Section 1. "The author of the psalm." This is another psalm purporting to have been written by David, and there is nothing in it that lead's us to think otherwise.
Section 2. "The title to the psalm." The psalm is addressed To the chief Musician upon Gittith. In regard to the meanin of the phrase "chief Musician," see the notes at the introduction to Psalm 4:1-8. The word Gittith - גתית gittı̂yth - occurs but in two other places, also in the titles to the psalms, Psalm 81:1; Psalm 84:1. It is supposed to refer to a musical instrument so called, either as being common among the Gittites (from גתי gittı̂y), Gittites, or an inhabitant of Gath. See 2-Samuel 6:10-11; 2-Samuel 15:18), among whom David for some time resided; or as being derived from גת gath - a wine-press, as denoting an instrument that was used by those accustomed to tread the wine-vat, and intended to accompany the songs of the vintage. The former is the more probable derivation, as it is known that David dwelt for some time among that people, and it is not at all improbable that an instrument of music in use among them should have become common among the Hebrews. Nothing is known, however, as to whether it was a stringed instrument or a wind instrument. Compare, however, Ugolin, Thes. Sac. Ant. xxxii. 487. All that can be ascertained, with any degree of probability about this instrument, is, that as each of the psalms to which this title is prefixed is of a cheerful or joyous nature, would seem that this instrument was adapted to music of this kind, rather than to that which was pensive or serious. This idea also would agree well with the supposition that it denotes an instrument that was employed by those connected with the vintage. Compare Isaiah 16:10.
Section 3. "Occasion on which the psalm was composed." Of this nothing is specified in the psalm itself, and it is impossible now to ascertain it. Aben Ezra, and some others, have supposed that it was written when David brought up the ark to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, as mentioned in 1-Chronicles 13:12-14. But there is nothing in the psalm adapted to such an occasion. Rudinger supposes that it was composed in the joy of taking possession of Mount Zion. Others have supposed that it was on occasion of the victory of David over Goliath of Gath; but there is nothing in it adapted to the celebration of such a victory.
If we may judge from the psalm itself, it would seem probable that it was composed by night in the contemplation of the starry heavens - naturally suggesting, in view of the vastness and beauty of the celestial luminaries, the littleness of man. This also filled the mind of the psalmist with wonder that the God who marshals all these hosts should condescend to regard the condition and wants of a being so feeble and frail as man, and should have exalted him as he has done over his works. That it was composed or suggested in the night seems probable, from Psalm 8:3, where the psalmist represents himself as surveying or "considering" the "heavens, the work" of the divine "fingers," and as making the "moon and the stars" the subject of his contemplation, but not mentioning the sun. In such contemplations, when looking on the vastness and grandeur, the beauty and order, of the heavenly hosts, it was not unnatural for the writer to think of his own comparative littleness, and then the comparative littleness of man everywhere. No time is more favorable for suggesting such thoughts than the still night, when the stars are shining clearly in the heavens, and when the moon is moving on in the silent majesty of its course. It would seem also, from Psalm 8:2, to be probable that the immediate occasion of this expression of admiration of the name and character of God was some act of condescension on his part in which he had bestowed signal favor on the writer - as if he had ordained strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings - from even the most feeble and helpless. Perhaps it was in view of some favor bestowed on David himself; and his soul is overwhelmed with a sense of the condescension of God in noticing one so weak and feeble and helpless as he was. From the contemplation of this, the thought is naturally turned to the honor which God had everywhere bestowed upon man.
The psalm, though one part of it is applied by the apostle Paul to Christ Hebrews 2:6-7, does not appear originally to have had any designed reference to the Messiah, though the apostle shows that its language had a complete fulfillment in him, and in him alone. See the notes at that passage. The psalm is complete in itself, as applicable to man as he was originally created, and according to the purposes of his creation; though it is true that the original design will be carried out and completed only in the dominion which will be granted to the Messiah, who, as a man, has illustrated in the highest manner the original purpose of the creation of the race, and in whom alone the original design will be fully carried out.
Section 4. "Contents of the psalm." The psalm embraces the following points:
I. An admiring recognition of the excellence of the name of God (that is, of God himself); of that excellence as manifested in all the earth, Psalm 8:1. The excellency referred to, as the subsequent part of the psalm shows, is in his great condescension, and in his conferring such honor on man - a being so feeble as compared with himself, and so unworthy as compared with the glory of the heavens.
II. The immediate occasion of this reflection, or the cause which suggested it, Psalm 8:2. This seems to have been some remarkable manifestation to one who was feeble and helpless, as if God had ordained strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. It is not improbable, as remarked above, that in this the psalmist refers to himself as having been, though conscious of weakness and helplessness, the means of overcoming the enemies of God, as if God had ordained strength through him, or had endowed him with strength not his own.
III. The psalmist is led into admiration of the condescension of God in bestowing such dignity and honor on man, Psalm 8:3-8. This admiration is founded on two things:
(1) That the God who had made the heavens, the moon and the stars, should condescend to notice man or creatures so insignificant and unworthy of notice, Psalm 8:3-4.
(2) The actual honor conferred on man, in the rank which God had given him in the dominion over his works here below; and in the wide extent of that dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the inhabitants of the seas, Psalm 8:5-8.
IV. The psalm concludes with a repetition of the sentiment in the first verse - the reflection on the excellency of the divine name and majesty, Psalm 8:9.

The glory and excellence of God manifested by his works, Psalm 8:1, Psalm 8:2; particularly in the starry heavens, Psalm 8:3; in man, Psalm 8:4; in his formation, Psalm 8:5; and in the dominion which God has given him over the earth, the air, the sea, and their inhabitants, Psalm 8:6, Psalm 8:7, Psalm 8:8 : in consequence of which God's name is celebrated over all the earth, Psalm 8:9.
The inscription to this Psalm is the following: To the chief Musictan upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. This has been metaphrased, "To the conqueror, concerning the wine-presses;" and has been supposed to be a Psalm intended for the time of vintage: and as that happened about the time of the year in which it is supposed the world was created, hence there is a general celebration of those works, and of the creation, and the high privileges of man. The Chaldee gives it a different turn: "A Psalm of David, to be sung upon the harp, which he brought out of Gath." That the Psalm has respect to our Lord and the time of the Gospel, is evident from the reference made to Psalm 8:2, in Matthew 11:25, the express quotation of it in Matthew 21:16, and another reference to it in 1-Corinthians 1:27. The fourth and sixth verses are quoted Hebrews 2:6-9. See also 1-Corinthians 15:27, and Ephesians 1:22. The first and second Adam are both referred to, and the first and second creation also; and the glory which God has received, and is to receive, through both. It relates simply to Christ and redemption.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 8
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of David. Some think this psalm was composed when the ark was brought to the house of Obededom the Gittite; and that it was delivered to him and his sons, as others were to Asaph, to Jeduthun, to the sons of Korah, &c. (l). But against this lies a strong objection, that Obededom and his sons were porters, and not singers, 1-Chronicles 26:4; and for the same reason "gittith" cannot be the name of a musical instrument which was kept in his family, and presided over by them (m). Some are of opinion this word had its name from Gath; and that this psalm was wrote by David when he was there (y); or that it is the name of a musical instrument invented and made there, and which was brought from thence (z): And so the Targum paraphrases it;
"upon the harp which was brought from Gath.''
A word like this signifies "winepresses": and hence the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, render it "for the winepresses": which Theodoret interprets of churches, where Christ the true vine is gathered by believers, and they prepare the mystic wine. Some think (a) the psalms which bear this name were composed for the feast of tabernacles: when, having got in their vintage, they filled their presses, and squeezed their grapes, and therefore gave thanks; it was usual, even with the Heathens (b), to make use of the harp, and other instruments of music, at the gathering of the grapes to be squeezed and pressed. Some of the Jewish writers (d) apply it to the times of Edom's destruction, who was to be trodden down as in a winepress, foretold in Isaiah 63:1; and others interpret it of the times of Gog and Magog, when the prophecy in Joel 3:13; shall be fulfilled (d) and some have thought this psalm to be a song of praise, like one of those sung by them that tread in the winepress; the time of vintage being a time of joy. The ancient Christian writers explain it of the sufferings of Christ, when he trod the winepress of his Father's wrath. But the word "gittith" is either the first word of some song, as Aben Ezra thinks; or the name of the tune, as Kimchi; or rather of the musical instrument to which this psalm was set and sung. Though the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 2:6; citing some passages from this psalm, only says, "one in a certain place testified"; without mentioning either the number of the psalm, or the name of the writer; yet it is certain that David was the penman of it: and both from the testimony of that writer, and from a citation of Christ himself, it is evident that the subject of this psalm is the Messiah, and that it belongs to his times; see Hebrews 2:6. So the Syriac scholiast;
"the eighth psalm is concerning Christ our Redeemer.''
(l) Aben Ezra in loc. (m) R. Moses apud ibid. (y) Ben Melech in loc. vide Kimchi ibid. (z) Jarchi in loc. (a) Vide Godwin. Synops. Antiqu. Hebrews. l. 2. s. 1. c. G. (b) Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 84. (d) Rabbini apud Jarchium in loc. (d) Midrash Tillim apud Viccars. in loc.

(Psalm 8:1, Psalm 8:2) God is to be glorified, for making known himself to us.
(Psalm 8:3-9) And for making even the heavenly bodies useful to man, thereby placing him but little lower than the angels.

The Praise of the Creator's Glory Sung by the Starry Heavens to Puny Man
Ps. 7 closed with a similar prospect of his enemies being undeceived by the execution of the divine judgments to Psalm 6:1-10. The former is the pendant or companion to the latter, and enters into detail, illustrating it by examples. Now if at the same time we call to mind the fact, that Psalm 6:1-10, if it be not a morning hymn, at any rate looks back upon sleepless nights of weeping, then the idea of the arrangement becomes at once clear, when we find a hymn of the night following Psalm 6:1-10 with its pendant, Ps 7. David composes even at night; Jahve's song, as a Korahite psalmist says of himself in Psalm 42:9, was his companionship even in the loneliness of the night. The omission of any reference to the sun in Psalm 8:4 shows that Psalm 8:1-9 is a hymn of this kind composed in the night, or at least one in which the writer transfers himself in thought to the night season. The poet has the starry heavens before him, he begins with the glorious revelation of Jahve's power on earth and in the heavens, and then pauses at man, comparatively puny man, to whom Jahve condescends in love and whom He has made lord over His creation. Ewald calls it a flash of lightning cast into the darkness of the creation.
Even Hitzig acknowledges David's authorship here; whereas Hupfeld is silent, and Olshausen says that nothing can be said about it. The idea, that David composed it when a shepherd boy on the plains of Judah, is rightly rejected again by Hitzig after he has been at the pains to support it. (This thought is pleasingly worked out by Nachtigal, Psalmen gesungen vor David's Thronbesteigung, 1797, after the opinion of E. G. von Bengel, cum magna veri specie.) For, just as the Gospels do not contain any discourses of our Lord belonging to the time prior to His baptism, and just as the New Testament canon does not contain any writings of the Apostles from the time prior to Pentecost, so the Old Testament canon contains no Psalm of David belonging to the time prior to his anointing. It is only from that time, when he is the anointed one of the God of Jacob, that he becomes the sweet singer of Israel, on whose tongue is the word of Jahve, 2-Samuel 23:1.
The inscription runs: To the Precentor, on the Gittith, a Psalm of David. The Targum translates it super cithara, quam David de Gath attulit. According to which it is a Philistine cithern, just as there was (according to Athenaeus and Pollux) a peculiar Phoenician and Carian flute played at the festivals of Adonis, called γίγγρας, and also an Egyptian flute and a Doric lyre. All the Psalm bearing the inscription על־הגּתּית (Psalm 8:1-9, 81, Psalm 84:1-12) are of a laudatory character. The gittith was, therefore, an instrument giving forth a joyous sound, or (what better accords with its occurring exclusively in the inscriptions of the Psalm), a joyous melody, perhaps a march of the Gittite guard, 2-Samuel 15:18 (Hitzig).
Kurtz makes this Psalm into four tetrastichic strophes, by taking Psalm 8:2 and v. 10 by themselves as the opening and close of the hymn, and putting Psalm 8:2 (Thou whose majesty...) to the first strophe. But אשׁר is not rightly adapted to begin a strophe; the poet, we think, would in this case have written אתה אשׁר תנה הודו.