Follow-up resources from Psalm 82
On Sunday, I named two things in this psalm that I didn’t have time to answer: the divine council, and what it means that God says, “you are gods.” I promised you somewhere to go. This is that list.
A word before you start. These are real questions with real answers, and the answers are debated by people who love the Bible and know Hebrew better than I do. You’ll find disagreement below on purpose. That’s not a weakness in Scripture. That’s what it looks like to study something carefully.
Start here
(about 20 minutes total)
Short, animated, and made for people who have never heard any of this before. Watch them in this order.
Intro to Spiritual Beings (5:16): How the Bible opens with two overlapping realms, heaven and earth, and why the biblical authors assume a whole cast of characters most of us skip past.
Elohim (3:08): The single most useful three minutes on this topic. Elohim is a title, not a name, and it can refer to God or to other spiritual beings depending on context. This is what I was getting at on Sunday with capital E and lowercase e.
The Divine Council (6:21): The one to watch if you only watch one. What the council is, why God has a “staff team,” and how their rebellion sets up a problem only Jesus resolves.
Keep going
(the rest of the series)
God (8:10)
Angels and Cherubim (4:39)
The Angel of the Lord (4:15)
The Satan and Demons (6:20)
The New Humanity (5:08)
Full series page: https://bibleproject.com/videos/collections/spiritual-beings/
Podcasts
If you want the long conversation
The BibleProject guys spend hours on what the videos cover in minutes. Good for a commute.
God and Spiritual Beings series
Origin of Spiritual Beings (plus listener questions)
Where does justice fit into all of this
Two episodes on justice and righteousness that shaped how I preached on Sunday.
What’s the Biblical Vision of Justice?
What Is Social Justice and Righteousness in the Bible?
Look at the words yourself
You don’t need Hebrew to do this. Click the word; see every place it appears.
elohim (H430), the word behind both “God” and “gods” in Psalm 82:1
sod (H5475), “council,” a circle of people in close deliberation. Used in Psalm 89:7 and Jeremiah 23:18, where a prophet is admitted to God’s council and hears what he’s planning.
mishpat (H4941), “justice.” 424 uses. Worth scrolling just to see how often it lands on the vulnerable.
Passages to read next:
Deuteronomy 32:8–9
1 Kings 22:19–23
Job 1:6–12
Isaiah 6
Isaiah 24:21
Daniel 10:13, 20–21
Jeremiah 23:18
Psalm 89:5–7
1 Kings 22:19–23 (If you read nothing else, read this. It’s the same courtroom scene as Psalm 82, told from a prophet’s point of view.)
The book everybody means when they talk about this
Most of what you’ll find online about the divine council traces back to one scholar, Michael Heiser, and his book The Unseen Realm. He died in 2023. He was a Semitic languages scholar, and he’s the reason this conversation left the academy and hit YouTube.
Christianity Today’s profile of him and his argument:
The Truth About Angels and Demons Is Staring Us in the Face – Christianity Today
A positive review:
There’s a Cosmic Battle Going On. Join the Fight.
Two critical reviews:
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible – The Gospel Coalition
Review: The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser – The Gospel Coalition | Australia
Here’s the honest version of where the debate sits.
A large piece of Heiser’s framework rests on Deuteronomy 32:8–9, and specifically on whether the verse originally read “sons of God” or “sons of Israel.” The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek Septuagint say one thing; the standard Hebrew text says another. That’s not a small footnote. It’s the load-bearing wall. His supporters think he’s recovered something the church forgot. His critics think he leans on disputed readings and builds too much on them.
You do not have to resolve that to trust the Bible or to follow Jesus. You should know it’s there before somebody on the internet tells you it’s settled.
And then come back to the psalm
Here’s my ask. However far down this road you go, don’t let it become the point. Psalm 82 is eight verses long, and it’s not primarily about the council. It’s about a God who ties his own identity to people with no power, and who holds every authority accountable, seen and unseen.