Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Jesus Christ
Psalm 82 shows God presiding over 'gods' who judge unjustly and are sentenced to die like men. Most readers have seen Israel's judges and rulers here, men who bore God's office and title; others see spiritual powers behind them. Either way the psalm's point stands: these elohim are under God's authority, and Jesus used exactly this psalm to prove He is far more than one of them.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/who-are-the-gods-of-psalm-82 · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Psalms 82
As you read: The whole drama in eight verses: an assembly, an indictment, a sentence, and a prayer that God Himself would judge the earth.
1God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.
2“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.
3“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
4Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”
5They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
7Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”
8Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.
John 10:22-42
As you read: When accused of blasphemy, Jesus cites 'I said, you are gods,' and turns it into proof of who He is.
22It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.
23It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
24The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.
26But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.
27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
30I and the Father are one.”
31Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
33The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
34Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),
36do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
37If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.
38But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
39They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.
40He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed.
41Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.”
42Many believed in him there.
Exodus 22:5-15
As you read: Cases brought 'to God,' meaning to the judges, who carry His authority in ordinary disputes.
5“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and lets his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.
6“If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
7“If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief is found, he shall pay double.
8If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbor’s goods.
9For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
10“If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it;
11the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, whether he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.
12But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.
13If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn.
14“If a man borrows anything of his neighbor’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution.
15If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.
Deuteronomy 17:8-13
As you read: Hard cases go to the place Yahweh chooses; the priestly court's ruling carries divine weight.
8If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses.
9You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.
10You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you:
11according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.
13All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
'God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.' The Hebrew word is elohim both for the presiding God and for those He judges. The psalm does not open with a rival throne but with one throne: Elohim stands, the elohim are arraigned before Him. From the first line, these 'gods' answer to Someone greater.
“God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.”Psalms 82:1
Scripture applies elohim to humans who hold God's office. Moses is 'as God to Pharaoh'; theft cases are brought 'to God', that is, to the judge at the gate; hard cases go up to priests and the judge who act in God's name. On this reading the 'gods' are corrupt judges and rulers, and the sentence fits perfectly: 'you shall die like men.' They claimed godlike authority, yet they were only men.
“Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.”Exodus 7:1
“If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbor’s goods.”Exodus 22:8
“If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates; then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you: according to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel. All the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.”Deuteronomy 17:8-13
“Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.””Psalms 82:7
Other passages suggest spiritual rulers stand behind human injustice, and some readers take Psalm 82's assembly to include them. Note that Deuteronomy 32:8 says God fixed the nations' boundaries 'according to the number of the children of Israel,' while some ancient manuscripts read 'according to the number of the sons of God.' Even if unseen powers are in view, nothing changes: they rebel, they fail the poor, and God sentences them to die. They are never objects of worship and never creators.
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.”Deuteronomy 32:8
“I said, “You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.””Psalms 82:6-7
“Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.”Psalms 82:8
When the leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy for calling Himself God's Son, He answered: 'Isn't it written in your law, I said, you are gods?' If Scripture can give the title gods to those who merely carried God's word, then it cannot be blasphemy for the one 'whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world' to be called God's Son. Notice what Jesus is doing: He accepts the psalm's premise that its gods are small, and steps forward as Someone in a different category entirely.
“Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’”John 10:34-36
“The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.””John 10:33
Seconds after quoting Psalm 82, Jesus says, 'I and the Father are one,' and the crowd picks up stones: 'because you, being a man, make yourself God.' Psalm 82 ends with a prayer: 'Arise, God, judge the earth.' In John 10 the answer to that prayer walks into the temple courts. The Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father: this is not one more elohim among the judged, but the one God Himself come to judge.
“I and the Father are one.””John 10:30
“But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.””John 10:38
“The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.””John 10:33
“Arise, God, judge the earth, for you inherit all of the nations.”Psalms 82:8