O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Title. - Upon Gittith. The Gittith was an instrument, or possibly a tune, invented in Gath, whence David brought it after his sojourn there with Achish (1 Samuel 27:2); or else it is derived from gat (H1660), a wine-press, being used on occasions of joy, like the vintage. All the three psalms, Psalms 8:1-9; Psalms 81:1-16; Psalms 84:1-12, which have this title, are of the joyful kind. There may be an enigmatical reference to Messiah treading the wine-press (Isaiah 63:3; Revelation 19:15).
The psalm foretells the recovery by the Second Adam of the dominion over the earth and all nature, forfeited by the tint Adam. (Compare the quotations of it in Matthew 21:16; Hebrews 2:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:27.)
Vv.1-9.-God's glory seen in the starry heavens enhances His grace in raising seemingly insignificant man, in the person of the Messiah, above all creations. O Lord our Lord - Hebrew, 'O Yahweh our Lord' х 'Adoneeynuw (H113)]. So in Psalms 110:1, 'Yahweh said unto my Lord.' Lord implies rule, mastership, and ownership.
Thy name. How excellent (glorious) is thy manifestation of thyself (cf. note, Psalms 5:11, "thy name") - namely, in "the heavens," which "declare the glory of God" (Psalms 19:1) to men, "in all the earth" (cf. Psalms 8:3). The name in Hebrew is the image and expression of the being. God, as existing in Himself, is nameless. In the Son He manifests His name.
Who hast set thy glory above - as a crown (Psalms 8:5) upon "the heavens." The sun, moon, and stars in "the havens" manifest God's "glory" (Psalms 8:3).