“God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.” (Psalm 82:1)
Psalm 82 has only eight verses. But no text of the Old Testament takes us so directly into the invisible world. It is a trial. The judge is God. The accused are elohim. And the sentence changes the course of history.
The same word twice
In Hebrew, the first verse reads: ʾĕlōhîm niṣṣāb baʿădat-ʾēl, bᵉqereb ʾĕlōhîm yišpōṭ. The word ʾĕlōhîm appears twice. The first time, it is the subject of singular verbs, “he standeth,” “he judgeth”: it is the God of Israel. The second time, it follows bᵉqereb, “in the midst of”: one can only be in the midst of a plurality. These are the elohim. Where the King James Version reads “the congregation of the mighty,” the Hebrew says ʿădat-ʾēl, “the congregation of God.”
Notice the posture as well: God “standeth.” In the courts of the ancient Near East, it is the accuser who rises. Here God is both judge and party: he rises against those he had appointed.
The charge
“How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Psalm 82:2-3)
What God holds against these elohim is not a fault of worship. It is a fault of government. They were to judge, that is, to administer and protect. They did the opposite. And the consequence is cosmic: “all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (verse 5).
The division of the nations
Who were these judges? Deuteronomy gives the key: “When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of God” (Deuteronomy 32:8, following a Qumran manuscript and the Septuagint; the King James Version, following the Masoretic Text, reads “the children of Israel”). After Babel, the nations were entrusted to heavenly princes, while God kept Israel for himself: “For the LORD’S portion is his people” (Deuteronomy 32:9).
Daniel still calls them “princes”: “the prince of the kingdom of Persia,” “the prince of Grecia,” and “Michael, one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13, 20-21). These are not all the sons of God: most remained faithful. They are some of them, to whom nations had been entrusted.
The sentence
“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” (Psalm 82:6-7)
God does not take back what he said: they truly are elohim, sons of the Most High. That is precisely why the sentence is so terrible. “Ye shall die like men,” literally “like Adam.” To tell human judges that they will die like men would be no sentence at all: it would be a commonplace.
“Arise, O God”
The psalm ends with a cry: “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations” (Psalm 82:8). The nations entrusted to others must return to their true owner.
Jesus will quote this psalm to answer those who accuse him of calling himself the Son of God: “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34). And after his resurrection, he will send his disciples to “all nations” (Matthew 28:19). The book follows this thread, from Babel to Pentecost, and on to the cross, where “having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).