Hebrews 2:6-8

‘But one has somewhere testified, saying,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him?

Or the son of man, that you visit him?”

You made him a little lower than the angels.

You crowned him with glory and honour,

And did set him over the works of your hands.

You put all things in subjection under his feet.”

The writer confirms his position by quoting Psalms 8:4-6 (LXX) which states that God’s original intention was that the world would be ruled by man, who was made ‘only a little lower than what was heavenly (the elohim)’, so that all on earth would be subjected to him. His plan was for great things for man. And he sees this as not only so in the past but as something yet to be realised.

‘But one has somewhere testified, saying.’ This did not mean that the writer did not know who had written it (the Psalmist), but was a way of stressing that what was spoken was of God. It was God Who in the final analysis was the author of Scripture, and the name or title of the testifier was of little importance.

‘What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or son of man, that you visit him?” This is spoken of mankind in general as descended from Adam. In the Hebrew it depicts mankind as weak and frail man (enosh) and as a ‘son of man (Adam)’ (ben-adam). In the Greek here it is ‘man (anthropos) and ‘son of man’ (huios anthropou) as in LXX. ‘Son of man’ was simply another way of saying ‘man’ (‘son of man’ is without the article). It could be a simple questioning of man’s status, ‘where does man stand in the order of priority?’, or hold within it the idea of man’s inferiority, ‘when you consider the heavens, what after all is man?’. But the overall emphasis is on the fact that God is mindful of man, and acts on his behalf even in his frailty, and intends for him rulership over creation.

‘Mindful -- visit--.’ God both has man in mind and acts on man’s behalf (visits him), as the coming of Jesus witnesses.

Man’s status is then declared. ‘Made a little lower than the angels (Hebrew: elohim)’, that is, of heavenly beings. So although frail man is the next step down from the heavenly, being lower than the angels, as regards earth, he is potentially ‘crowned with glory and honour’ and set over all living creation, so that all is to be in subjection under his feet. Man was made God’s crowning glory on earth. To be but a little lower than the angels was to be given great honour. It meant that in all creation as described in Genesis 1:0 man was supreme, first in line after the angels, after what was ‘heavenly’. He was thus, as regards the earth, the supreme lord of all. He was the one who was ‘crowned with glory and honour’, and, says the Psalmist, the one who will find all things put under his feet.

(To translate as ‘for a little while’, while possible in the Greek, is to overlook the whole context in the original. The thought of the Psalmist was not of a short while but of a position which was only a little short of the elohim, a position as man made in God’s spiritual image, heavenly as well as earthly. This whole passage is about status).

‘You crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of your hands. You put all things in subjection under his feet.’ Herein is confirmed man’s potential supremacy over all things on earth. Man was gloriously crowned with great honour. He was given total dominion on earth. He was set over all things, and especially all living creatures. Everything was subject to him. He was supreme (Genesis 1:28-30). So ‘crowned with glory and honour’ here indicates the triumphant rule of man as God intended him to be.

That the Psalmist is looking at a future hope based on what man had lost in Genesis 1-3 is clear. Seeing man as potentially this, for he must have been well aware that it was not so in his time, he looks to what will be when God has restored His people and established His true King.