A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF PSALM 8:4-6 IN HEBREWS 2:5-9(1)

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Jun 2006 by Guthrie, George H, Quinn, Russell D

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In the fall of 2001, at the annual meeting of the Institute for Biblical Research, Stanley Porter presented a plenary address entitled "Developments in Greek Linguistics and New Testament Study." A subtext for the presentation might have read, "The Lack of Developments in the Use of Greek Linguistics in New Testament Study." In part, Porter decried the lack of incorporation of the practice of discourse analysis in the day-to-day task of most NT scholars, this in spite of recent advances in the field. What we need, Porter suggested, is more work demonstrating the practical fruit of discourse analysis when applied to specific conundrums of NT exegesis and interpretation.

In this article, we wish to address an issue of interpretation that begs for the incorporation of discourse analysis as a means to its answer. That interpretive question has to do with the use of Ps 8:4-6 in Heb 2:5-9. We chose this text in part for the practical implications of its interpretation in current translation work, recognizing that several translations have opted for a thoroughgoing anthropological rendering of the text.2 The question of how one translates the quotation of Psalm 8 at this point hits near what, for most of us, is the day-to-day task of interpreting, translating, and teaching portions of the NT. Therefore, we offer this brief study as a suggestion concerning the need for discourse analysis in addressing such passages.

I. PSALM 8 IN JUDAISM AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

In its OT context, our psalm follows several psalms of lament requesting deliverance (Psalms 3-7), and offers a beautiful, praise-filled counterpoint to these, a song that proclaims God's glory and the dignity of human beings. An inclusio frames the psalm, a refrain celebrating the majesty of the Lord's name: "O Yahweh, our Lord, how magnificent is your name in all the earth." Two primary movements make up the body of the psalm. Psalm 8:lb-2 (8:2b3 MT) is notoriously difficult to understand in the Hebrew, due to a grammatical puzzle,3 but the psalmist seems to proclaim that Yahweh has placed his glory on, or above, the heavens. The image of infants and toddlers, who are immensely vulnerable, rests in sharp relief with that of powerful enemies. The psalmist proclaims God as one who is able to build up a people of weakness as a force to oppose his enemies.

Verses 3-8 (w. 4-9 MT), from which our quotation is taken, is a passage expressing the author's wonder at God's dealings with humanity for whom God has ordained a special role in the created order. Thus, these verses concern humanity's astonishing dignity. In light of God's awesome creation of his heavens, the moon and stars that he has put in their place, the psalmist reflects on the relative insignificance of people in the vast scope of God's purposes (w. 3-4; w. 3-5 MT). In verse 4, a question is posed in synonymous parallelism, in essence asking, "Why do you even spare a thought for people?" The term for humanity here (...) is used most often to focus on "human frailty, weakness, and mortality,"4 the earthbound nature of the creature under God's heavens.5 Yet, mystery of mysteries, God thinks of and cares for people.

Verses 5-8 (vv. 6-9 MT) constitute a reflection on Gen 1:26-28 where God commissions human beings, created in the image of God, to rule over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, and over all living creatures. Humans have been made a little lower than ..., which could be translated as a reference to angels, gods, or God himself. The LXX translates the term with ..., and, on that reading, human beings have their place in the created order, just below those who serve around God's throne. This emphasizes the surprising dignity of people, in spite of them being dwarfed by the massive reaches of God's creation. Yet, the stewardship humanity has been given over other works of God's hands extends the emphasis on human dignity. In its original context, the critical phrase, "you laid everything at his feet," refers to the animals, as is made clear in Ps 8:7-8 (8:8-9 MT), over whom the human has been installed as a king.6 At the end of the psalm the author repeats the word of praise with which the psalm opened.

Among Jewish sources, the most prominent appropriation of Ps 8:4-6 seizes on the question, "What is man ... ?" to emphasize the insignificance of human beings. IQS 3:17-18 plays a part in a discussion of God's sovereign design of all things and asserts, "He created humankind to rule over the world," a possible allusion to Psalm 8. Verse 20 of the same passage reads, "Who can measure your glory? Who, indeed, is man among your glorious works?," emphasizing the insignificance of people, and the author goes on to state, "his body is but the bread of worms; his is so much spit, mere nippedoff clay" (w. 21-22a).

Several late works also use Psalm 8 to emphasize the insignificance of human beings. In 3 Enoch, a work probably from the fifth or sixth century AD, the ministering angels bring a complaint to God (5:10). They exclaim to him, "Lord of the Universe, what business do you have with men, as it is written, 'What is man that you should spare a thought for him?' " Given Hebrews' use of the psalm to transition to the topic of incarnation, it is interesting that the passage goes on to say, "Why did you leave the heaven of heavens above, the abode of your glory, the high and exalted throne which is in the height of Arabot, and come and lodge with men who worship idols?" B. Sank. 38b has angels, in the form of the psalm's question, asking why God would want to create people in the first place. Later, when the flood generation does not turn out well, the angels, in effect, say to the Lord, "We told you so!"