Psalms 8:5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels Such was man as he came out of the hands of his Maker, in his primeval state. He was lower than the angels, because, by his body, he was allied to the earth, and to the beasts that perish; but as by his soul, which was spiritual and immortal, he was near akin to the angels; he might be truly said to be but a little lower than they, and was in order next to them. And hast crowned him with glory and honour Endued him with noble faculties and capacities. He that gave man his being, distinguished him from the inferior creatures, and qualified him for dominion over them, by making him wiser than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the heaven, Job 35:1. Man's reason is his crown of glory, and he should take care not to profane that crown by perverting the use of it, nor forfeit it by acting contrary to its dictates.