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Reflections on The Psalms |
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Psalm 82
God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.
{2} How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked?
{3} Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
{4} Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
{5} They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
{6} I said, "You are gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
{7} But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes."
{8} Arise, O God, judge the earth;
For You shall inherit all nations. (NKJV)
This remarkable little Psalm is cited by Jesus in a major confrontation with the
Pharisees. Read it in context
here.
"He judges among the gods" [Hebrew: elohim]. The Hebrew word for god has
a broad application in the Old Testament. It is clearly is used as a descriptor
of Jehovah, but it also can be used for "mighty ones," as kings or rulers. It is
in that sense that it is used here and so translated by the NRSV. But the usage
later in v. 6, follows the words of Jesus. In citing this, John uses theos,
gods, so the NRSV can't do otherwise.
The Psalm underlines what Jesus actually did. And what we should try to do as
well:
"Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked" (vv. 3-4).
"They," (v. 5) would seem to be the poor and needy who "do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness." There are the poor who are so because of their own fecklessness. But there are also the poor who simply do not know what to do, and couldn't do it if they did. "All the foundations of the earth are unstable," can be seen in the tsunami in Southeast Asia---which caught the poor of that region entirely unaware.
In the last verse, one could reasonably ask how God can inherit what he already
owns. This could be taken as a reference to Christ as God.