Considering your personality, which type of council are you most likely to serve on?
Watch First: The Divine Council
Before you read the passage, watch it play out as a 16-bit courtroom drama. Click Watch to begin — then come back and read the psalm below.
Read Psalm 82 (BSB)
God renders judgment among the gods — Psalm 82
In the Bible, God has no equal. But that does not mean He is alone in the spiritual realm. The word “council” suggests an organized body of advisors or governors — beings God created and entrusted with real authority.
The word god is not a name; it’s a generic term that basically just means “spiritual being.” While the Bible teaches that there is only one all-powerful Creator, it also describes lower spirits that God made (Hebrew: elohim). The word angel (Hebrew: malak) means messenger — a job title, not a species name. These spirit beings could serve many roles, including members of the divine council.
Look back at the passage. God gave these spiritual beings authority over the nations. When Jesus says he will “reclaim the nations” (see Psalm 2, Matthew 28:18), the implication is that they’re currently under someone else’s management — the same beings being condemned in Psalm 82.
Look at God’s indictment in verses 2–4. The spiritual beings were charged with judging unjustly, showing partiality to the wicked, ignoring the weak and fatherless, and failing to rescue the oppressed. When injustice and oppression thrive in the world, this passage suggests there is a spiritual dimension to it — not just human failure, but a whole system that has been corrupted from above.
Why It Matters
If you grew up in church, you were probably told there’s only one God — and that’s absolutely true. But Psalm 82 reveals something most people never hear about: there is also a whole chain of command above us. Think of the universe like a cosmic government. At the top is God — the Supreme Being, the Creator of everything. Below him, Scripture describes a council of divine beings called the divine council (Hebrew: elohim). God created them, and at some point gave them authority over the nations of the earth — like district governors appointed to manage the spiritual dimension of human affairs.
Psalm 82 is a courtroom scene. God has called these governing spirits in for an audit, and he is not happy. Instead of guiding humanity toward justice — protecting the vulnerable, holding the wicked accountable — they’ve been playing favorites and letting injustice run rampant. God’s verdict is devastating: “You were gods. But you blew it. Now you will die like the mortals you failed to protect.”
Verse 8 is a prayer from the psalmist, asking God to step in and reclaim what was mismanaged. It’s a request that Jesus is still in the process of answering.
This framework helps explain something we all feel but can’t quite account for — why corruption so often operates at a systemic level, well beyond what any individual could engineer. The next few modules will look at specific things these council members did that are still shaping the world today.
What did you learn about yourself?
What did you learn about God?
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