Psalm 8: The glory of the Lord in creation

Psalm 8 is an uplifting psalm reflecting on the glory of the Lord’s creation, and the role of humanity in the broader scheme of things. In verse 4, the speaker even asks the Lord,

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

The Lord created us in such a way that we are balanced between the natural and the spiritual world, distinct from all other forms of life, since we can consider God and heaven (see Swedenborg’s work, Doctrine of Life 69 [2]).

The psalm begins grandly: “O Lord, our Lord.” This statement encompasses all of us as children of God, individually and collectively. Then the Lord’s name is exalted as “excellent in all the earth.” Spiritually, the Lord’s name signifies all the qualities of the Lord, shown in everything we see around us and also within us. Verse 1 ends by saying that the Lord’s glory is above heaven and earth (see Divine Providence 230 [2]).

The imagery of infants giving praise to the Lord describes our need for innocence and trust in the Lord for guidance. The Lord strengthens and sustains us so that we can overcome harmful states such as pride and self-love (see Arcana Caelestia 3183).

Verses 3 through 8 convey a sense of humble gratitude for all the Lord’s blessings. When compared with the grandeur of the heavens - the very vastness of God’s creation - our place in the world seems inconsequential. We are made “a little lower than the angels”, but even so, “crowned with glory and honor.” Man in this world is an angel in potential, and every angel is one who has had a natural lifetime in which to regenerate. Yet humanity is the great purpose of divine creation: we are born to come into a relationship with the Lord, and to know His love and truth (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 311).

The final section of the psalm speaks of the Lord granting us dominion over all other living creatures. This is not in any sense a domination or even a superiority, but an acknowledgement that we, unlike other living things, have been created with a spiritual consciousness that allows us to embrace the Lord’s kingdom forever.

The psalm, having gone through momentous realizations, ends with the refrain of the towering opening line, "O Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is thy name in the whole earth!"

3183. 'And her nurse' means from the innocence belonging to that affection, that is to say, which also they sent away, or separated from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'a nurse' or wet nurse, as innocence. Sucklings and those who suckle them are mentioned frequently in the Word, where they mean the first state that young children pass through, which is plainly a state of innocence. For as soon as anyone is born he is brought into a state of innocence. This state then serves as the basis of all other states and is the inner core of them all; and this state is meant in the Word by 'a suckling'. After he has been brought into a state of innocence he is led into a state of affection for celestial good, that is, into a state of love towards parents, which with them exists in place of love to the Lord; this state is meant by 'a young child'. After that he is led into a state of affection for spiritual good, which is mutual love, or charity towards those who are children like himself, which state is meant by the expression 'boys'. When he grows up further still he is led into a state of affection for truth; this is meant by the expression 'young men'. Subsequent states however are meant by 'men' and at last 'old men'. This final state, which is meant by the expression 'old men', is a state of wisdom which has the innocence of earliest childhood within it, and so the first state and the last are united. And when he is old, being so to speak a small child again yet one who is now wise, that person is led into the Lord's kingdom.

[2] From this it becomes clear that innocence is the first state, which is that of 'a suckling'. A woman who suckles an infant other than her own also means innocence therefore, for the state of giver and receiver, as with the one who acts and the other who is acted upon, is perceived as being similar. The reason why here it is said that they sent away 'the nurse' or wet nurse too is so that the affection for truth might be described, that is to say, that it sprang from innocence; for it is not the affection for truth unless it has innocence within it, 2526, 2780, 3111. Indeed it is by means of innocence that the Lord flows into that affection, doing so together with wisdom since true innocence is wisdom itself, see 2305, 2306; and those who possess it are seen in the eyes of angels as infants or small children, 154, 2306.

[3] That 'a suckling' in the Word means innocence is also evident from other places, as in David,

Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have founded strength. Psalms 8:2; Matthew 21:16.

Here 'infants' stands for celestial love, 'sucklings' for innocence. In Jeremiah,

Why are you committing great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling from the midst of Judah, so that I cause no remnant to be left to you? Jeremiah 44:7.

Here similarly 'infant and suckling' stands for celestial love and its innocence. When these cease to exist no remnants exist any longer, that is, no good or truth that has been stored away by the Lord in the internal man remains any longer, remnants being good and truth stored away there by Him, see 1906, 2284. For when innocence perishes so do all goods and truths, for innocence comes directly from the Divine Himself, and so is the essential element in them. In the same prophet,

The infant and the suckling faint in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:11.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

The sea monsters give the breast, they suckle their young; the daughter of My people is cruel, the tongue of the suckling has cleaved to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the little children begged for bread, none held it out to them. Lamentations 4:3-4.

Again 'suckling' stands for innocence, 'little children' for affections for good. In Moses,

Outside the sword will bereave - and out of the chambers terror - both young man and virgin, and suckling together with old man. Deuteronomy 32:25.

'The sword will bereave young man, virgin, and suckling together with old man' stands for the fact that falsity will destroy the affection for truth and the affection for good, and also innocence together with wisdom. In Isaiah,

They will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder; and kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your wet nurses. Isaiah 49:22-23.

'Kings as foster fathers' stands for intelligence, 'queens as wet nurses' for wisdom, which, as stated above, is the wisdom that goes with innocence.