Psalm 82 Again

Psalm 82 was one of the readings in church this Sunday. I've written on it before. It is one of my favorite Psalms, for various reasons. It is a mystery and mysterious passages are often my favorite. The mystery is this: who are the 'gods' of which Yahweh speaks in the Psalm?

It may be that Yahweh is referring to the kings of Israel and Judah, the Davidic line whose members were adopted by God as His own children. That act of adoption elevated them to levels beyond humanity but only slightly less than divine. Yet these kings acted in often terrible ways. They did not lead God's people as they should. Perhaps this Psalm is about God's desire to remove them from office and take direct control of His people.

Or it may refer to the so-called sons of god from Genesis 6. Semi-divine or angelic beings that God had set over the world, to govern it. They fell from grace by their bad stewardship, and so God is promising to remove them from power and take direct control of the world. On this latter interpretation, the Psalm is about answering the problem of evil and looking forward to the End Times when it will be a problem no more.

The simple fact is that either interpretation is a good one, and it is unlikely we have any way to know for sure which is the correct one. That mystery is what attracts me to the passage. Additionally, the language is powerful and moving. The poetry is sublime here, it is simply the best the Psalms have to offer. It is an easy and exciting text to read out loud. For all of these reasons and more, this is one of my favorite Psalms.