Old Testament Commentary - Psalms 82

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 82 Thus saith the Lord: Ye are gods and children of the Most High.
A Psalm of Asaph
1 GOD ^astandeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly^a, and accept the ^apersons of the wicked? Selah.	2^a How long will ye judge unjustly Because of the carnal nature of this fallen mortality, justice and fairness is not readily administered. The wicked often prosper at the expense of the more righteous. And God who is over all allows it to be so. As stated from this Hebrew perspective, the condition of unjustice in this world is laid at the feet of God who is over all. Many of us do the same. We ask, 'How could God allow that to happen?' The truth of the matter is that God is neither unjust nor will the demands of justice go unmet. For this little duration of carnal existence, men are given their agency to chose. And death, pain and aflection abound, which seems all so unfair. Yet in the extented perspective of God, justice will be administered in every event. The dead will rise, the aflected will be healed and the wicked will be punished. But for the fulness of the punishment to be administered, one must be allowed to proceed along the freedom of agency course. It is this same course of agency by which the righteous will be reward and obtain heaven and even become as the gods, which is the further statement of this psalm.	4^a Moses 3:4-5; Abr. 5:4-5 ^b TG Jesus Christ—Jehovah 5^a TG Nature, Earth ^b TG Spirit Creation ^c TG Creation ^d TG Man, Physical Creation of ^e Moses 3:5
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do ^ajustice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. Wickedness of the Rich 'I did not make the poor, poor, nor the needy, needy' states the rich man. 'So how is it that they have any claim on me?' 'Whose is the earth and the fulness thereof? Thou are but dust and but for the chance of events, there too go you. The very breath of life is given thee that thou might live. Before God we all stand as beggars for nothing is ours and we will not take it with us. It is but what we do with what we have here that God does look upon and judge. 'And if God has blessed you with more than another, of the riches which are God's and not thine, why is it that the meanness of thy spirit shows through and thou doesn't not minister unto the needs of the less fortunate? Know you not that this is the time of testing? And if with riches you are endowed, then it becometh you to use such riches to administer to the needs of the poor, the fatherless, the afflicted and the needy. And if thou does not do so, then your test your have failed. You have shown yourself to be selfish and cold hearted and not of that sort of who are children of the most High. And thou wilt not become as the Gods in the hereafter.'		4^a Moses 3:4-5; Abr. 5:4-5 ^b TG Jesus Christ—Jehovah 5^a TG Nature, Earth ^b TG Spirit Creation ^c TG Creation ^d TG Man, Physical Creation of ^e Moses 3:5
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they ^awalk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.		4^a Moses 3:4-5; Abr. 5:4-5 ^b TG Jesus Christ—Jehovah 5^a TG Nature, Earth ^b TG Spirit Creation ^c TG Creation ^d TG Man, Physical Creation of ^e Moses 3:5
6 *I have said, Ye are* gods^a; and all of you are ^achildren of the most High^b**. 7 But ye shall ^adie like men, and fall like one of the princes.	*6^a I have said, Ye are* gods Here is a clear declaration that men are of the race of God, that they are gods. The Savior references this scripture in John 10:34 where he states, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" Now it is to be understood that the Psalms for the most part are the sacred hymns of Israel and have been taken from the words of the prophets, that is scripture. That the original has not survived to our day seems to be, but that it was a part of 'the law' and is so referenced by this psalm as well as quoted by Jesus and well understood by the Pharisees, that in that statement in John he was declaring himself as the God of the Old Testament is plain to be seen. And this because they charged him with blasphemy in claiming to be the Son of God, and were going to take him and stone him for his sayings. 6^b all of you are children of the most High** Here again it clearly states that man is the offspring of God as it is also so clearly stated to be the case in Acts 17:28-29, where it also denotes that God is like unto us, we being in the image of God, and that our God is a living God and not one of gold, silver, stone or graven art devised by the hand of man.
8 Arise, O God, ^ajudge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.