Sheep and oxen, all of them, and also the beasts of the field;
Psalm 8 has just said that all things are under the feet of man. Now it starts to name them. It begins with the animals of daily life, the flocks and herds, then moves out to the wild creatures beyond the farm. The list raises two questions the psalm does not answer. Who is this man? And when does he take his place?
The list moves outward, from the animals man already handles to the ones he does not. One writer follows that order and shows how far today's world falls short of it.
L M GrantThe psalm names domesticated animals first — sheep and oxen — then "the beasts of the field," that is, wild animals. To these it adds birds of the air and all sea life. These will all be perfectly subject to the Lord Jesus in the age to come. They were subject to Adam before he sinned. But God did not tell Noah they were subject to him. He said instead, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea" (Gen. 9:2).
Fear is not the same as subjection. Adam had that place and lost it. Noah was never given it. The psalm still holds it out.
Two men stand behind this psalm. One writer names them both.
F G PattersonGod gives the universal dominion over all His works to the man of His counsel, as we find in Ps. 8. So God gave the first Adam, the created man, a universal lordship over this scene, as it came from its Creator's hands. He forfeited it when he fell by sin.
Who receives it instead? Another writer points to the Second Adam, and to His sufferings.
H. L. RossierGod's purpose was not to establish the first Adam, who had failed, but the Second Adam as Head of creation — and that because of His sufferings. It is because He was made a little lower than the angels that God has made "Him to rule over the works of [His] hands."
On its own, the list looks small: a farmer's authority over livestock and game.
But "all things" reaches past the creatures named. One writer points to a rule no human king was ever given.
H J VineOf course, the further statement that all things are put under His feet involves far more than these creatures. All the earth was to come under His dominion, as well as the cattle, the birds, and the fish of the sea. Even when He came down to earth and men asked about paying the temple tax, He could command a fish and it obeyed Him. Daniel never said that the emperor Nebuchadnezzar was given dominion over the fish of the sea (Dan. 2:38)!
Hebrews 2 quotes this psalm and then admits the obvious: the world does not look like this. One writer follows how its author closes that gap.
Edward DennettHe quotes the whole psalm, to put the matter beyond question. Then he says: "At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." Anyone could see that, even the most casual observer. So how was the psalm to be fulfilled? He goes on to show: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." So Jesus is the Man, the Son of Man (which Adam was not), under whom all things will be put.
Does the delay put the promise in doubt?
J. N. DarbyAll things are not yet put in subjection to Jesus. But in the meantime, Jesus is already crowned with glory and honour. That is certain proof that what remains will be fulfilled in due time.
If wild beasts come under Him, the animal world itself must change. One writer links this verse to Isaiah's picture of creation no longer at war with itself.
T. B. BainesThe ferocity of the wild beasts is restrained, and man's supremacy established. All nature is made subject to the Son of man — the Second Man… So "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat… and a little child shall lead them" (Isa. 11:6).
- Lost. God gave the first man lordship over every living creature, and he forfeited it by sin.
- Given. God hands it instead to the Second Adam, who receives it because He was made lower than the angels and suffered.
- Wider. Sheep, oxen and wild beasts are the starting point, not the limit. "All things" reaches far past the farm and the field.
- Waiting. We do not yet see this rule. We do see Jesus crowned, and that proves the rest will come.
- Restored. When it comes, the wild animal loses its ferocity, and a child can lead the creatures that now kill.
The fowl of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, [whatever] passeth through the paths of the seas.
The verse ends a list — sheep, oxen, wild animals, birds, and now the creatures of the sea — that spells out what "all things under his feet" covers. Commentators ask whose feet these are, since the first man given this rule lost it.
The list echoes the charge given at creation. One writer traces that first grant through failure to recovery.
W. TrotterFrom the first, God made His intention plain: man should rule this whole lower creation. "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:28). These were God's words to Adam... He failed almost at once. The enemy deceived him. He betrayed himself, and the creation God had set him over, into the enemy's hands. Did that frustrate or set aside God's purpose to put the earth under man's rule? No. The eighth Psalm testifies of a "Son of man," who will inherit all the dominion first entrusted to Adam.
Mentioning sea creatures is not decoration. It rules out the two other candidates Scripture sets over creation.
C E StuartIf David had written simply of man, we might have supposed he meant Adam. But the words "the Son of Man" rule out our first parent. Adam was a man, yet he was not a son of man... Scripture speaks of only three heads — Adam, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam had universal sway on earth. Nebuchadnezzar ruled only a limited sphere. God put men, birds, and beasts under him (Dan. 2:38), but he had no dominion over the waters and their creatures. So the mention of the fishes in the Psalm rules him out as the one David wrote about.
That reserved authority showed itself once in Jesus' life on earth, over a fish and a coin.
W. T. P. WolstonNotice, God did not give Nebuchadnezzar the fish of the sea. Why? Because the Man of Psalm 8 had not yet come, who had the power over the fish of the sea. You must go to the 17th chapter of Matthew for that, where Peter felt troubled and wanted money for the tax. The Lord said to him, "Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel" (Matt. 17:27). It was only the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, who had power over the fish of the sea.
Critics argue that a shepherd could not have written this phrase. One writer turns that around.
H J VineBut what did David know about the fish of the sea? He was used to looking after sheep! That is how the critics talk. Rather they should ask, what does David's God know about them? Far more than the best of scientific scholars! He made them all. Long centuries ago He made David write those words, "the paths of the seas." Men have only just found out that fish have their paths in the seas, just as we have ours on the land!
The creatures named here mark the psalm's own horizon, but the New Testament widens the circle.
Edward DennettWe must not suppose that the things put under the feet of the Son of Man cover the same extent in every scripture that mentions them. In Psalm 8, whatever the Spirit may have had in mind, they do not seem to go wider than dominion over the whole earth... But in the letter to the Ephesians the circle clearly widens to include things in heaven as well as things on earth... His rule will have no limit. It will be as wide as the whole universe. As Paul teaches, nothing is left out except God the Father Himself, who put all things under Him (1 Cor. 15:27).
Nothing in the world today looks like this. Hebrews faces that gap directly.
The Bible TreasuryWho is this "Son of man"? And when will He exercise and enjoy this dominion? Hebrews 2 answers us: "It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking... At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see Jesus... crowned with glory and honor." This dominion belongs to the age to come. The One who will exercise and enjoy it is the "Son of man," now crowned with glory and honor.
This rule reaches the animal world itself.
T. B. BainesAgain, the ferocity of the wild beasts is restrained, and man's supremacy established. To the Son of man — the Second Man — all nature is made subject... So "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat... and a little child shall lead them" (Isa. 11:6-8).
- Lost. God gave Adam rule over fish, birds and beasts. He failed, and dragged creation down with him.
- Regained. The psalm hands that same rule to a "Son of man." The mention of the fish rules out both Adam and Nebuchadnezzar, and leaves only Christ.
- Proved. He showed that reserved authority over the sea when a fish carried the coin Peter needed for the tax.
- Widened. The psalm's list stops at the earth. Ephesians and 1 Corinthians stretch the same "all things" to heaven and the whole universe.
- Awaited. We do not yet see it — we see Jesus crowned. When He reigns, wild ferocity is held back and the wolf lies down with the lamb.