Psalms 82

If you believe all of the Bible you have to believe that there is a Council or Assembly of the Gods.

Originally posted by badmoon
If you believe all of the Bible you have to believe that there is a Council or Assembly of the Gods.

Yeah. Why not? Its easy to believe anything when you're out in the desert for long enough😉
But really this sort of info is for future discussion, imo. Talking about it now just exacebates our current , crappy situation.

Originally posted by badmoon
If you believe all of the Bible you have to believe that there is a Council or Assembly of the Gods.

(Psalm 82:1) . . .God is stationing himself in the assembly of the Divine One; In the middle of the gods* (elohim) he judges:


*gods with a small g, meaning “godlike ones.” Hebrew elohim , Syriac translation renders it as, “angels” the Targums as “judges.”

It is clear that it was directed towards the human judges of Israel, who were meant to render judgement on behalf of the people. please note the context,

(Psalm 82:2-3) “How long will you keep on judging with injustice And showing partiality to the wicked themselves? Be judges for the lowly one and the fatherless boy. To the afflicted one and the one of little means do justice. . .

This is entirely consistent with the bible as a whole, for, 'elohim', is applied to men elsewhere , Jesus quoted from this Psalm at John 10:34, 35 applying it to those who sought to kill him. They were gods in their capacity as representatives of and spokesmen for Jehovah. Similarly Moses was told that he was to serve as “God” to Aaron and to Pharaoh.—Ex 4:16; 7:1.

🙂

I take it historically as to when it was written. Perhaps 300-500 BCE? In that area it was supposed that there were many Gods.

Have you read The Evolution of God by Robert Wright?

Originally posted by badmoon
I take it historically as to when it was written. Perhaps 300-500 BCE? In that area it was supposed that there were many Gods.

Have you read The Evolution of God by Robert Wright?

No i haven't read the book, but i am reading Judaism , by Isadore Epstein at the moment, which confirms this fact, as does the Bible itself and the usage of the Hebrew words in context and in the entirety of the Bible. I do not see how any reason to dispute this, sorry, simply stating that other cultures were pantheists is neither here nor there.

Originally posted by badmoon
If you believe all of the Bible you have to believe that there is a Council or Assembly of the Gods.

I take that Psalm as God giving the angels and principalities who followed Satan a chance to repent.

The assembly is occupied by one God, God Himself. The other attendees are the angels.

Originally posted by jaywill
I take that Psalm as God giving the angels and principalities who followed Satan a chance to repent.

The assembly is occupied by one God, God Himself. The other attendees are the angels.

and just how are literal angels perverting judgement in, 'behalf of the widow and the fatherless boy'?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
and just how are literal angels perverting judgement in, 'behalf of the widow and the fatherless boy'?

The principalities and powers were created to be good and cooperate with God. Their responsibilities and assignments may be more extensive then what we know. We can see them in the Bible performing various things on behalf of God's people as ministering servents.

Now some angelic beings followed Satan. Obviously they are not doing what they were created to do. They are perverting their responsibilies instead.

I do not understand angelic functions that well. But my opinion is that:

1.) The the evil angelic beings are perverting the functions which they should be doing, and instead are assisting their master Satan. They are working against God's will.

2.) It seems logical that God gave them some space of time to repent and they did not.

3.) He warns them that they will die as men though they were "sons of God" (ie. Job, Genesis) angels.

The Psalm, I think, is a testiment that all creatures created by God to be punished were at some time given an opportunity to repent.

Originally posted by jaywill
The principalities and powers were created to be good and cooperate with God. Their responsibilities and assignments may be more extensive then what we know. We can see them in the Bible performing various things on behalf of God's people as ministering servents.

Now some angelic beings followed Satan. Obviously they are not doing what they were created ll creatures created by God to be punished were at some time given an opportunity to repent.

when did an angelic being ever render judgement? either on behalf of a fatherless boy or a widow, or ever ever ever for that matter?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
when did an angelic being ever render judgement? either on behalf of a fatherless boy or a widow, or ever ever ever for that matter?

It is not easy to answer that. I wrote beforehand "Their responsibilities and assignments may be more extensive then what we know" because that particular passage is obscure.

Maybe Genesis 19:13-22 is an example of angels rendering judgment for some husbandless young women who were Lot's daughters. Look at verses 18 and 19.

However, much of the utterance of the rest of the Psalm seems innappropriate to mere humans. If they are men to whom God is speaking why does He say they will die like men? That should be obvious that they would die like men if they are men.

If they are mere men to whom God is speaking why would it say that God judges in the midst of gods?

The veil obscuring the activities of angels over the earth is never parted for a long time or very widely. When angels are seen doing something they never hang around too long. They do their little bit and get off the scene quickly.

At any rate the problem with these angels in Psalm 82 is that they didn't do something right. And Job 4:18 says that God did charge some angels with folly and could not trust them.