Psalm 82/God Among Gods

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Introduction:

We come now to yet another psalm of Asaph. Unlike many psalms, this one is not directed to God. It speaks of Him, but the import of what is said is directed at rulers. This is an Old Testament instance of “teaching and admonishing one another,” although in this case directed at wickedness outside the covenant. But it is a word to be sung horizontally.Plant From Bible

The Text:

“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods . . . ” (Psalm 82:1-8).

Summary of the Text:

The psalm begins, for us at least, very cryptically. Elohim judges among the elohim (v. 1), doing so in the Council of El. His complaint against them is that they are unjust in their judgments (v. 2). Instead of what they have been doing, they should deliver those who are oppressed (vv. 3-4). When rulers rule wickedly, they blunder on stupidly in the dark, and they put everything out of joint (v. 5). God says that He had declared them gods (v. 6), but that now they will die the way that men do (v. 7). God is then invited to rise up, judge the world, and inherit all the nations (v. 8).

God and Gods:

The word for the one, true Creator God has a plural ending—Elohim. If we were to reproduce the monotheistic confession of Israel in modern English, we would say something like “we believe in one true Gods.” At the same time, the word for the pagan gods is the same word, same ending—elohim. So the first verse here says that “Elohim stands in the congregation of El; He judges among the elohim.”

Throw into this the wild card of Scripture’s acknowledgement that such gods were not non-existent. They were supernatural beings, but they were created, just like we were created. “For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him” (1 Cor. 8:5–6). Our common name for these divine beings is angels; the pagans thought of them simply as gods.

Background Cosmology:

In this place, the imagery and language has God judging among divine beings (or angels) who have ruled unjustly and wickedly. This is a divine council, the congregation or council of El. As we see in the psalm, their rule has ramifications on earth.

But in John 10, Jesus quotes v. 6 to the Jews, saying that the phrase “you are gods” applied to those to whom the Word of God came (a plain reference to Israel at Sinai). This makes it apply to men, as opposed to angels.

The best way to harmonize this difference is to argue that Asaph was overlapping the imagery of the divine council in order to make the same point about Israel. This would be warranted if the heavenly councils and the earthly councils were somehow linked, which is a reality that we find throughout all Scripture. This helps explain why Deut. 32:8 may be rendered differently in the Masoretic text and in the Septuagint. The former says that God divided up the nations according to the number of the sons of Israel. The LXX says the angels of God or sons of God. This is a difference, but it need not be a conflicting difference.

Going the other way, this also helps explain why earthly rulers can be called gods in Scripture. “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people” (Ex. 22:28). See also Ex. 21:6 and Ex. 22:8-9. There are two things we are not to render to the elohim—whether divine or human. Those two things are adoration on the one hand, and contempt on the other. In our circles, contempt of civil authority presents a significant temptation.

Judges Shall Be Judged:

We know from Scripture that judging shall be judged (Matt. 7:1), but we also need to learn that judges shall be judged. If God told the heavenly gods that they would die like men, how much more shall men die like men? As Spurgeon put it, “How quickly death unrobes the great.” Expand on Spurgeon’s observation: When God hunts birdWhen God hunts birds, He can shoot them out of the tallest of trees. What? Do you think God’s guns cannot reach the Ninth Circuit? Or the Supreme Court?s, He can shoot them out of the tallest of trees. What? Do you think God’s guns cannot reach the Ninth Circuit? Or the Supreme Court?

Relieve the Afflicted:

You have perhaps heard it said that lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math. But who runs the lotteries? A great deal of the world’s sorrow is generated by the clevers, by the creatives, by the smart people. We see their true character by what they do, and do not evaluate it on the basis of their intellectual horsepower. They abuse the poor and needy, but remember that they don’t do it under banners that say, “Let’s stick it to the poor and needy.” No, they are all about saving the children . . . except for the ones whose body parts they have for sale.

Out of Course:

They are clever enough to completely fool the poor and needy. They can run roughshod over the afflicted and needy. They know how to abuse orphans, and they know how to distract you if you try to call them on it. They are clever enough for that.

But they are not clever enough to see the reality of what they are actually doing. They know not (v. 5). They do not understand. They walk on blindly into the darkness, and they put the foundations of everything out of kilter. The devil is likely a thousand times smarter than any of us, but he is this kind of fool.

Getting Your Case Heard:

When it comes to our reflections on the judgments of God, there is a great difference between the default imagination of the ancient Jews and the default imagination of Christians. In certain respects, their take is superior to ours, and will not be corrected until we recover psalm singing more fully. When we think of God as judge, we tend to think of criminal court, and ourselves as defendants. This is not necessarily wrong because there is scriptural warrant for it (2 Cor. 5:10). My concern here is emphasis. The Jews thought of unjust judges as the ones you couldn’t get to hear your case. They thought of it as civil court, and of themselves as plaintiffs. The whole point was to get into the court, not out of it.

So whatever you affirm about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, make sure you don’t leave this part of it out. Arise, O God, judge the earth. For thou shalt inherit all nations. This judgment is to be understood as the culmination of gospel. The judgment of God coming to earth is to be categorized as good news.

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ashv
ashv
7 years ago

Amen. The way I’ve heard it phrased is that “judgement” in most Scriptural contexts means God vindicating the righteous and punishing the guilty — and that we, as part of the body of Christ, should be eager to see God’s judgement accomplished.

A related issue I’d like to see further exegesis on is: what should our understanding of the word “oppression” be, as it’s used in Scripture? It gets used a lot in modern contexts to mean a lot of things I suspect it doesn’t mean in the Bible.

Rob Steele
Rob Steele
7 years ago
Reply to  ashv

I’m pretty sure “oppression” means macro as opposed to micro aggressions.

D Bnonn Tennant
7 years ago

Doug, I’m puzzled why you interpret “those to whom the word of God came” as a “plain reference to Israel at Sinai.” Jesus is referencing the quote he just gave—i.e., those to whom the word of God came in Psalm 82. If you have him arguing that even human beings can be gods, it completely undermines his claim to divinity in John 10:34-39, and fails to explain why the crowd tries to execute him. Jesus’ argument there is an a fortiori one. Roughly: 1. God himself calls lesser divine beings gods and makes them adoptive sons of the Most High… Read more »

Drew Justice
Drew Justice
7 years ago

Heiser is wrong. When Exodus says “Thou shalt not revile the gods,” Paul later re-states it in Acts 23:5 as “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.” Also, Psalm 82 did not “come” to any demonic beings. Even if you assumed that it were written about demonic beings, the inspired text clearly came to Asaph and the human Israelites. Also, I think the sins that the “gods” are faulted for clearly reflect ways that human judges would err. Further, the idea that demons would “perish like men” doesn’t make much sense, anyway. God refers to his… Read more »

D Bnonn Tennant
7 years ago
Reply to  Drew Justice

Hi Drew, I’m not really interested in proving that the council of Psalm 82 is “in the skies” and comprised of “heavenly beings” as Psalm 89:5-7 ESV puts it. That’s a completely separate debate which is irrelevant to my question to Doug, who already agrees with the divine council interpretation. In all frankness, opposition to that interpretation isn’t exegetically respectable, and experience suggests that a discussion here won’t be fruitful, since denying the clear meaning of the text tends to be emotionally-motivated, rather than rational. That said, let me address a couple of your points, since they are illustrative of… Read more »

Drew Justice
Drew Justice
7 years ago

It absolutely makes sense that human judges would perish like men, because God is saying that he is literally going to kill them. Nothing confusing. Further, the sins of the “gods” in Psalm 82 are exactly the same behaviors exhibited by bad human judges. I find it dubious that God would be blaming demons for not doing “justice,” or for accepting the persons of the “wicked,” when the Bible routinely classifies all idolaters as wicked and worthy of death. In fact, it is even more dubious that God would have devils as part of his “congregation” in the first place.… Read more »

D Bnonn Tennant
7 years ago
Reply to  Drew Justice

Drew, with all grace to you, the problem is that you don’t know what you don’t know. You’re too ignorant of the view you’re opposing to articulate it basically right, and that makes you look bad, and also means I have to waste time interacting with a strawman. The gods of Psalm 82 are not demons. They are rulers, the authorities, the world rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10; 6:12). They are ruled by Satan, who in turn is therefore the “ruler of this world” (John 16:11 etc); and Satan is… Read more »

Drew Justice
Drew Justice
7 years ago

Even if you assume that the “word of God” in John 10 refers to a person, instead of a message, it still helps my argument more than yours. Psalm 82 doesn’t say anything about a personal Word of God interacting with the devils/angels/humans. In contrast, most people would acknowledge that Jesus the Word of God was involved in giving the mosaic law to the Israelites. (“[They] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:4). Under your theory, I would expect God the Father… Read more »

D Bnonn Tennant
7 years ago
Reply to  Drew Justice

Drew, I must say I’m surprised to hear you’ve read any of Heiser’s book, considering how poorly you seem to understand the worldview he articulates. (For the record, I don’t agree with Heiser on everything, and I cash out the biblical worldview a little differently to him.) For instance, how can you argue that God didn’t ordain these “devils,” as you insist on calling them, to rule over others, on the flimsy basis that it isn’t the ideal, and in fact is a judgment upon them? Deuteronomy 32:8 and 4:19 couldn’t be more clear that God disinherited the nations and… Read more »

Drew Justice
Drew Justice
7 years ago

The main point, which I’ve tried to articulate but which you don’t seem to hear, is that God never would expect the devils to care for the needy, or protect the righteous from the wicked. All of the devils’ worshippers are wicked. God DOESN’T CARE whether the devils treat their worshippers well. There was never a time when God told some good angels to rule on his behalf, only to have to punish those good angels later for getting to be too self-centered, as your view suggests. Instead, Romans 1 says that wicked people were given over to these (already-fallen)… Read more »