Who are the gods of Psalm 82?
By Jonathan Mitchell
This investigation will be based upon my translation of this Psalm in the LXX (where it is numbered #81). There have been a variety of interpretations of its intent for the original audience, but here we will view it through the lens of how Jesus used verse 6, so we will begin with that passage, in Jn. 10:
31. Then the Judeans (= leaders of the Jewish religion) again picked up stones and brought them so that they could stone Him (pelt Him with stones; or: kill Him with stones).
32. Jesus discerningly replies to them, "I exhibited (pointed out, showed, displayed) to (or: among; for) you folks many beautiful works (ideal acts; fine and noble deeds) issuing from out of the midst of the [other MSS add: My] Father. Because of what kind (sort; character) of work, of them, are you men proceeding to stone Me?"
33. The Judeans (= religious authorities) considered and answered Him, "We are not proceeding to stone you about beautiful works, but rather, about blasphemy (villainous, impious slander; defaming communication and misrepresentation [of God]) - even because YOU (or: you yourself), being a human (a man), continue making yourself God (or: frame yourself [to be] a god)."
34. Jesus judiciously replies to them, "Is it not standing written within your Law [other MSS: the Law; = the Torah] that 'I say, you people are (or: exist being) gods'? [Ps. 82:6]
35. "Since He said 'gods' [= elohim] to whom God's Logos (the Word which was laid out from God) came to be (or: toward whom the Idea and Blueprint, which is God, was birthed; toward whom God's message proceeded and was directed into existence) - and it is not possible for the Scripture [= the Tanakh] to be loosened, to be undone so as to nullify, or to be destroyed
36. "are you yourselves now saying to the One Whom the Father set apart (consecrated as holy) and sent forth as an Emissary (on a mission; as a Representative) into the organized domination-System (into the world; unto the religious, political and cultural complex; into the midst of the aggregate of humanity) - that 'You are blaspheming (speaking impious villainy and giving a false image [of God]),' because I said, 'I am God's Son (I exist being the Son of, and from, God)'?
Notice that Jesus cited Ps. 82:6, in vs. 34, above. Also, observe that He explained that God was identifying the "gods" of this Psalm as those "toward whom God's Logos came to be, and toward whom God's message proceeded" (vs. 35, above). This study will interpret the word "gods," in Ps. 82, as a reference to Israel, in the context where Jesus used the OT text. But we will also consider the concept of "people" being "gods," in other NT texts. So let us proceed with that text reference by Jesus...
PSALM 82 (from the LXX, Ps. 81, there)
1. God stood (or: takes a stand) within the midst of (or: in the sphere of, and centered in) a synagogue (or: congregation; assembly) of gods (or: a gathering together of an assembly composed of gods), and within [the] midst, He continues thoroughly dividing for examination, discerningly evaluating, and then making decisions concerning (fully judging) gods!
Our first proposition is that the phrase, "congregation (Greek: sunagoge) of gods" is a reference to Israel. God addresses Israel's leaders (gods), in the next verse...
2. "How long (or: Until when) do you folks continue deciding for (judging with) injustice (absence of what is right) and constantly receive (accept) faces (surface self-presentations or countenances; recognition of social positions or reputations of persons) of sinners (or: repeatedly show partiality to people whose ways of life are failures to hit the target)?
This rhetorical accusation is of the sort that was leveled against unjust leaders in Israel. Recall Deut. 1:17a,
"You shall not be biased in judgment. You shall hear the small as the great..." [cf 1 Sam. 16:7; Prov. 24:23; Isa. 1:23; Ezk. 34:1-22]
This was a part of the Law, which was given to Israel. Verses 3-4, below, are imperatives, given by God, of what they should do to correct their present ways of injustice.
3. "You folks at once give justice to (judge in favor of) orphan and destitute; in accord with the way pointed out, at once deliver and maintain the right of (restore rightwised relationships and covenant inclusion for) [the] lowly (humbled; oppressed) one and [the] needy (poor) person. [cf Isa. 1:17]
4. "You folks at once grasp, from out of the midst, a needy (poor) person, and at once rescue (drag out of danger) a destitute person from [the] hand of a sinner (one who by way of life fails to hit the target; a person who operates in, or with, error)."
The next verse, 5, describes the spiritual and intellectual condition of this group. And so, God speaks of this group, in the third person, describing them.
5. They do not know (have insight or experiential, intimate knowledge) nor can they make things flow together, so as to understand; they progressively journey (or: habitually pass from place to place) throughout (or: through the midst) within the midst of (in union with; centered in) darkness - all the foundations and walls of the Land (territory; ground; earth) will be progressively shaken and caused to rock (or: driven to and fro, and be caused to tremble and shudder; be moved to a different perspective).
Their way of life, and situation, reminds us of Jn. 1:5,
"And the Light is constantly shining in the dim and shadowed places, and keeps on progressively giving light within the gloomy darkness where there is no light
(or: within the midst of the obscurity of The Darkness where there is no light of The Day; or: = in the ignorant condition or system). And yet the darkness does not grasp [i.e., understand], nor receive and accept, or embrace, it on the same level
(or: Furthermore, the Darkness did not take it down, so as to overcome it or put it out; or: = And so, the ignorant condition or system would have none of it, nor receive it down into itself [in order to perceive it];
or: Even so, that darkness does not correspondingly accept It nor commensurately take It in hand so as to follow the pattern or be in line with Its bidding)."
And then, we have further explanation, in Jn. 3:19, extrapolating it to apply to Old Covenant Israel (which was still in existence, when John wrote his Gospel):
"Now this continues being the process of the sifting, the separating and the deciding (the evaluating; the judging), because the light [i.e., the Law] has come into the world (= the ordered system and arrangement of religion, culture and government, given by Moses, at Mt. Sinai), and yet the humans love the darkness (or: the men [= the leadership] love and fully give themselves to the dimness of obscurity and gloom) rather than the light, for their works (deeds; actions) were continuing to be bad ones (unsound ones; wicked, wrongful ones; laborious ones; unprofitable and disadvantageous ones; malicious ones)."
The last clause of 22:5, above, is a pronouncement of judgment. The conquests over, and subsequent exiles of, both the northern and then the southern kingdoms of God's congregation of Israel, were the fulfillments of this judgment, as symbolically given in the last half of the verse. Of interest is that,
"the Land will be progressively shaken."
This calls to mind Adam's metaphorical fall in Isa. 14:16b-17,
"Is this the man that made the Land (or: earth; territory) to tremble, that shook kingdoms, that made the fruit-bearing, habitable earth as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and did not open the house of his prisoners?"
In speaking about the judgment of Tyre, Ezk. 28 speaks, in a similar vein, of its prince having metaphorically been in Eden, God's garden (vs. 13), as well as having been on God's mountain (vs. 14), etc., but due to iniquity and violence, he was cast to the ground, and laid before kings (vss. 15-17)...
6. I Myself said, "You folks are (exist being) gods, and all [are] sons of the Most High!
Now He addresses this assembly of gods, referenced in vs. 1, above. Recall Jn. 10:34-35, quoted above. These were folks,
"to whom God's Logos (the Word which was laid out from God) came,"
through Moses, and the prophets.
God chose Israel, as a people group, to be His corporate son (Ex. 4:22). Therefore, they were metaphorically gods, as being children of God, a part of God's family. Dan Kaplan has pointed us to Ex. 7:1, where Yahweh says to Moses,
"See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet."
And even of Jesus, of Whom we read that His father was the Holy Spirit (Lu. 1:35), it was said in Heb. 1:5,
"For you see, to a certain one of the agents He once said (or: as an interrogative: in which one of the messengers - the folks having the message - did He once say?), "You are my son: I have given birth to you today!" [Ps. 110:1; Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:4]
And again,
"I will continue being to and for him with a reference as (or: for) a Father, and he will continue being to and for Me with a reference as (or: for) a son."or: "I will continually exist being in him, in the role as a Father, and he himself will exist being in Me, in the role as a son!)
We suggest that this was a prophetic fulfillment of Ps. 2:7, speaking of birth and sonship in a metaphorical, figurative sense, as we see in 2 Sam. 7:14 and 1 Chron. 17:13.
But let us now consider what Paul said to the religious philosophers, in Athens, in Acts 17:
28. "For you see, within the midst of and in union with Him we continuously live (or, as a subjunctive: could be constantly living), and are constantly moved about and put into motion, and continue existing (experiencing Being). Even as certain of the poets down among you people have said, 'You see, we are also a family of the One (or: we even continuously exist being a RACE whose source is the One; or: we also are His SPECIES and offspring; we are even a FAMILY which is composed of the One and which is the One).' [a quote of Aratos and of Keleanthes; cf Eph. 3:15]
29. "Therefore, continuously and inherently subsisting from under a beginning, being God's family (a species of God; a race whose source is God; [the] kind of being having the qualities and characteristics of God; [the] offspring birthed from God)...
In this passage, we suggest that Paul was speaking literally, not figuratively or with metaphor. There is no suggestion, here, of being people that have a special relationship with God, as, for instance, he does in Rom. 8:14,
"those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God."
Jesus put His relationship to God as being the same relationship as our relationship to God, in Jn. 20:17,
"Jesus then says to her, "Stop holding (or: Do not continue hanging on and clinging to) Me, for I have not yet stepped back up again so as to be ascended toward (or: to; face to face with) the [other MSS: My] Father. Now be going on your way toward (or: to) My brothers (family, from the same womb; or: = fellow members), and say to them [that I said], ‘I am progressively stepping back up again (or: now ascending) toward My Father - even the Father of you folks - and My God: even [the] God of you people [note: this would be Yahweh]!'"
Recall, also, Nu. 16:22, where Moses and Aaron addressed God, saying,
"O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh..."
In the last part of that verse, we see that they said this about the people that Yahweh was threatening to consume.
The last verse of the physical genealogy of Jesus gives us pause for consideration:
"[son] of Enos (or: Enosh), [son] of Seth, [son] of Adam, [son] of God."
[note: Following Joseph, in vs. 23, each name of this genealogy is a genitive or ablative phrase. Thus, alternate renderings of the last part of vs. 38 are: ... belonging to, or from, Adam, belonging to, or from, God; or: ... whose source is Adam, whose source is God; or, as a genitive of apposition: ... who is Adam, who is God; comment: this last function of the genitive would indicate a continuity, and a corporate unity, from God, through Adam, and on through the rest of the genealogy; cf Acts 17:28-29; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 15:28b; Col. 1:16-20]
Paul instructs us, in Col. 1:15,
(or: the unable to be seen God; the invisible God;
or: from God, the Invisible One), the Firstborn of all creation
(or: of every creature;
or: of every framing and founding; of every act of settling from a state of disorder and wildness;
or: pertaining to the whole creation;
or: = the Inheritor of all creation Who has priority, and will also assume authority over and responsibility for every creature [note: this is the duty of the firstborn])." [cf Jn. 14:9b]
Jas. 3:9b makes a generalized statement about people (by referencing Gen. 1:26):
"we constantly curse (pray down upon) those people having been born 'in accord with (down from; corresponding to; following the pattern of) God's likeness.'"
In Mat. 9:2, Jesus addressed the paralytic as,
"Child (Born-one)..."
Whose child was He inferring this man to be? Who can we assume that Jesus meant was his Father? Mat. 9:22 records Jesus addressing the woman,
"Daughter..."
God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24).
We read, in Heb. 12:9b,
"shall we not be continually placed under and humbly arranged and aligned by, to, with, for, and in, the Father of the spirits (or: the Progenitor of breath-effects and Mentor of attitudes)?"
In Mat. 6:9, Jesus taught His disciples to pray,
"O our Father - the One within and in union with the heavens! (or: in the midst of the atmosphere and firmament!)..."
We are the very breath of God (Gen. 2:7) - this is how we became "living souls."
In Eph. 3:6, we read:
"In spirit, the nations (the Gentiles; the ethnic multitudes; non-Jews) are to continuously be joint-heirs (fellow-participants by allotment) and a Joint Body (sharing together the same body) and Joint sharers (partakers; participants) of The Promise..."
This calls to mind the words of the chief priest, in Jn. 11:52, speaking first of the Jewish nation,
"and not over [the condition of] the Nation (or: on behalf of this ethnic group) only, but further, to the end that He could gather God's children together - those having been thoroughly scattered - into one (or: so that He would lead together into unity God's divided, dissipated and disintegrated born-ones that have been dispersed throughout)." [cf Gen. 11:8]
Returning to Eph., in 2:19, Paul had said to the non-Israelites,
"Consequently then, you folks no longer continuously exist being strangers (foreigners) and sojourners (folks being or living beside a house; temporary residents in a foreign land), but in contrast, you continually exist being fellow-citizens of those set apart to be sacred people
(or: folks residing together in a City belonging to, and composed of, the holy ones): even God's family (members of God's household, and of God's House)."
Now these two verses in Eph. are speaking of God's spiritual, or metaphorical, body and household, and was in the context of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) and the new arrangement (covenant). But the statement of the chief Priest, in Jn. 11:52, was in the context of people on the level of the natural realm, as was the statement in Gen. 11:8, in the story of the Tower of Babel.
Then, we read this, in Eph. 3:
14. On account of this (or: From this grace or thanks), I continually bend my knees (= in loyalty, respect and reverence) to (toward; or: face-to-face with) the Father [other MSS add: of (or: Who is) our Lord Jesus Christ],
15. forth from Where (or: out of the midst of Whom) every family (lineage; kindred; descent; paternal group) within heaven and upon earth (or: in [the] sky or atmosphere, and on [the] land) is one after another being named (or: spoken of, or to, by name; or: designated).
In Eph. 4:6, we are instructed that there is,
"ONE God and Father of all humans - the One upon all people and [moving] through all people, and within the midst of all humanity and in union with all people and all things."
Now in 1 Pet. 5:9, it is a matter of interpretation as to how Peter was using the word "brotherhood," in reference to those who were "in the world":
"having seen and thus knowing about these same experiences and sufferings [that] are to repeatedly and progressively bring the goal upon (bring perfection upon; accomplish maturity upon; bring on the destiny of) your brotherhood, within the arrangements of the Domination System
(or: in the midst of the secular realm;
or: in the ordered world of religion, economy, culture and government; in the sphere of the aggregate of humanity)."
The question of interpretation lies in how Peter was using the word kosmos, and whether he meant the brotherhood (adelphotes) in Christ, or in "the aggregate of humanity."
But let us now return to Ps. 82...
7.But yet, you folks continue (or: are one-after-another; are progressively) dying-off as human beings, and even as one of the beginning ones (or: rulers; original people) you continually (or: one-after-another; repeatedly; progressively) fall (or: collapse)."
Although being "the offspring of God," (as Jesus was) these die-off like every human being does (as did Jesus, in His earthly, human experience). The same happens to us, but where do we go, when this happens? Paul gave us a clue, in Rom. 11:36,
"For from out of the midst of Him, and through the midst of Him, and [back] into the midst of Him, are all things."
We are all brothers of Jesus (Rom. 8:29), and we return to our Father.
Returning to Ezk 28, for further comparison, and the figurative story of this "man" (vs. 2) who became a ‘trafficker" (vs. 5), we read that God would
"bring strangers (foreigners), the terrible of the nations (ethnic multitudes) upon him,"
with their swords (vs. 7), and this symbolic, corporate "man" would "die the deaths (plural) of folks slain in the midst of the seas (vs. 8; is the sea a figure of humanity, here?), and the deaths of the uncircumcised (vs. 10).
The next lamentation of Ezk. 28 (vss. 13-19) uses imagery of Eden (vs. 13) along with the temple and the high priest vestments (vs. 13-14), locating the setting in
"the mountain of God" (vs. 16),
ending with him being
"cast to the ground... before kings" (vs. 17)
and ending up as ashes (or: dust) upon the Land, or earth, ground, within the sight of people (vs. 18).
Both vss. 13 and 15 note that this figure was "created," but "sinned" (vs. 16).
And now, the last verse of Ps. 82...
8. Stand back up (or: Rise up; Take a stand again), O God; at once separate, evaluate and decide about this Land (or: this territory; the earth), because You, Yourself, will progressively (or: of one-after-another) become full Heir and take possession of the corresponding, allotted inheritance - in union with, and centered in, all the ethnic multitudes and nations! [cf Ps. 2:8]
This verse bookends vs. 1 of Ps. 82, above, but now expands and extends the "assembly of gods" to include "all the ethnic multitudes and nations." We all,
"even continuously exist being a race whose source is the One; or: we also are His species and offspring; we are even a family which is composed of the One and which is the One" (Acts 17:28).
So we conclude that the gods of vs. 1 and vs. 6 refer to Israel, Yahweh's firstborn (Ex. 4:22), in a spiritual, covenantal sense, and then to "all the ethnic multitudes," in this same spiritual, covenantal sense of God's economy (Rom. 11:17ff).
But in the ontological sense, as expressed in Acts 17:28, e.g., we interpret Ps. 82:1 and 6 in the way that Jesus seemed to use them in Jn. 10:34-35, as referring to people, in general, whose destiny is to bear God's image (Gen. 1:26-27) and who will also be made alive in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22).
We should keep in mind that "gods" (as used in this Psalm) can die (vs. 7), and they die-off as human beings. Jesus was, and is, the Last Adam, who became
"a Life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
The first humanity was "natural," and then, "afterward, spiritual" (ibid vs. 46). And then, 1 Cor. 15:48 and 49 instruct us:
"The first human (person; humanity) [was/is] forth from out of the earth (Land; ground; soil), made of moist soil and dust (or: having the quality and character of moist dirt that can be poured, mounded or molded; soilish; [cf Gen. 3:19; Jer. 18:1-6; Jn. 3:31]); the Second Human (Person; Humanity) [is made] out of heaven (or: [is] from atmosphere and sky;
[p46 reads: {is} spiritual]). [cf Jn. 3:13]
As [is] the person made of, and having the character and quality of, moist soil or dust (mounded or poured dirt), of such sort also [are] the people [who are] made of and have the character and quality of moist soil or dust (soil-ish folks); and likewise, as [is] the Added, Imposed, Heavenly Person (or: the one made of and having the quality and character of the added-heaven), of such sort also [are] the added, imposed, heavenly people - those made of, and having the quality and character of, the added, imposed, heaven (or: the finished and perfected atmosphere, or the added sky)."
And thus it seems that, all humanity begins as existential, natural gods, but then (each person in their own order and category) is resurrected into an ontological existence of a spiritual, "heavenly" god - a member of:
Jonathan
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