Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 09:02 AM 8/23/2002 -0600, Dave Washburn wrote:
>Friends,
>I received this question via my web page a few days ago and am 
>hoping some folks here can help me answer it.  He has lots of 
>references about Christian approaches to the word and these texts, 
>but would like to understand Jewish views better.  Here it is:
>
>I would like to get some reference, if possible, as to how 
>the Jews viewed "elohim" as used in Psalm 82:6 and the 
>generally accpeted interpretation of Psalm 86:2.
>
Psalm 82 is "tricky", because it would seem to imply the existence of other
"gods" besides Elohim, using "Elohim" as a (singular) proper name in vs. 1
and then as a (plural) title for the assembled in vs. 6 (this is without
going into the appearance of "El" in vs. 1, which the exegetes didn't
recognize).

As an example of Jewish interpretation, I'll quote P. Birnbaum (Orthodox)
Siddur (prayer book), which for vs. 1 has, "God stands in the divine
assembly; in the midst of the judges he gives judgment". For vs. 6 he has:
"I thought you were angels, that you were all sons of the Most High." The
interpretation of "Elohim" as judges, whether human or divine, is based on
such passages as Ex. 21:6.

So the image is of God convening His heavenly court and warning His angels
that if they do not do justice, they will die like mortal men.

This image of the "heavenly court" is taken from Job, Zechariah and other
places, and is very common in midrash and liturgy.

As far as Psalm 86:2, I fail to see the problem.

Yigal
Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.