Psalm 8

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your Name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.” Psalm 8:1-2 (NKJV)

The great value of the gift of the Holy Spirit, given to all followers of Jesus at the moment of their decision to believe, is that He reveals the truth of God’s Word.  

“But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV)

And one of the ways the Spirit teaches us is to “whisper” in our hearts and minds as we read the Bible. The Holy Spirit whispers how we should apply Scripture to change our lives to align ourselves with God’s will. He warns us of the world around us by revealing how present-day scenarios mimic ancient scenarios so that we can expect predictable outcomes. And He brings us to a recollection of things we have read earlier in the Bible so we can spot Biblical trends that run throughout Scripture. Reading today’s passage, we should hear a whisper, asking, “Where have you seen ‘mouth of babes’ before?”

“But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant and said to Him, ‘Do You hear what these are saying?’

And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes. Have you never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise”’?”  Matthew 21:15-16 (NKJV)

What does “Hosanna” mean? It means “Save us now!”  So, in quoting Psalm 8, Jesus clarifies that the “strength” that comes out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants is the declaration that Messiah is the source of that saving strength and that He is Messiah! In directing their praise to Jesus, those children (along with adults) declared that Jesus was the Messiah, coming to save His people.  

Furthermore, Jesus’ name in Hebrew, Yeshua, means “YHWH (God) is our salvation  .”So, when the children were directing their praise “Hosanna” at Jesus, they were literally declaring His deity, “God is our salvation; save us now!”  That perfectly aligns with who the Hebrew prophets knew that Messiah would be: God made flesh. (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:6). No wonder the religious leaders sought to silence the children. When they read Psalm 8, they focused on “What is man that you are mindful of Him and the son of man that you visit him?”, thus missing the Messiah, whom even a child could see!  (Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:7)

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”  Psalm 8:9 (NKJV)