Psalm 8/Notes/Grammar.V. 5.211488

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  • The rhetorical question at the center of the psalm, what is mankind...? (מָה אֱנוֹשׁ), echoes the rhetorical question at the beginning and end of the psalm, "how majestic...!" (מָה אַדִּיר).[1] But whereas the rhetorical question in v. 2 and v. 10 conveys a positive value judgment about YHWH's majesty, the rhetorical question in v. 5 conveys a negative value judgment about humanity.[2] Compare, for example, 2 Kings 8:13, which has a similar syntactic structure and tone: "What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?" (ESV).
  1. ↑ Note also the similarity in sound between אַדִּיר and אָדָם.
  2. ↑ Interrogative מה "functions as an introduction to a rhetorical question in which a speaker usually expresses a value judgment about something or someone. This value judgment is usually negative" (BHRG §42.3.6).