Ps 8 -- the Philippian hymn

O Yhwh / our governor

                How majestic your name is / in all the earth

                I will worship your majesty / above the heavens

The psalm opens with a praise of the majesty of Yhwh’s “name” both “in all the earth” and “above the heavens”. Here, we see how the manifestation of Yhwh’s majesty is a manifestation of the “name”, and vice versa, the manifestation of the ‘name’ is a manifestation of his majesty. And this permeates the earth and, more importantly, it is and object of praise “above the heavens”—the seat of ultimate divine presence. It is both “in the earth” and “above the heavens”. This name-manifestation will serve as the center of the psalm.

From the mouths / of babes and sucklings

                You have established strength / on account of your enemies

                To put at rest / both foe and avenger

The psalmist then moves into the body of the psalm, and he begins in a seemingly strange place. The psalm began with an almost epic vantage of Yhwh’s name permeating not only the earth but being an object of praise “above the heavens” themselves. This is staggering in its portrayal of Yhwh’s name-majesty. But here, from the height, the psalm begins with the lowest—Yhwh’s name-strength is established “from the mouths of babes and sucklings”. And it is from this source of seeming vulnerability and weakness that Yhwh establishes his strength to “put at rest both foe and avenger.”

The visible display of Yhwh’s majesty “in all the earth” and “above the heavens” is now portrayed as being established by “babes and sucklings”. We will see later a similar “establishment through the weak”. What we can tentatively say here, though, is that the display of Yhwh’s name-majesty is not hindered by weakness but, instead, is amplified by it. Or, we might say, it finds a ready vessel to display itself. I believe the psalmist here is being intentional when he puts these two things together, things which generally are understood as being far apart. We have seen in other psalms how Yhwh’s creative power puts him outside the spectrum of creation—outside the spectrum spanning from the most majestic (the angels) to the least (rocks). And by being outside this spectrum, Yhwh can ‘touch’ each part of it equally. Or, here, he can equally manifest himself in each part. He is not constrained by the spectrum of power, because he created it. This serves a crucial point—the ‘highest’ display of power along the spectrum is not, itself, the greatest display of Yhwh’s power. Again, Yhwh is not bound by the spectrum. The ‘lowest’ can form as equal an expression of Yhwh’s majesty as the highest, and, in some cases, perhaps more.

This, of course, radically changes how we understand divine power and majesty. It can, for example, shine as much through a slaughtered lamb as it can through a roaring lion. It can shine as much through a son of man with eyes of fire as a baby in a feeding trough.

Here, the name-presence permeates the cosmos and extends beyond it. It’s establishment for purposes of thwarting Yhwh’s enemies, though, is in the weakness of babes and sucklings. This is important—when it comes to displaying Yhwh’s authority against his enemies, he does so through those on the ‘bottom’ of the spectrum. On some level this be a type of parable, a display of Yhwh’s authority that is meant to confuse in order to reorient his people around him. In other words, it is meant to forcefully display what his “name” really is. And, in part, it is this—that even in the weakest, Yhwh’s authority is greater than those at the ‘top’ of the spectrum. That not only does Yhwh not shun those on the bottom of the spectrum, but, in fact, makes his home there; he ‘tabernacles’ there. And this is a great mercy for the world—because it is an evident and clear sign of Yhwh and his absolute reign over the entire Cosmos. Because if his authority can be displayed over the strongest, precisely through the weakest, then, again, he is shown as the One who stands outside the entire spectrum of authority and power. It is a lighthouse to the world that “here” is (the) God.

When I see your heavens / the work of your fingers

                The moon and the stars / which you have established

What is man / that you are mindful of him

                And the son of man / that you attend to him

But you have made him / little less than god

                And you will crown him / with glory and honor

You will make him / master over the work of your hands

                You have set everything / beneath his feet

All sheep and cattle

                And even the beasts of the field

Birds of the air / and fishes of the sea

                Whatever passes through the pathways of the seas

The psalmist here, in a sense, recapitulates everything from the vantage of the “son of man”.

Above, the psalmist says the name-majesty permeates the cosmos and he worships that majesty above the heavens. Here, that name-majesty is “the heavens, the work of your fingers”, the “moon and the stars which you have established.”

Above, the psalmist transitions from this grand, epic scope to the intimate establishment of Yhwh’s name in the weak, babes and sucklings. Here, the psalmist shifts from the heavens to the small “son of man”.

Above, the “mouths of babes and sucklings” establish Yhwh’s majestic authority over his enemies. Here, seemingly insignificant ‘son of man’ is “made little less than a god” and “crowned with glory and honor.”

Above, the “mouths of babes and sucklings” put at rest “both foe and avenger”. Here, the “son of man” is made master over the work or your hands” and “everything is set beneath his feet.” There, the creative, and generative, power that stills the chaos and brings order—like creation itself bringing order from chaos—comes now not from the ‘word of God’ but the ‘mouths of babes and sucklings’. They speak Yhwh’s authority out over the Cosmos and bring with it peace and healing. Here, the ‘son of man’ is likewise placed in that same position and, Adam-like, everything is put beneath his authority and control. There, the ‘word’ is placed in the mouth. Here, the activity and power is placed within the son of man’s control. In both, they are meant to participate in and enact Yhwh’s reigning authority and majesty within the Cosmos.

To continue on the reflection above regarding the ‘babes and sucklings’, we see here that man himself, when seen within the context of the overwhelming work of Yhwh’s hands in the heavens, is as weak and insignificant as ‘babes and sucklings’. And yet, just as the name-majesty has been placed within their mouths and become a bulwark against Yhwh’s enemies, so too has Yhwh ‘crowned’ man with glory and majesty. Just as the babes and sucklings became a theophany of Yhwh’s majesty, so now too is man himself, with the glory he has been given, a theophany of Yhwh. It is insignificant man’s mastery over the domain of the earth that is a clear theophany of Yhwh’s “mindfulness of man”—nothing as small as man could exercise such mastery unless Yhwh himself bestowed upon him such power and authority, “setting everything beneath his feet”. Again, it is Yhwh’s movement to the lowest on the spectrum, bestowing on it authority over the greatest, that reveals that Yhwh stands outside the spectrum. This is the ‘wonder of Yhwh’ that stands at the heart of this psalm—that Yhwh’s choice of the weakest reveals an authority that utterly dwarfs the authority of any along the spectrum of the Cosmos. It is something utterly different, utterly beyond what the Cosmos is capable. And so when it is revealed, it will have to determine, in a way, its own shape and contour; its own form. Because nothing ‘within the spectrum’ will be able to provide a completely accurate analogy to Yhwh’s authority.

Where the wonder: the psalmist express wonder when he sees Yhwh’s name permeating the Cosmos, and when he worships Yhwh’s majesty above the heavens. He is struck with wonder at Yhwh’s construction of the heavens, the ‘work of his fingers’. And yet, for the psalmist, there is an even greater source of wonder—Yhwh’s choice to “raise the lowly” by placing his name on the lips of babes and sucklings and by his regard for man and making him “little less than god”. It is this stooping down that most fully reveals Yhwh’s majesty. We might say that it reveals Yhwh’s majesty to a greater extent than the Cosmos itself—that Yhwh’s lifting up of man and his preference for the weak is the greatest theophany; that we ‘see’ more of who Yhwh is, in his stooping down. And for all the reasons we said above—that by choosing the lowly, Yhwh is, in fact, showing himself/revealing himself to be beyond the spectrum of the Cosmos.

But there is more to it than this. It is not simply that Yhwh is attempting to show his glory and majesty, although it certainly does reveal that. It is man that becomes the vehicle or object of this revelation. Man becomes and is this greatest theophany. And it is Yhwh’s special regard for man—he is “mindful of him” and he “attends him”; he “crowns him” and he places everything of his own creation beneath his feet. There is much more in this than a revelation of Yhwh’s glory—or, we might say, that the revelation of Yhwh’s glory includes within itself a revelation of Yhwh’s tender regard, indeed his love, of man. Perhaps the best way of stating it is this—that Yhwh’s glory is most fully revealed in his love of mankind; that Yhwh’s overwhelming mastery of the Cosmos is not the greatest display of his glory. Rather, in man, we see Yhwh’s heart revealed, and revealed in a way that otherwise would remain hidden. In Yhwh, love, glory and majesty are not separated, but all three are the same in Yhwh.

And here is where we come to an even deeper insight—that the way Yhwh chooses to reveal that he is not a part of the spectrum of the Cosmos is through his loving regard for man. It is ingenious how Yhwh accomplishes the revelation of true glory. The Cosmos itself intimates that authority and power are the same as love. Man himself does also. But, in general there is always a hierarchy of powers. For some, love may be the pinnacle but then authority is made penultimate. For others, authority is the pinnacle but love made penultimate (or, lower down the ladder). This psalm introduces Yhwh as the one who clearly reveals this coincidence of authority and love. And the revelation occurs, the revelation of the coincidence occurs, in Yhwh’s ‘coming down’ to ‘lift up’ man. This coincidence—the ‘coming down’ is a ‘rising’; the descent of authority is the rising of authority; and all of its momentum is through love. Love is the cause of both the coming down and the lifting.

And more deeply still—this is not simply Yhwh’s ‘choice’, this ‘coming-down-to-raise-up’. It is not simply a momentary act of his will. Rather, it truly reflects who Yhwh is. Yhwh is not simply a loving god; he is Love. In other words, it is a real theophany or revelation of Yhwh. Yhwh’s act ‘in time’ reveals his eternal ‘Face’, who Yhwh is “in himself”. For that reason, it is something that can be relied upon absolutely. And, in light of Christ, it is also prophetic—because it points toward the incarnation hymn of Paul’s letter to the Philippians—although he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with god as something to be grasped but, instead, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human likeness, he humbled himself and submitted to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him, giving him the name above all names so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in the heavens and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. In many ways, Psalm 8 is the prophetic template of the Philippian hymn.

Now, in the perception of man and his, to the psalmist, astonishing authority over the “work of Yhwh’s hands”, we at first glance something that seems ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’—at the same time. The psalmist “sees” Yhwh’s hands in both the heavens and in man’s elevation. It is not the case that he sees it ‘naturally’ in the heavens and then ‘supernaturally’ in man. For him, they are both revelations of Yhwh. That said, however, in man he does see a deepening of astonishment, a deepening of the revelation of Yhwh. The more he peers into man’s authority the more he peers into Yhwh’s work of ‘descent-in-order-to-raise’. Importantly, Yhwh’s work is not something that displaces man. The ‘supernatural’ lifting of man, is not something that replaces man. Instead, Yhwh’s work is precisely what ‘makes man, man’. It is important to see how this can only occur by Yhwh, precisely because he is not part of the spectrum of the Cosmos. Any other being within the order of the Cosmos, were it to ‘lift’ man in this capacity, would in fact have to replace man with its own power. Finite things operate in this way. But, with Yhwh, who is infinite, who is not part of the spectrum of the Cosmos, he can act upon man without displacing man. This is how and why Yhwh and man can both remain distinct, and both enact man’s life, but they do so in different ways and different depths—non-competitively.

O Yhwh / our governor

                How majestic your name is / in all the earth.