Psalm 8

For my weekly quiet time this week, we'll be studying Psalm 8. In this post, I want to comment on the meaning of Gittith in the superscription, using that as a fulcrum with which to interpret the Psalm as a whole.

The superscription of Psalm 8 says that the Psalm is according to Gittith. What does the word "Gittith" mean? Some say it's a melody. Some say it's a harp associated with Gath, and those who view David as the author of this Psalm assert that he learned about this harp when he was in Philistia during his flight from Saul. Others associate the term with Obed-Edom the Gittite (II Samuel 6:10), who had the ark for a while; another view is that the term relates to Gittite guards, or the Levites of Gath-rimmon, a city of refuge where Levites dwelt (Joshua 21:24-25; I Chronicles 6:64-69). Then there's the view that the term is connected with Goliath the Gittite. The idea here may be the Psalm 8:2 says that God uses infants to defeat the mighty, and, in the David and Goliath story of I Samuel 17, Goliath---the champion of the Philistines, the enemy of Israel---is killed by a mere shepherd boy with a slingshot.

Another idea is that the term is related to the Hebrew word gath, which means winepress. Some say this means that the Psalm was sung at the Feast of Tabernacles, a time of harvest, celebrating God as creator and as one who regards human beings, enough to grant them dominion over nature. Others notice that the Hebrew Bible describes judgment in terms of God treading grapes (Isaiah 63:3; 51:33). For those who go on this route, the Psalm is talking about God's judgment of Israel's enemies and his redemption of Israel. Psalm 8 is about the limitations of human beings in the face of God's majesty, which is known throughout the earth. When God redeems Israel and judges her enemies, human beings will be abased, and the LORD alone will be exalted (Isaiah 2:11; 5:16; Ezekiel 38:18, 21-23).

As usual, E.W. Bullinger relates the superscription to the previous Psalm, Psalm 7, and he does the same for the other Gittith Psalms. Rather than applying the term Gittith to Psalms 81 and 84, as most scholars do, he connects it with Psalms 80 and 83. Bullinger states that the term Gittith is "relating to the Feast of Tabernacles...because it commemorated safe dwelling after deliverance," probably because the Feast of Tabernacles commemorates God's protection of Israel in the wilderness after the Exodus, when the Israelites dwelt in booths, or sukkoth (Leviticus 23:42-43); moreover, in Isaiah 4:6, God promises one day to shelter Israel from the elements in a sukkah. My opinion is that, contra Bullinger, the term Gittith can relate to Psalms 8, 81, and 84, and still be about safety after peril, for those Psalms touch on that issue in their own way. I read a commentator who noted that Psalm 8 comes after some pretty intense Psalms about danger, and the hope that God will deliver the Psalmist from it. If that is the case, then I like how the Psalmist calmly reflects upon God's greatness, God's care for humanity, and God's use of the weak things of the world to confound the mighty---after his time of turmoil, within and without.