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Psalms 8:1
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Psalms 8:1 Meaning and Commentary
O Lord our God
Jehovah, the one God, who is Lord of all angels and men, and in an especial manner Lord and King of saints;
how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth!
by the "name" of God is not meant any particular name of his, by which he is called; but either himself, his nature and perfections; or rather that by which he is made known, and particularly his Gospel; see ( John 17:6 ) ( Acts 9:15 ) ; this is excellent in its nature, it being good news, and glad tidings of good things, which display the love, grace, mercy, and kindness of God to men, as well as his wisdom, power, truth, and faithfulness; and in the subject matter of it, Christ and his righteousness, and life and salvation by him, the spiritual blessings of grace it publishes, and the exceeding great and precious promises it contains; and in its usefulness for the enlightening, quickening, and converting sinners, and for the comforting and reviving of drooping saints. It is the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, and excels the law in glory. It cannot well be said how glorious it is; it is marvellously excellent; and that "in all the earth", being carried by the apostles, who were sent by Christ with it, into all the world; where it has shone out, and appeared gloriously to Gentiles as well as Jews. This clause shows that this is said by David prophetically of Gospel times; for not in his time, nor in any period under the Old Testament, was the name of the Lord glorious and excellent in all the earth. His name was great in Israel, but not in all the world. He showed his word, and gave his statutes and ordinances to Jacob; but as for the Gentiles, they were without them, and were strangers to the covenants of promise, ( Psalms 76:1 Psalms 76:2 ) ( Psalms 147:19 Psalms 147:20 ) ( Ephesians 2:12 ) ; but this was true of the first times of the Gospel; and will be still more fully accomplished when the prophecies in ( Malachi 1:11 ) ( Zechariah 14:9 ) ; shall be fulfilled;
who hast set thy glory above the heavens:
meaning his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of his glory; in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead, the glory of all the divine perfections; so called ( Psalms 63:2 ) ( 85:9 ) ; and the setting of him above the heavens designs the exaltation of him at the right hand of God; where angels, principalities, and powers, became subject to him, and he was made higher than the heavens, ( Hebrews 7:26 ) . And it was in consequence, and by virtue of this, that the Gospel was spread throughout the earth; for upon Christ's exaltation the Spirit was poured down upon the apostles, and they were endowed with girls qualifying them to carry the Gospel into each of the parts of the world.