Psa 8:4-6 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 4. What is man ] mah enosh , what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin? That thou art mindful of him? ] That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view. And the son of man ] uben Adam , and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on . Some think eminent men are here intended. What is man in common ; what the most eminent men ; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them? That thou visitest him? ] By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of sin, righteousness , and judgment . It is by these visits that man is preserved in a salvable state. Were God to withhold them, there would be nothing in the soul of man but sin, darkness, hardness, corruption, and death.

‏ Psalms 8:4-6

Verse 4. What is man] mah enosh, what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin?

That thou art mindful of him?] That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view.

And the son of man] uben Adam, and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on Job 7:17. Some think eminent men are here intended. What is man in common; what the most eminent men; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them?

That thou visitest him?] By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is by these visits that man is preserved in a salvable state. Were God to withhold them, there would be nothing in the soul of man but sin, darkness, hardness, corruption, and death.

Verse 5. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels] The original is certainly very emphatic: vattechasserchu meat meelohim, Thou hast lessened him for a little time from God. Or, Thou hast made him less than God for a little time. See these passages explained at large in the notes on Heb 2:6, &c., which I need not repeat here.

Verse 6. Thou madest him to have dominion] Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of God, and equal with God, for a time emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation; was afterwards highly exalted, and had a name above every name. See the notes referred to above, and those on Php 2:6-9.

Thou hast put all things under his feet] Though the whole of the brute creation was made subject to Adam in his state of innocence; yet it could never be literally said of him, that God had put all things under his feet, or that he had dominion over the work of God's hands; but all this is most literally true of our Lord Jesus; and to him the apostle, Heb 2:6, &c., applies all these passages.