There are 5 participants/characters in Psalm 8:
Profile List
| YHWH
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| "YHWH" (vv. 2, 10)
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| "our lord" (vv. 2, 10)
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| Humanity
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| "nursing children" (v. 3)
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| "mankind" (v. 5)
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| "human being" (v. 5)
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| Enemies
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| "adversaries" (v. 3)
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| "vengeful enemy" (v. 3)
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| Animals
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| "sheep" (v. 8)
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| "goats and cattle" (v. 8)
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| "wild animals" (v. 8)
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| "birds" (v. 9)
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| "fish" (v. 9)
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Profile Notes
- David: David, the 10th century king of Israel and Judah, is named in the superscription (v. 1) as the author of the psalm. The fact that the psalm was written by a king is significant. Behind the psalm's reflection on humanity, there is an implicit reflection on David's kingdom and dynasty. David, the shepherd boy and the youngest of his brothers, was an unlikely candidate for the throne (cf. v. 5). Nevertheless, YHWH exalted him and gave him dominion over his enemies (cf. vv. 6–9).
- YHWH:The psalm is addressed to "YHWH" (vv. 2, 10), the God of Israel and the creator and "Lord" of the world. The entire psalm is addressed to YHWH in the second person. "It is worth stressing that throughout the entire poem, the Creator is addressed directly and intimately: your name, you have established, your heavens, you remember them, and so on."[1]
- Nursing children (עוֹלְלִים וְיֹנְקִים) (v. 3) represent the weakest and most vulnerable part of the human race (cf. 1 Sam 15:3; 22:29; Jer 44:7; Lam 1:16; Joel 2:16). They are an image of Israel and her kings, who were completely dependent on YHWH for help. Their best hope was to cry out to him.
- YHWH's enemies (v. 3) may be either "historical persons and nations (Ps 2:1-3) or mythological beings and disruptive cosmic forces (Pss 74:13; 89:10; 93:3)."[2] Those who argue for the latter think that "the enemy and avenger in v. [3]c are best explained as a reference to the foes that God overcomes in the process of creation."[3] Those who argue that the adversaries are human and historical point to the use of the phrase "your adversaries" (צֹרְרֶיךָ) in Ps 74:4 and "vengeful enemy" (אויב ומתנקם) in Ps 44:17 to refer to Israel's enemies[4] along with the fact that "here, as throughout the psalms, the psalmist is fluidly able to identify personal enemies with those hostile to God."[5] This view is probably correct, and the enemies probably refer to the enemies of God's people.
- Animals: Vv. 8-9 lists three basic categories of animals: (1) land animals, domestic and wild (v. 8), (2) birds (v. 9aα), and (3) fish (v. 9aβb). The list of animals in these verses illustrate the "horizontal vector that moves outward from human society: sheep and oxen → beasts of the field → birds → fish → whatever passes the paths of the seas."[6] There is a subtle connection between the "enemies" whom YHWH defeats (v. 3) and the "animals" which YHWH subjugates under humanity's feet (vv. 8–9). Elsewhere, wild animals are used to depict the enemies of God's people (e.g., Pss 7:3; 10:9; 17:12; 22:13, 17, 22; 68:30; 80:14,[7] and the image of being put "under one's feet" evokes the conquest of enemies (cf. Josh 10:24; Ps 110:1). The point of the connection is not to say that animals are somehow morally on par with YHWH's wicked enemies. It is to say, however, that they represent a force of chaos that must be subdued.
- ↑ Jacobson 2014, 123.
- ↑ Rogerson and McKay 1977, 42.
- ↑ Jacobson 2014, 123.
- ↑ E.g., Baethgen 1904, 21.
- ↑ Wilson 2002, 203; cf. Ps 2:3; 1 Sam 30:26.
- ↑ Jacobson 2014, 125; cf. Whitekettle 2006, 757-761.
- ↑ Cf. Brown 2002, 137-144.