Living By God’s Treasure

Psalm 8 is not only one of the most beautiful of the psalms, but also one of the most enigmatic. At first, it sings of God’s supreme majesty and the lowliness of human beings by comparison. Then it shifts direction, celebrating human glory, before returning once more to a paean in praise of God.

It opens with praise of God:

O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name throughout the earth; You have covered the heavens with Your splendor. (Verse 2)

It then contrasts this divine grandeur with the frailty of humanity:

What is man that You are mindful of him; the son of man that You take note of him? (Verse 5)

Only then does the psalm reverse course and declare humanity’s elevated status:

Yet You have made him but a little less than divine and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork… (Verses 6–7)

Finally, it closes as it began, with a paean to God:

O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name throughout the earth! (Verse 10)

The message of the psalm would seem to be that while God’s glory towers over all creation, God has nevertheless raised human beings from their lowly state and endowed them with dignity and mastery within creation.

Yet for some among the sages, the tension between divine majesty and human frailty remained unresolved. One remarkable midrashic passage rereads this psalm as an intense dialogue among the ministering angels, God, and Moshe concerning humanity’s right to receive the Torah:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: When Moshe ascended on high, the ministering angels spoke before the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the Universe! What business has one born of woman among us?”
“He has come to receive the Torah,” God answered them.
They said before Him: “That secret treasure, hidden by You for nine hundred and seventy-four generations before the creation of the world. You seek to give it to flesh and blood? What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You take note of him? O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name throughout the earth — place Your glory upon the heavens!”

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moshe: “Answer them.”

Moshe replied: “Master of the Universe, I fear lest they consume me with the fiery breath of their mouths.”
God said to him: “Hold fast to My throne of glory and answer them.”
Moshe said before Him: “Master of the Universe, the Torah that You are giving me — what is written in it? ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ Did you descend to Egypt? Were you enslaved to Pharaoh? Why then should the Torah be yours?
What else is written in it? ‘You shall have no other gods.’ Do you dwell among nations that practice idolatry?
‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ Do you perform labor, that you require rest?
‘Honor your father and your mother.’ Do you have parents?
‘You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal.’ Is there jealousy among you? Is there an evil inclination among you?”

Immediately, the angels conceded to the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said: “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your name throughout the earth” — while the phrase “place Your glory upon the heavens” no longer appears. Immediately, each angel became Moshe’s friend and transmitted something to him as a gift. (adapted from Shabbat 88b–89a)

In this midrash, the Torah is both heavenly and earthly. The angels regard it as their most precious treasure, yet they seemingly have never opened it or read it carefully. When Moshe confronts them with its contents, they realize that the Torah belongs not to perfect heavenly beings, but to flawed and struggling human beings. It is precisely because human beings live amid labor, temptation, conflict, family, responsibility, and moral challenge that the Torah belongs in human hands.

At that moment, humanity itself is elevated. The Torah becomes the bridge between heaven and earth, the means through which human beings become “but a little less than divine.”

On Shavuot we celebrate not merely that the Torah descended from heaven, but that heaven entrusted itself to humanity. The angels could praise God’s glory, but only human beings could live the Torah within the struggles and imperfections of earthly life. The greatness of Torah lies precisely in its ability to sanctify ordinary human existence. And so, Psalm 8 closes where it began: with praise of God, yet now we understand that God’s glory is revealed not only in the heavens above, but also in the dignity and responsibility bestowed upon humanity below.