8:4 What is man. The psalmist exhibits a very modern concept of the infinite magnitude of the heavens in comparison to man.

8:4 the son of man. This is the first reference in the Bible of the phrase “son of man” (or “son of Adam”), a term used some eighty times of Himself by the Lord Jesus.

8:5 lower than the angels. Man is not, as evolutionists think, “a little higher than the apes,” but rather “a little lower than the angels.”

8:6 have dominion. This is a confirmation that God’s original “dominion mandate” (Genesis 1:26-28) is still in effect. This verse is also cited in Hebrews 2:5-8, and there is applied specifically to Christ.

8:7 beasts of the field. The terminology of the animal creation clearly hearkens back to the original dominion mandate (Genesis 1:26-28; 9:2).

8:8 paths of the seas. That there are “paths of the seas” was scientifically confirmed by Matthew Maury, the “father of oceanography and hydrography.” The godly maritime officer received the motivation for his discoveries from this and similar Scriptures.

Psalm 9 (title) Muth-labben. Muth-labben is used only here, and its meaning is said by most Hebrew scholars to be “Death of the Son.” At first, such a title seems out of context in relation to the psalm itself, until a deeper meaning is discerned. The psalm is a song of triumph, rather than death, with the wicked destroyed forever (Psalm 9:5), the Lord enduring forever (Psalm 9:7), and the ungodly nations cast into hell (Psalm 9:17). God’s Son had been introduced in Psalm 2 as the Messiah, offered in sacrifice and raised from the dead (see notes on Psalm 2:6,7), and Psalm 9 now glorifies that same mighty victory resulting from the sacrificial death of the Son of God.