Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George Athas" <gathas AT globalfreeway.com.au>]

|  As I understand it, Satan's promise to make them "gods" was as specious as 
all
|  his other words to Eve in the garden. In the BHS, 'e:LoHiYM can be used of
|  human beings, but it nearly always refers to "judges" sitting to judge 
cases
|  by the Law of Moses. The much discussed 'e:LoHiYM of Psalm 82 are a case in
|  point. That Psalm is a call to human judges to dispense right judgment: 
not to
|  "gods" in some sort of supernatural pantheon on high. They will die like 
the
|  puny humans that they are (verse 7). Their vain pretension to godlike 
status
|  was due to the Serpent's deception.

The only humans to be called 'gods' in the Hebrew Bible are Moses (and even 
that is just a
simile) and the king to whom Psalm 45 is addressed. Psalm 82 makes much more 
sense as a
sitting of the divine court. Note that "Elohim" takes his stand in the 
counsel of "El" --
a very direct word meaning "deity". The Psalm ends asking "Elohim" to judge 
or govern the
earth in place of the other gods (who are barely worthy of that title) and so 
to take
possession of all the nations. That is, the Psalmist asks for the overthrow 
of all
national deities who each govern their own national domain because they are 
inept, and
instead asks for "Elohim" to take the reigns as a single autocratic ruler who 
is able to
restore order. This certainly has repercussions for human judges, but it is 
the divine
court which is in view in Psalm 82 -- not the average city gate court.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
- Anglican Chaplaincy, UNSW;
- Southern Cross College,
Sydney, Australia
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