Ps. 8, Pt. 2 (Majesty and the Lifting)

Majesty and the Lifting: It is an interesting thing to note that the psalmist begins the psalm declaring that he is going to worship the ‘majesty above the heavens’, but the rest of the psalm focuses on Yhwh’s lifting up of the lowly in order to grant them a participation within his strength. True, he does mention “the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars”, but the dominant note that is struck is the fact that Yhwh consistently “establishes his strength” either through “babes and sucklings” or through the seemingly irrelevant “sons of man”. Indeed, the reference to the heavens’ creation only serves to highlight the magnitude of the authority that is granted to man. If we are, in fact, to see in this psalm a praise of Yhwh’s majesty, then we must come to a rather profound realization: that it is precisely in “the lifting” that the psalmist sees one of the grandest expressions of Yhwh’s majesty and mastery over creation. In other words, Yhwh’s condescension to establish his strength in the lowly is, almost paradoxically, an expression (or theophany) of his majesty. This is something we alluded to in our reflection on Psalm 2—that it was precisely in mediating his authority through the Davidic king that we were permitted to witness an aspect of Yhwh’s love and authority that otherwise would remain hidden. Yhwh is one who can actually hand over power and thereby increase his own glory rather than lose or diminish it. More deeply still, the more he establishes his power in the ‘lowly’ the more his power is actually revealed; if he can establish his strength through “babes and sucklings” then he is not limited to the realm of human forms of dominion and power. Instead, he can pacify (vs. 2) all human forms of dominion and power precisely through those who have none. This is why the psalmist can actually overwhelmed by Yhwh’s majesty, precisely through his mediation upon the authority that has been granted to man. We might say: God could subdue Rome through a backwater nothing-of-a-man.