Word
of God
But he replied and
said, "It is written, 'It is not by bread alone that a man
lives, except by every word that issues from the mouth of God
The Gospel According
to Matthew 4:4
The
Book of Psalms 8:4-5
4 What is man, say
I, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou
visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than God, and
crowned him with glory and worship.
Brethren:
In a more modern
Hebrew translation (See JPS Translation), God is replaced with the
word “devine” with the “d” being in capitals. It does make a
bit more sense in so far as, that since God’s kingdom is ordered in
the very angels themselves are subservient to man, instead of man
being lower than angels. Verse five then is one of those verses,
wherein the translation may or may not have been as accurate as first
intended, or, perhaps, due to changes in languages, has been handed
down with slightly different meanings. Below is a current Orthodox
Jewish Translation that further indicates what may be the original
intent:
“ For Thou hast
made him a little lower than Elohim, (Read Genesis 1:1, 27), and hast
crowned him with kavod and hadar.”
“The word Elohime
is the plural of El (or possibly of Eloah and is the first name for
God in the Tanakh. The name Elohim is unique to Hebraic thinking: it
occurs only in Hebrew and in no other ancient Semitic language. The
masculine plural ending does not mean “gods” when referring to
the true God of Israel, since the name is mainly used with singular
verb forms and with adjectives and pronouns in the singular (Read
example: Genesis 1:26). However, considering the Hashalush HaKadosh
(Trinity), the form indeed allows for the plurality within the
Godhead.”
Source website
Hebrew4Christians.
In any event, the
point is made by the psalmist that our Creator, has placed man
directly under His own authority, and is second to no other of His
creations. Likewise recall if you will in our studies of a couple
days past, we made note of the same point, that God is our head, and
all of our own authority is derived from Him, we are in no wise in
servitude to any other, since as we shall see as we continue in Psalm
Eight that ALL things are placed under our hands.
All that our Creator
requires of us, is to acknowledge and worship Him, thereby resulting
in all the blessings and resources of Heaven being bestowed upon us.
If that is not a loving, and righteous God, it cannot be otherwise
shown to be untrue. - Doktor Riktor Von Zhades - Disciple of Christ.
“Lord, what is man
(enosh, sinful, weak, miserable man, a creature so forgetful of thee
and his duty to thee) that thou art thus mindful of him, that thou
takest cognizance of him and of his actions and affairs, that in the
making of the world thou hadst a respect to him! What is the son of
man, that thou visitest him, that thou not only feedest him and
clothest him, protectest him and providest for him, in common with
other creatures, but visited him as one friend visits another, art
pleased to converse with him and concern thyself for him! What is
man—(so mean a creature), that he should be thus honoured—(so
sinful a creature), that he should be thus countenanced and
favoured!’’ Now this refers to mankind in general. Though man is
a worm, and the son of man is a worm (Read Job. 25:6 ), yet God puts
a respect upon him, and shows him abundance of kindness; man is,
above all the creatures in this lower world, the favourite and
darling of Providence. “
Postscript and
Addendum:
We can also read in
an Ancient Aramaic to English translation of the Targum, wherein it
contians the word “Angels”: So some food for thought as the
expression goes, that perhaps what is meant, or the intent is mean
that man is currently in his earthen vessel, and as such would be
lower than that angels, but his spirit, upon his demise will someday
be released and resurrected in a vessel of glory, and will then take
his rightful place above the angels.
Likewise, one may meditate on the words of our Savior Jesus Christ, when asked about His authority that He said that His words are from the Creator, and as such His authority emanates from Him. Therefore, since we are now joint heirs in His Kingdom (Read Romans 8:16-17), it would stand to reason, that all authority given unto us, is in all ways also by that same Authority.
Likewise, one may meditate on the words of our Savior Jesus Christ, when asked about His authority that He said that His words are from the Creator, and as such His authority emanates from Him. Therefore, since we are now joint heirs in His Kingdom (Read Romans 8:16-17), it would stand to reason, that all authority given unto us, is in all ways also by that same Authority.
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