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Ver. 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him?] Sorry, sickly man, a mass of mortalities, a map of miseries, a mixture or compound of dirt and sin? And yet God is mindful of him; he not only takes care of him in an ordinary way, as he doth other creatures, but singularly attendeth and affecteth him, as a father doth his dearest child. He is Divini irigenii cura, saith one; he is the end of all in a semi-circle, saith another philosopher; meaning, that all things in the world were made for man, and man made for God; neither is there so much of the glory of God in all his works of wonder as in one gracious performance of a godly person. But if we understand the text (as the apostle doth, Hebrews 2:6) of tbe man Christ Jesus, Hic homo et filius hominis qualis et quantus est, Deus bone! saith Junius. And the son of man] Heb. of earthly men; for w hat is the greatest potentate but πηλος κομφως πεφυραμενος, a piece of clay neatly made up? (Arrian in Epictet.) That thou visitest him?] That thou mindest him more than other creatures, and makest him Lord of all? Thy visitation preserveth his spirit, Job 10:12.
Ver. 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels] Compare here with Hebrews 2:6,7, and it will appear that whatsoever is spoken here of man is applied to Christ, and so is proper to the saints, by virtue of their union with Christ; in which respect they are more glorious, saith one, than heaven, angels, or any creature. This is their dignity; and for their duty, they must therefore give the more earnest heed to the doctrine of the gospel, lest at any time they should leak, or let slip the same, but retain and obey it. This is the apostle’s own inference, Hebrews 2:5-7, for thus he argueth: Unto the angels God hath not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak; but to man (for whose sake the Son of God came in the flesh, for whose sake the gospel was preached, for whose sake we speak of that world to come) he hath; therefore it behoveth man to observe and obey the gospel. And hast crowned him with glory and honour] Some refer this to the reasonable soul, whereby he not only differeth from beasts, but draweth nigh to the heavenly nature. As Rome was an epitome of the world; as Athens was the Greece of Greece; and as one said to his friend who desired to see Athens, Viso Selene vidisti onmia, When thou hast seen Solon thou hast seen all Athens; so man is a little world, and is therefore called every creature, Mark 16:15; and the saints (in whom God’s image is repaired) are called all things, Colossians 1:20, Christ being unto them All, and in all.
Ver. 6. Thou madest him to have dominion, &c.] He had so at first, Genesis 1:26, shall have again, Zechariah 8:12 Re 21:7; meanwhile (though Rebellis facta est creatura homnini, quia homo numini, the creature rebelleth against man, because man doth against God; yet) we cannot but see some footsteps remaining of that ancient sovereignty, which the very heathens also acknowledged, and therehence fetched excellent arguments for a providence (Cicero, Plutarch, Ennius). Lions hate apes, but tear men; though Simia quam similis, turpissima bestia, nobis. Hereof no probable reason be given but this, that God hath put all things under man’s feet; insomuch as that the most timorous men dare kick and beat the largest elephants. Indeed, by reason of sin, as was said, we see not all things subdued, Hebrews 12:8. But why hath Nature denied to horses, asses, camels, elephants, deer, &c., a gall, which it hath given to lions, wolves, and other fierce creatures? (Bodin. Theat. Nat. p. 405). Surely herein appeareth the wonderful wisdom and goodness of God, who hath done this, that those so serviceable creatures might be the better tamed and subdued by man. Let man consider (saith one well) what excellency he hath lost through Adam’s fall, and bewail his misery. Let him also, on the other side, well weigh the grace bestowed on him in Christ, and be joyful and thankful for mercy; knowing this, that if the creatures be not now subjected unto us, it is by reason of the body and relics of sin that yet remain in us; and that therefore if we would have a conquest over the creatures, we must begin first to get a victory upon sin, or else we shall never profit that way. Thou hast put all things under his feet] The earth hath its name from treading upon it, Terra a terendo, teaching us, 1. To trample upon earthly things, as base and bootless; not to dote upon them without hearts, nor grasp them over greedily with our hands; as that covetous Cardinal Sylberperger, who took so great felicity in money, that when he was grievously tormented with the gout, his only remedy to ease his pain was, to have a bason full of gold set before him, into which he would put his lame hands, turning the gold upside down. But if silver and gold be a man’s happiness, then it is in the earth, and so (which is strange) nearer hell than heaven, and so nearer the devil than God. The ancient Romans had for a difference in their nobility, a little ornament in the form of a moon, to show that all worldly things were mutable; and they wore it upon their shoes, to show that they trod all under their feet. 2. By this posture of all things under man’s feet, God would teach him to use them as a stirrup, for the raising of his heart to those things above. A sanctified fancy can make every creature a ladder to heaven, and say, with that Father, Si tanti vitreum quanti rerum margaritum! If this trash be so highly esteemed, how much more the true treasure!
Ver. 7. All sheep and oxen, &c.] There are beasts ad esum et ad usum, saith one. Some are profitable dead, not alive, as the hog; some alive, not dead, as the dog, horse, &c.; some both, as the ox; yet none so profitable as the sheep, who hath wool for raiment, skin for parchment, flesh for meat, guts for music, and was, therefore, in sacrifice so frequently offered.
Ver. 8. The fowl of the air] These Moses seemeth to have forgotten, in that discontented speech of his, Numbers 11:22, but God sent those murmmurers such a drift of quails (meat of kings, with their bread of angels) as he could not have imagined or hoped for. And the fish of the sea] Piscis of Pasco. Many islands are maintained and people fed by fish. In the Hebrew the same word signifieth a pond, or fish pool, and a blessing. And surely it is a blessing to any country that they have plenty and dainty of these good creatures. And whatsoever passeth, &c.] As whales, and other great fishes, which make a smooth path in a calm sea, as a ship or a boat doth, Job 41:32, &c. [See Trapp on “Job 41:32”]
Ver. 9. O Lord our Lord, &c.] Prius incipit Propheta mirari quam loqui, et desinit loqui non mirari. The psalmist endeth as he began, transported with an ecstasy of admiration. So he begins and ends many of his psalms with Hallelujah. Between God and us the distance is infinite; and, if it were possible, our love and thankfulness should fill up that distance, and extend itself to infiniteness, saith a grave divine. Upon Muth-labben] This was the name of a certain instrument, say some; the beginning of a song, say others, to the tune whereof this psalm was to be sung. Montanus and many more hold it to be an anagrammatism, and render it, For the death of Nabal, viz. by a covert intimation, and inversion of the letters. So in the title of Psalms 7:1, Cush Beniemini for Kish the Benjamite. That is, Parcere nominibus, dicere de vitiis.