of the forces of chaos that initiates creation itself. Except, now, the images of Israel as the ‘babe’ and the story of the exodus are all brought into a rather remarkable unity. It is as if we are to see in creation the exodus, and, in the exodus we are to see creation. For Israel, it is clear that they both influenced each other (one did not ‘come first’ in understanding—the more they reflected on the exodus the more they understood creation; the more they reflected on creation the more they understood the exodus (the exodus including, also, the conquest of the land)).