Psalms 8:3

“When I consider thy heavens, etc.] Where God dwells, and which he has made; the airy and starry heavens, which are to be seen with the bodily eye; and the heaven of heavens, which is to be beheld and considered by faith: the work of thy fingers; being curiously wrought by his power, and garnished by his Spirit: for the finger of God is the Spirit of God; (see <401228> Matthew 12:28); compared with (<421120>Luke 11:20); the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, or “prepared” f142, for various uses to the earth, and the inhabitants of it. The sun is not mentioned, because it cannot be looked upon, as the moon and the stars may, nor be seen when they are. And it is generally thought…”

“The allusion to the magnificence of the visible heavens is introduced for the purpose of illustrating God's condescension, who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of regard and recipient of favor.”

“When I consider thy heavens - When I contemplate or look upon. They are called his heavens because he made them - because he is the proprietor of them - perhaps because they are his abode. The work of thy fingers - Which thy fingers have made. The fingers are the instruments by which we construct a piece of work - perhaps indicating skill rather than strength; and hence so used in respect to God, as it is by his skill that the heavens have been made. The moon and the stars - Showing, as remarked above, that probably this psalm, was composed at night, or that the train of thought was suggested by the contemplation of the starry worlds. It is not improbable that the thoughts occurred to the…”

“The moon - Either the sun is included under this general title: or he omitted it, because he made this psalm by night. Ordained - Placed in that excellent and unalterable order, and directed to their several motions. Psalms 8:4”

“8:3-5 In light of God’s awesome glory, it might seem that people would be insignificant to him. However, he has crowned them with glory and honor and placed them over all creation. 8:3 The nations around Israel worshiped heavenly objects as deities. The sun, moon, and stars are indeed immense and glorious, but they are merely the work of your fingers, a reason to praise the Almighty.”

“When: Psa 19:1, Psa 111:2; Job 22:12, Job 36:24; Rom 1:20 work: Psa 33:6; Gen 1:1; Exo 8:19, Exo 31:18; Luk 11:20 moon: Psa 104:19, Psa 136:7-9, Psa 148:3; Gen 1:16-18; Deu 4:19; Job 25:3, Job 25:5 Psalms 8:4”

“(Heb.: 8:4-6) Stier wrongly translates: For I shall behold. The principal thought towards which the rest tends is Psa 8:5 (parallel are Psa 8:2 a, 3), and consequently Psa 8:4 is the protasis (par., Psa 8:2), and כּי accordingly is = quum, quando, in the sense of quoties. As often as he gazes at the heavens which bear upon themselves the name of God in characters of light (wherefore he says שׁמיך), the heavens with their boundless spaces (an idea which lies in the plur. שׁמים) extending beyond the reach of mortal eye, the moon (ירח, dialectic ורח, perhaps, as Maurer derives it, from ירח = ירק subflavum esse), and beyond this the innumerable stars which are lost in infinite space (כּוכבים =…”