Who is the "lower" according to Psalm 8:5, man or angels?
Psalm 8:5 says God has made man a little lower than angels. Does that mean angels are above man?
Psalms 8:3 - 9
ESV - 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. 4 What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
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Asked January 17 2019
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GREGORY LAMPTEY
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Tim Maas
I would say that the psalm is expressing the thought that God created man to be just a little lower than the angels, with the implication of the honor that that description would entail. (In fact, other uses in Scripture (such as in 2 Chronicles 35:21 and Job 32:2) of the same Hebrew word ("meelohim" in English) that was translated "angels" in the King James Version of Psalm 8:5 are rendered (even by the King James Version itself) as "God", which would indicate an even more exalted status being expressed with respect to man's position, with man being (in that case) equal to or even above the angels.
Also, 1 Peter 1:12 indicates that even angels long for greater insight into the plan of human salvation that was foretold by God's prophets in the Old Testament, and that was fulfilled in Christ, which would again seem to imply greater honor being bestowed on humans than on angels.
Jack Gutknecht
I would have to say that man has been made a little lower than God rather than that man has been made a little lower than the angels. God crowned man to have dominion over the creatures (Gen 1) and that would include angels. It is critical here in the translation of Psalm 8:5 that Elohim means God. Nowhere else in the Old Testament is it translated angels. I realize that in Hebrews 2:7 elohim can mean angels, but not in Psalm 8:5. Angels are servants (Hebrews 1:14, a verse I taught the kids at church for 14 years) and one day we will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6).
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