“What is humankind that you are mindful of it?” The Reception of Psalm 8:5 in Rabbinic Texts

• In Event: The Bible and the Human Condition

Abstract

In the biblical context of the glorification of humans depicted in Ps. 8:6–9, v. 5 conveys a positive picture of humankind, where humans are just below the ELŌHIM/angels. Outside that context, however, Ps 8:5 is often used in the debate of how humans rank relative to the angels, becoming a variable tool to criticize either the angels or humankind. I will show that despite deriving almost exclusively from a Second Temple reception of Ps 8:5 in a MATAN-TORAH tradition in which Moses ascends to heaven, the reception of Ps 8:5 in rabbinic texts displays great diversity. The popular MATAN-TORAH tradition, which includes the angels’ quoting Ps 8:5, maintains that humans are only a little below the angels and can surpass the angels through Torah study. The MATAN-TORAH tradition is itself repurposed into a midrashic creation story that alludes to Gen 1:26, with the angels quoting Ps 8:5 to demean humankind as they question the Holy One’s decision to create humans. The creation story is reworked in other midrashim on Gen 1:26 in which the Holy One responds to the angels’ quotation of Ps 8:5 by arguing that humans will be superior to angels in certain ways. The creation story is taken in a different direction in midrashim on the flood in Gen 6 in which, before sending the flood waters, the Holy One quotes Ps 8:5 and acknowledges that the angels were right to object to the creation of humans. In some receptions, angels are the problem, while in others, humans are the problem. No consistent interpretation dominates the reception of Ps 8:5 during the classic rabbinic period. In demonstrating the thesis, I will examine two passages in the Bavli (b. Shabbat 88b–89a and b. Sanhedrin 38b) and two in Genesis Rabbah (8:6 and 31:12), while noting their parallels in other texts.

Author

• Robert Costello, University of Aberdeen