Thomas Aquinas, on Ps 8:6

“Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:”

“Next, when he says "you have set him," he sets forth the clemency of God toward man by comparison with those things which are below man, because he willed that man have dominion over these lower things: and concerning this he does three things. First he proposes the dominion. Second, the capacity for ruling. Third, the number of subjects. The second, at "you have subjected all things." The third, at "the sheep and the oxen." He says therefore: since man is king, you have given him dominion "over the works of your hands": Gen. 1: "That he may rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the whole earth, and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth." He has this through reason, because he excels all animals: and therefore as soon as he said "with glory and honor," he added, "you have set him," that is, you gave him dominion. But note that he says man has authority over the works of the "hands," not of the "fingers"; because these are not so delicate as the heavens, which are the works of the fingers. Man cannot subject these to himself; and therefore second he shows the capacity for ruling. "All things," he says, "you have subjected," so that he might preside and rule at his will. This is signified in Gen. 2, where God brought all the animals to Adam. And this subjection was complete before sin; but some things now resist as a punishment for sin. The fourth mystery is the ascension: "You have set him over," etc. Eph. 1: "Setting him at his right hand, above every principality and power," etc. The fifth mystery is the coming for judgment: "you have subjected all things," etc., that is, you have established him as judge over all things: Heb. 2: "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him": then all things will be subjected under his feet, that is, under his humanity, because the head of Christ is God, 1 Cor. 11. And the feet are the humanity: Jn. 5: "He gave him power to execute judgment."”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.