‘O YHWH our lord,
How excellent is your name in all the earth.
The psalm begins and ends with the same two lines. This is the first aim of the psalmist, to ascribe praise to YHWH, the One Who is the great and mighty Overlord over His people, the One Whose name and nature is revealed as excellent throughout all the world, by nature if not by man. Thus the splendour, the majesty, the overall excellence of His name is being declared (compare Psalms 148:13). ‘The name' to Israel ever indicated the essence of the one to whom the name was applied. Here it is YHWH, ‘the One Who is', ‘the One Who causes to be', Lord of Being, Lord of Creation. And His name is all-excelling, majestic over all the earth (compare Psalms 104:1 onwards, where that majesty is clearly revealed), for He is Lord of the whole earth and is its Creator.
But the ascription of praise, which might at first sight appear only to stress the glory of His name, also stresses His close relationship with His people. He is not only ‘the Lord', He is our Lord. The writer has a thrill of pride as he recognises that YHWH is their Lord, the Lord of His people. He has chosen them as His people, and they are uniquely His, and yet at the same time His excellence is revealed over the whole world. So the great Creator had become their Deliverer. There is here a contrast between the small (‘our') and the great (all the earth') which continues throughout the psalm.