Psalm 82 is a psalm of judgment. It describes God’s court evaluating the conduct of an errant group.
Who’s on trial? The title of last week’s post gives away my opinion–the sons of God, angels who exercised and abused their authority over the nations. But I didn’t settle the matter.
The previous post discussed the opening sections of the psalm. Verses 1-4 present the context of the dispute and the charges God levels.
Today, we’re going to work through the rest of Psalm 82 to determine the identity of the defendants, the nature of their punishment, and the ramifications of the trial.
But let’s start out with an extra effect of the misrule of these spiritual authorities. (I’m using the ESV for the Bible passages.)
Corollary
“They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” – Psalm 82:5
“They” is vague; we’re not sure who the psalmist Asaph has in mind. This verse tells us they’re an ignorant bunch. They don’t know how much trouble they’re in. Their world is collapsing and they can’t do anything about it.
The preceding passage (verses 1-4) referred to rulers and the ruled. If verse 5 is dealing with the former, then Asaph believes the powers over the nations are fools. If it’s the latter, then he’s claiming that the people are in trouble.
It’s either the persecutors or the persecuted and I’m going to opt for the latter. Isolating this verse won’t help us decide, but the grammar of the next two verses gives us a clue.
Conviction
“I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; 7nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’” – Psalm 82:6-7
Verse 2 lays out God’s accusation against the rulers; verses 3-4 point out what they ought to be doing. These verses use or imply the second person plural. In other words, God is talking to “you all.”
As we noticed above, verse 5 switches to the third person plural–”they.” This suggests it’s not the same group. And now verses 6-7 return to the second person plural. So we’re back to “you all!”
God convicts the defendants and announces their punishment. To make it memorable, He casts their sentence in the chiastic form I described last week: ABBA. Here’s what it looks like in verse 7:
A: Like men
B: you shall die
B: and fall
A: like any prince
This structure repeats ideas for emphasis. Men are comparable to princes and dying is comparable to falling. The vocabulary varies, but the points remain the same.
God contrasts the sons of the Most High, whom He identifies as gods, with human beings. He’s not talking about powerful men and women. And while ancient people did treat rulers like gods, they knew that these authorities would die one day. There’s always a successor to the throne.
But the gods were different. They regarded their jurisdiction over the nations to be permanent. The conjunction “nevertheless” distinguishes between gods and humans. The latter die or fall; the former don’t.
Or rather, they shouldn’t.
But they will!
The gods who ruled the nations by direct action and through kings and queens will die like them. Their reign will fall apart.
And when that happens, what will become of the Gentiles? Are they on their own? Who rules them?
The psalmist knows.
Consequences
”Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all the nations!” – Psalm 82:8
Asaph cries out to God to spread His judgment. He wants every nation to come under the Lord’s leadership.
And this isn’t a vain wish; the psalmist is confident that God’s plan is going to work. He’s going to receive the nations. People who rejected the one true God will come under His authority and care. What a wonderful future!
When will this happen? When does all this take place–the judgment of the gods and the inheritance of the nations?
We Christians know Jesus is the answer! Through the Jewish Messiah, the Gentiles now have access to the Father. Those far from God can now join His people.
“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands– 12remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” – Ephesians 2:11-13
This sounds like a smooth transition. Government by the sons of God yields to government by the Son of God.
But life’s not that smooth, is it? There’s more to the story, so stay tuned!
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