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think in terms of inches and avoirdupois? Does not a mother's love regard the tiny babe
at her breast as of incomparably more value than the great house in which she lives?
David was under no misapprehension in the matter when he uttered the words of
Psa. 8: Instead of answering his question, "What is man?" as a modern pessimist
would do, he looks at it in a God-taught way, and speaks of man's destiny and dominion.
He does not speak of man's insignificance as compared with the vastness of the heavens,
but he contemplates the moon and the stars, evidently with Gen. 1: in mind, he sees that
this vast fabric was made with man in view: that God was working out a purpose, and
that the magnificence of that purpose puts the argument from relative size completely
aside. David does not merely say "What is man?" but, "What is man that Thou art
mindful of him, and visitest him?"
The word mindful, zakar, is used in connection with remembering a covenant:--
"I will remember My covenant . . . . . that I may remember the everlasting covenant"
(Gen. 9: 15, 16).
"And God remembered His covenant" (Exod. 2: 24; also see 6: 5).
"He will ever be mindful of His covenant . . . . . He hath commanded His covenant for
ever" (Psa. 111: 5 and 9).
From one point of view, man may partake of what is fleeting and insignificant, but it
is in his relation to the purpose of the ages that his real position is seen. Israel were
reminded of this principle:--
"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in
number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord
loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers"
(Deut. 7: 7, 8).
The word visited, pagad, of Isa. 8: 4 naturally follows upon remembrance of the
covenant:--
"I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you" (Jer. 29: 10).
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His
people . . . . . to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy
covenant . . . . . the Day-spring from on high hath visited us" (Luke 1: 68-78).
David therefore in Psa. 8: has in view the fact that man is in covenant relationship
with God, and in harmony with that fact is his place in the scheme of things.
In the background (verse 2) and the subscription (which in the A.V. is wrongly placed
as the superscription of Psa. 9:, see The Companion Bible Appendixes 64 and 65,
section XIII) is "the enemy and the avenger". Upon muth-labben means "death to the
champion". This refers to the death of Goliath. In I Sam. 17: 4 the "champion" is
ish = "man", and habbenayim = "between the two", i.e., "the man between the two
(hosts)".