What Is Man? PDF

What Is Man? To the choir director, according to Gittith. A psalm of David. 1. Yahweh* our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth; who appoints Your majesty over the heavens. 2. With the mouth of children and infants You have decreed strength because of Your enemies, to still the enemy and...

What Is Man? To the choir director, according to Gittith. A psalm of David. 1. Yahweh* our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth; who appoints Your majesty over the heavens. 2. With the mouth of children and infants You have decreed strength because of Your enemies, to still the enemy and the avenger. 3. When I view Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have established; 4. What is mortal man that You should consider him, and the son of man, that You should take oversight of him? 5. Yet You have made him little less than divinity, and have crowned him with glory and majesty. 6. You have given him rule over the works of Your hands; You have laid all things under his feet, 7. All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8. The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, (whatever) passes in the mode of the seas. 9. Yahweh, our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth. PsALM 8 IC =====-1~1'ic:===::xHK-----_-_-----_-_-_-::.,. The name Yahweh is an approximate rendering of the Hebrew name for God which is translated LoRD in the King James Version and Jehovah in the American Standard Version. 12 WHAT IS MAN? 13 The most pressing and persistent question for man concerns the nature of his existence. The question cries aloud for at tention and pleads for resolution. MAN UNDERSTOOD IN RELATION TO GOD The psalmist begins his quest for life's meaning with God ( vs. 4). He accepts the testimony that man is created in the image of the Almighty (cf. Gen. I: 26). He implies that the knowledge of God is the first step toward self-discovery. To know God as He is is to begin to understand one's self. Otherwise, man walks the peculiar twilight zone between beast and God. He is repulsed by the jungle code but sits uneasily on the throne of self-worship. While his conscience is disturbed by a visit to the harlot's house he is awed in the great cathedral. His Name ls "Yahweh" Who is the One of whom man is said to be the image? He is called Yahweh, a term most likely derived from the idea of being (vs. 1). The ancient world was populated with gods; there was a general agreement to tolerate all gods, while courting the favor of certain local deities. Yahweh was revealed to the Hebrews as the only true God, the Living One, the I Am. The opening words of the Decalogue read: "I am Yahweh your God, who brought· you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:2-3). Yahweh prohibited belief in and worship of the pantheon. The pleas of Joshua uncompromisingly echoed the first commandment: "Choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh" (Josh. 24: 15). As for man, his life is fleeting. "His days are as grass: as a flower of the field; so he flourishes, for the wind passes over it, and All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are drawn or modified from the King James Version. 14 PSYCHOLOGY IN THE PSALMS it is gone" (Psa. 103: 15-16a). Man's life is derived from and dependent upon God, for only Yahweh is self-existent. Only He in this sense is. Let Him Be God Although man's knowledge of God may be accurate, it is never exhaustive; so the earth declares His name but cannot contain it (vs. 1). Man is limited to creation in his investigation (vss. 6-8). He employs the microscope and the telescope, discriminates and correlates, and stores the results of his experimentation in great libraries. Nothing in God's creation is safely hidden from him except, in a qualified sense, himself ( vs. 4). Idolatry is the failure to let God be God. In idolatry man contradicts the divine nature and in so doing distorts his own. His person can no longer reflect the One with whom he fails to reckon. Divine-Human Relationship God is not only transcendent but personal (vs. 4).' He who framed the world communes with people. As a result, man may not only know about God but may actually know Him. This is not to say that God can be approached as equal, for this would violate reality and abort the valued relationship (vss. 1, 9). Idolatry assumes a relationship between man and God but rejects the necessary conditions. It offers, but does not exercise, obedience to Yahweh. Communion is completely lacking. Coupled with obedience to God's way is responsibility to His world (vss. 5-8). From the first pruning of Eden's foliage to the last orbit of earth's surface, man's stewardship will be required of him. Viktor Frankl says: "Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."1 Frankl does not mean 1 Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning, p. 11. This and subsequent WHAT IS MAN? 15 to discredit man's quest for self-meaning, but to suggest that it can only be found in answering the question of responsibility. Obligation is the "given" of human existence. To be human is to be obligated. We may not know how and to whom we are accountable, but we cannot doubt that we are responsible creatures. After the Korean conflict, a G.I. was questioned about his behavior in prison camp. He and several other prisoners had dragged a man suffering from dysentery out of the barracks and had left him in the snow to freeze to death. When confronted with the report, the soldier protested: "You can't blame me for doing that. I wasn't responsible." But no amount of contradiction excuses him from liability. The court was free to weigh extenuating circumstances, but not to dismiss the charge. Responsibility is the nature of life, the datum of human experience. The psalmist does not have to tell us of our obligation, but he does tell us to whom we are accountable, and he outlines the nature of our responsibility. Yahweh is Lord. His moral law is the description of duty, and His will is the extension of it. We might suppose that a relationship of obedience and responsibility with God would be grievous. The psalmist's experience was quite the opposite (vss. 1-2, 9). Jesus promised: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:29-30, Rsv). God is not perverse in His judgment nor arbitrary in His demands. He is exacting in love and gentle in correction. The world's taskmasters ask much and give little in return, but Yahweh supp1ies grace commensurate with man's duties. The note of sufficiency is implicit at the outset of the psalm, and explicit in verse 4. The idea is beautifully reflected elsewhere: "Whom have I in heaven but You? There is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever" (Psa. 73:2526). God is no mart's debtor. The prodigal finds no sustenance in a far country, but abundance in the Father's house. quotations are reprinted by permission of the Beacon Press, copyright © 1959, 1962, by Viktor Frankl. 16 PSYCHOLOGY IN THE PSALMS Man in Perspective "The poet regards man in the light of the purpose for which he was created. " 2 The picture is of man as he was ideally conceived, a necessary remind