YHWH adonénu ma-addír (Ps 8) Creation put in our hands.

Arranged for lyre. A David psalm.

Our master LORD: What noble name!

You have, in all the earth, great fame

which sets your splendor in the skies.

And in the kids’ and infants’ cries

you build your strength against your foes,

the vengeful; stop all who oppose.

I see the skies—your fingers’ act:

The moon, fixed stars—and I react:

So what are humans, to your mind?—

You care for Adam’s sons so kind.

A little less than gods, we’re made

with glory, honor, crowns you’ve laid.

The things your hands made, you ordain

beneath our feet; you have us reign.

All sheep and cows at our command,

rule over animals on land,

birds of the air, fish of the sea,

whatever swims there: All we see.

Our master LORD: What noble name!

You have, in all the earth, great fame.

—David,

No, the original doesn’t rhyme. That’s just how I chose to translate it. Sometimes I do poetry.

David’s psalm, YHWH adonénu ma-addír/“Our master LORD, how noble” (Latin, Domine, Dominus noster) which we number at eight, is about how God, either in or despite his greatness, put humanity in charge of his creation.

The LORD, David points out, is awesome: He created the cosmos. He greated really huge things. So why are we tiny, powerless humans so important to God? Why’d he make us his sub-gods, given all the authority of gods in this world? Well, David didn’t offer an answer; he leaves that to theologians with way more time on their hands. He only rejoices.

In pagan religions, the gods would forbid many things and practices. No surprise, these same things weren’t forbidden to their priests, or the kings: They had special privileges. The LORD, in comparison, had stricter rules for his priests and kings. What he forbade to commoners, he forbade to everyone, small and great alike. But he forbade very little to humanity. He gave us the world, and Genesis makes it clear he expects us to rule it.

Rule it wisely, one would hope. Not extinguish useful or benign species from the planet, either on purpose or through carelessness. Not pollute and poison our air, lands, and waterways. When Jesus returns to rule it, he’s gonna hold us responsible for the condition it’s in when we hand it over. The excuse, “But you’re gonna create New Earth” is pathetic. When a child’s parents are about to buy him new pants, it doesn’t mean it’s now okay to wet the old ones. But I digress.

As a king, David was particularly mindful of the responsibilities God had set him over. But these responsibilities apply to everyone. (Especially in a democracy.) God gave us a mighty impressive creation to rule over. He gave us the universe. The very least we can do, in return, is praise him.

Lower than gods, or angels?

In verse 6, David wrote, “A little less than gods, we’re made,” but the translators of the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, chose to render it “A little less than angels.” Y’see, the ancient Hebrews were undecided about whether there was more than one god.

No, I’m not talking about polytheism, where multiple gods are worshiped; like when the Hebrews would worship the LORD sometimes, and Ba’al other times. When the Hebrews weren’t going astray, they were, like us Christians, monotheists, recognizing only one being who is God, who has no equal. That, they were clear about: The LORD is God, and not only were they to worship no other, there was no other. No other god can save.

Yet throughout the scriptures we can see there were other beings known as “gods,” or “sons of God.” What are they? Lesser gods? Subordinate gods? Vice-gods? Fake gods? Did the writers of the bible make a mistake in calling them “gods,” and really should’ve just called them “archangels” or something?

Well, if you take elohím/“gods,” and translate it “angels” instead, yeah you do believe the writers of the bible were mistaken in calling them gods. And that’s why the Septuagint (and later, the King James Version) has “angels” in Psalm 8. Some Hebrew dictionaries even claim elohím also means “angels.” But really it doesn’t. It means “gods,” or “God.”

I’m a monotheist too. I have a big problem with using “god” to describe anyone other than the God, the LORD, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I agree with the Hebrews: Technically these “gods” were powerful spirit beings, and the LORD put ’em in charge of big things. Doesn’t mean you worship and serve them. You serve the God. No one else. But if David and the other prophets called them “gods,” meh; I’ll settle for their word.

Well, not so much the Septuagint. Nor the writer of Hebrews. When she quoted this psalm, and inserted Jesus into it, she went with the Septuagint’s translation.

Someone once testified,

“What is a human, that you remember him,

or the Son of Man that you have concern for him?

You made him something slightly lower than angels.

You crowned him with glory and honor.

You put everything under his feet.”

In this “putting everything under,” nothing’s left which is not put under him. Now, we don’t yet see everything put under he who’d been “made something slightly lower than angels.” But we do see, by suffering death, Jesus has been crowned with glory and honor. He might taste death so God’s grace would cover over everyone.

—

Now, I need to explain what the writer of Hebrews was doing here. This is called midrash, a Jewish technique which reads ideas into scripture, and plays with them a little. It’s meant to spark your imagination and creative juices.

In verse 5, “Adam’s son” doesn’t actually refer to Jesus. It’s a parallel to “humans” in the previous line. But the writer of Hebrews was noticing how, if you read “Adam’s son” as if it’s “Man’s son” or “Son of Man,” you notice this passage seems to fit Jesus awfully well. Jesus was made human, i.e. “lower than angels”; Jesus was crowned with glory and honor; Jesus has everything put under his feet. Neat, huh?

Once again, let me be clear: David was not writing about Jesus. Midrash simply notices there are interesting parallels. The problem and danger with midrash is, when people don’t understand we’re only riffing on the bible, they leap to the conclusion David was writing about Jesus. And so they come up with weird beliefs, or even heresy. Midrash can be too easily abused, which is why we Christians don’t encourage it, or make it very clear this is only a thought experiment. (Well, some of us tread lightly. Others don’t bother, or think midrash is a perfectly valid way to interpret the bible. Jews, including Messianic Jews, especially.)

Anyway. Because the writer of Hebrews went with “lower than angels,” a lot of Christians try to read that idea back into Psalm 8. They shouldn’t. Sure, the “gods” aren’t gods like we mean when we use the term. But David wrote “gods,” so I’m going with “gods.”

For one important reason: We humans are not lower than angels. We’re equal to them. That’s why the angels, in Revelation, kept forbidding John to bow to them, as if they were superiors or gods.

I, John, hear and see these things. Once I heard and saw, I fell down at the feet of the angel who was showing me these things, to honor him. He told me, “Look; no. I’m a fellow slave of you, your brothers, the prophets, and those who keep the words in this book. Honor God.”

—John,

There are angels who are put in charge of things, just as there are humans who are put in charge of things. We ought to obey those human and angelic leaders. If they’re called “gods,” it’s not a term I, as a monotheist, am comfortable with; but if that’s what they’re called, that’s what they’re called. Those beings are above us. But ordinary spirit-beings, ordinary angels, are fellow servants of God. They’re our equals. They submit to us, same as we submit to fellow Christians. And don’t let any of them tell you different, and lead you astray.

God put us in charge of creation. It says in the scriptures, as Jesus pointed out, God made us gods. We have a slightly lower standing, in the LORD's eyes, than those powerful spirit beings called “gods.” But that’s still a mighty high rank… and a high honor.