Psalms 8:5 - Exposition

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels ; rather, thou hast made him but a little lower than God ( אלהים ). There is no place in the Old Testament where Elohim means "angels;" and, though the LXX . so translate in the present passage, and the rendering has passed from them into the New Testament ( Hebrews 2:7 ), it cannot be regarded as critically correct. The psalmist, in considering how man has been favoured by God, goes back in thought to his creation, and remembers the words of Genesis 1:26 , Genesis 1:27 , "Let us make man in our own image , after our likeness … So God created man in his own image , in the image of God created he him" (compare the still stronger expression in Psalms 82:6 , "I have said, Ye are gods "). And hast crowned him with glory and honour ; i.e. "and, by so doing , by giving him a nature but a little short of the Divine, hast put on him a crown of glory such as thou hast given to no other creature." There is a point of view from which the nature of man transcends that of angels, since