Bible Reading: Psalm 82:1-8 KJV
- Psalm 82:6 KJV
In the previous devotional we learned that the sons of God are divine beings under the authority of the God of Israel. You should be aware of some of the ways the clear meaning of Psalm 82 is distorted by interpreters and why it isn’t teaching polytheism.
Some have asserted that Psalm 82 is where God is speaking to the other members of the Trinity. This view results in heresy. This Psalm has God judging the other elohim for corruption (vv. 2–4). The corrupt elohim are sentenced to die like humans (v. 7).
Some Christians try to argue that the sons of God are human beings — Jews to be specific. This “human view” is as flawed as the Trinitarian view. At no point in the Old Testament does the Scripture teach that Jews or Jewish leaders were put in authority over the other nations. The opposite is true — they were to be separate from other nations.
The real problem with the human view is that it cannot be reconciled with other references in the Hebrew Old Testament that refer to a divine council of elohim, such as Psalm 89:5–7.
"5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty [God] can be likened unto the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." - Psalm 89:5–7
What Psalms 82 and 89 describe is completely consistent with what we saw earlier in Job 38: 7— a group of heavenly sons of God.
Many scholars believe that Psalm 82 and other passages demonstrate that the religion of ancient Israel began as a polytheistic system and then evolved into monotheism. This thinking is misguided. The problem is rooted in a mistaken notion of what exactly the word elohim means. Since elohim is so often translated God, we look at the Hebrew word the same way we look at capitalized G-o-d. Biblical authors did not assign a specific set of attributes to the word elohim.
The biblical writers refer to a half-dozen different entities with the word elohim:
“And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God [elohim] like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:" - 1 Kings 8:23
What all the figures on the list above have in common is that they are inhabitants of the spiritual world. The Old Testament writers understood that Yahweh was an elohim— but no other elohim was Yahweh.
Some have asserted that Psalm 82 is where God is speaking to the other members of the Trinity. This view results in heresy. This Psalm has God judging the other elohim for corruption (vv. 2–4). The corrupt elohim are sentenced to die like humans (v. 7).
Some Christians try to argue that the sons of God are human beings — Jews to be specific. This “human view” is as flawed as the Trinitarian view. At no point in the Old Testament does the Scripture teach that Jews or Jewish leaders were put in authority over the other nations. The opposite is true — they were to be separate from other nations.
The real problem with the human view is that it cannot be reconciled with other references in the Hebrew Old Testament that refer to a divine council of elohim, such as Psalm 89:5–7.
"5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty [God] can be likened unto the Lord?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." - Psalm 89:5–7
What Psalms 82 and 89 describe is completely consistent with what we saw earlier in Job 38: 7— a group of heavenly sons of God.
Many scholars believe that Psalm 82 and other passages demonstrate that the religion of ancient Israel began as a polytheistic system and then evolved into monotheism. This thinking is misguided. The problem is rooted in a mistaken notion of what exactly the word elohim means. Since elohim is so often translated God, we look at the Hebrew word the same way we look at capitalized G-o-d. Biblical authors did not assign a specific set of attributes to the word elohim.
The biblical writers refer to a half-dozen different entities with the word elohim:
- Yahweh, the God of Israel (thousands of times— e.g., Gen 2: 4– 5; Deut 4: 35)
- The members of Yahweh’s council (Psa 82: 1, 6)
- Gods and goddesses of other nations (Judg 11: 24; 1 Kgs 11: 33)
- Demons (devils) (Hebrew: shedim— Deut 32: 17) 3
- The deceased Samuel (1 Sam 28:13)
“And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God [elohim] like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:" - 1 Kings 8:23
What all the figures on the list above have in common is that they are inhabitants of the spiritual world. The Old Testament writers understood that Yahweh was an elohim— but no other elohim was Yahweh.
Sources:
- Portions of the above is from Michael S. Heiser' excellent book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
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