Salmi 82:6 Commento

This psalm is calculated for the meridian of princes' courts and courts of justice, not in Israel only, but in other nations; yet it was probably penned primarily for the use of the magistrates of Israel, the great Sanhedrim, and their other elders who were in places of power, and perhaps by David's direction. This psalm is designed to make kings wise, and "to instruct the judges of the earth" (as Psa 2:1-12 and Ps. 10), to tell them their duty as (Sa2 23:3), and to tell them of their faults as Psa 58:1. We have here, I. The dignity of magistracy and its dependence upon God (Psa 82:1). II. The duty of magistrates (Psa 82:3, Psa 82:4). III. The degeneracy of bad magistrates and the mischief they do (Psa 82:2, Psa 82:5). IV. Their doom read (Psa 82:6, Psa 82:7). V. The desire and prayer of all good people that the kingdom of God may be set up more and more (Psa 82:8). Though magistrates may most closely apply this psalm to themselves, yet we may any of us sing it with understanding when we give glory to God, in singing it, as presiding in all public affairs, providing for the protection of injured innocency, and ready to punish the most powerful injustice, and when we comfort ourselves with a belief of his present government and with the hopes of his future judgment. A psalm of Asaph.

We have here, I. Earthly gods abased and brought down, Psa 82:6, Psa 82:7. The dignity of their character is acknowledged (Psa 82:6): I have said, You are gods. They have been honoured with the name and title of gods. God himself called them so in the statute against treasonable words Exo 22:28, Thou shalt not revile the gods. And, if they have this style from the fountain of honour, who can dispute it? But what is man, that he should be thus magnified? He called them gods because unto them the word of God came, so our Saviour expounds it (Joh 10:35); they had a commission from God, and were delegated and appointed by him to be the shields of the earth, the conservators of the public peace, and revengers to execute wrath upon those that disturb it, Rom 13:4. All of them are in this sense children of the Most High. God has put some of his honour upon them, and employs them in his providential government of the world, as David made his sons chief rulers. Or, "Because I said, You are gods, you have carried the honour further than was intended and have imagined yourselves to be the children of the Most High," as the king of Babylon (Isa 14:14), I will be like the Most High, and the king of Tyre (Eze 28:2), Thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God. It is a hard thing for men to have so much honour put upon them by the hand of God, and so much honour paid them, as ought to be by the children of men, and not to be proud of it and puffed up with it, and so to think of themselves above what is meet. But here follows a mortifying consideration: You shall die like men. This may be taken either, 1. As the punishment of bad magistrates, such as judged unjustly, and by their misrule put the foundations of the earth out of course. God will reckon with them, and will cut them off in the midst of their pomp and prosperity; they shall die like other wicked men, and fall like one of the heathen princes (and their being Israelites shall not secure them anymore than their being judges) or like one of the angels that sinned, or like one of the giants of the old world. Compare this with that which Elihu observed concerning the mighty oppressors in his time. Job 34:26, He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others. Let those that abuse their power know that God will take both it and their lives from them; for wherein they deal proudly he will show himself above them. Or, 2. As the period of the glory of all magistrates in this world. Let them not be puffed up with their honour nor neglect their work, but let the consideration of their mortality be both mortifying to their pride and quickening to their duty. "You are called gods, but you have no patent for immortality; you shall die like men, like common men; and like one of them, you, O princes! shall fall." Note, Kings and princes, all the judges of the earth, though they are gods to us, are men to God, and shall die like men, and all their honour shall be laid in the dust. Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat - Death mingles sceptres with spades. II. The God of heaven exalted and raised high, Psa 82:8. The psalmist finds it to little purpose to reason with these proud oppressors; they turned a deaf ear to all he said and walked on in darkness; and therefore he looks up to God, appeals to him, and begs of him to take unto himself his great power: Arise, O God! judge the earth; and, when he prays that he would do it, he believes that he will do it: Thou shalt inherit all nations. This has respect, 1. To the kingdom of providence. God governs the world, sets up and puts down whom he pleases; he inherits all nations, has an absolute dominion over them, to dispose of them as a man does of his inheritance. This we are to believe and to comfort ourselves with, that the earth is not given so much into the hands of the wicked, the wicked rulers, as we are tempted to think it is, Job 9:24. But God has reserved the power to himself and overrules them. In this faith we must pray, "Arise, O God! judge the earth, appear against those that judge unjustly, and set shepherds over thy people after thy own heart." There is a righteous God to whom we may have recourse, and on whom we may depend for the effectual relief of all that find themselves aggrieved by unjust judges. 2. To the kingdom of the Messiah. It is a prayer for the hastening of that, that Christ would come, who is to judge the earth, and that promise is pleaded, that God shall give him the heathen for his inheritance. Thou, O Christ! shalt inherit all nations, and be the governor over them, Psa 2:8; Psa 22:28. Let the second coming of Christ set to-rights all these disorders. There are two words with which we may comfort ourselves and one another in reference to the mismanagements of power among men: one is Rev 19:6, Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth; the other is Rev 22:20, Surely, I come quickly.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 82 A Psalm of Asaph. This psalm was written for the use of persons in power, for the instruction of kings and princes, judges and civil magistrates; according to Kimchi, it was written about the times of Jehoshaphat, who appointed new judges throughout the land; those that were before having been very corrupt, to whom he gave a charge agreeably to the purport of this psalm, Ch2 19:5, but it seems rather to be written by Asaph, in the times of David, under a spirit of prophecy, and has respect to the times of Christ, when there was a great corruption among the judges and rulers of the Jews, both civil and ecclesiastic. The Syriac version calls it, "a reproof of the ungodly Jews"; our Lord cites a passage out of it in vindication of himself from their charge of blasphemy, Joh 10:34.

I have said, ye are gods,.... In the law, Exo 21:6 or they were so by his appointment and commission; he constituted them judges and magistrates, invested them with such an office, by which they came to have this title; see Rom 13:1, and so our Lord interprets these words, that they were gods "to whom" the word of God came, which gave them a commission and authority to exercise their office, Joh 10:35, or rather "against whom" it came, pronouncing the sentence of death on them, as in Psa 82:7, to which the reference is; declaring, that though they were gods by office, yet were mortal men, and should die. The Targum is, "I said, as angels are ye accounted"; and so judges and civil magistrates had need to be as angels, and to have the wisdom of them; see Sa2 14:20. Jarchi interprets it of angels, but magistrates are undoubtedly meant: and all of you are children of the most High; the Targum here again renders it, "the angels of the most High:'' and so Aben Ezra explains it of them who are called the sons of God, Job 38:7 but men in power are meant, who, because of their eminency and dignity, their high office, post, and place, are so called; see Gen 6:2.

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? [Psalms 82:6] If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand

So then, it all depends upon the use. Why do I say, an angel? the man can become God, and a child of God. For we read, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High." And what is greater, the power to become both God and angel and child of God is put into his own hands. Yea, so it is, man can be the maker of an angel.

In every kind of petition we ought first to try to gain the good will of the one we are petitioning and then to state the object of our petition. We usually try to gain the good will by bestowing praise on the one we are petitioning. And the praise is usually placed at the beginning of the prayer, where in this instance our Lord has bidden us to say nothing else than, "Our Father who is in heaven." Praise of God has been expressed in many manners of speech. Anyone can see this as he reads those forms of praise scattered widely here and there throughout the sacred Scriptures. But nowhere is there found any instruction for the people of Israel to say, "Our Father," or to pray to God as to a Father. To them he has been proposed as a Master, for they were servants; that is, they were as yet living according to the flesh. When I say this, I am referring to them when they received the commandments of the law that they were ordered to observe, for the prophets frequently point out that this same Lord of ours would have been their Father as well, if they did not stray from his commandments. For instance, there are the following expressions: "I have reared children and brought them up; but they have despised me," and, "I have said, 'You are gods, and all of you the children of the most High,' " and, "If I am a Master, where is my fear? And if I am a Father, where is my honor?" Even if we were to disregard those prophetic sayings that refer to the fact that there would be a Christian people who would have God as their Father—in accordance with that saying in the Gospel, "He gave them the power of becoming children of God"—there are still many other expressions whereby they are reproved for the fact that by committing sins they refused to be children. The apostle Paul says, "As long as the heir is a little child, he differs in no way from a slave," but he reminds us that we have received the spirit of adoption by virtue of which we cry, "Abba, Father."

But the kingdom of earthly happiness is pride, to oppose which came the lowliness of Christ, rebuking those whom He wished by lowliness to make the children of the Most High, and blaming them: "I said, You are gods, you are all the children of the Most High" [Psalm 82:6]. "But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes" [Psalm 82:7]. Whether to those He said this, "I said, You are gods," and to those particularly who are unpredestined to eternal life; and to the other, "But you shall die like men," etc., "and shall fall like one of the princes," in this way also distinguishing the gods; or whether He blames all together, in order to distinguish the obedient and those who received correction, "I said, You are gods, and you are all the children of the Most High:" that is, to all of you I promised celestial happiness, "but you," through the infirmity of your flesh, "shall die like men," and through haughtiness of soul, "like one of the princes," that is, the devil, shall not be exalted, but "shall fall." As if He said: Though the days of your life are so few, that you speedily die like men, this avails not to your correction: but like the devil, whose days are many in this world, because he dies not in the flesh, you are lifted up so that you fall. For by devilish pride it came to pass that the perverse and blind rulers of the Jews envied the glory of Christ: by this will it came to pass, and still does, that the lowliness of Christ crucified unto death is lightly esteemed in the eyes of them who love the excellence of this world.

Look, I ask you, and see with how great a dignity Jesus favors you. You were called a catechumen, which means one into whom something is drummed from without. You heard of some hope, but you did not know what. You heard mysteries without understanding anything. You heard Scriptures without plumbing their depth. It is not drummed in, any more, but whispered. For the indwelling Spirit is fashioning your mind into mansions for God. When you hear, in the future, Scriptures concerning mysteries, you will understand things you knew nothing of. And do not esteem as if a trifle what you are receiving. Being but a wretched person, you are recipient of a divine title. For listen to Paul, “God is faithful,” or to another text in Scripture, “God is faithful and just.” It was as foreseeing that a divine title would come to be applied to human beings that the psalmist, speaking in the person of God, said, “I have said, you are gods and are all the children of the most High.” But see that when the title is faithful, the purpose is not faithless. You have entered the contest; run your course steadfastly. No other chance like this will come your way. If it was your wedding day ahead of you, would you not make light of all else, in preparing the banquet? When, then, you are going to consecrate your soul to the heavenly Bridegroom, will you not leave your physical concerns to chance, so that you may take a firm hold on the things of the spirit?

"I have said you are gods and all of you children of the most High, but you shall die like man." This he says to them that did not accept the gift of adoption but dishonor the incarnation of the pure generation of the Word of God, deprive humankind of ascent to God and are ungrateful to the Word of God who for their sakes was made flesh. For this cause was the Word made human, that humanity receiving the Word and accepting the adoption should be made God's children.

We find the name of God in the holy Scriptures, as many as now come to mind, spoken of in four ways. For God is spoken of according to the truth of [his divine] nature, that the holy Trinity is one, true and unchangeable God, who says, “See now that I, even I, am he; there is no God besides me.” And concerning whom David says, “For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?” This is the one and only God who alone is God by nature. From this one true God, certain ones, in order that they might be gods, did not have the name by nature but received it by the gift of grace. Concerning such gods, it was Moses to whom that one true God said, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh.” Of such people are also those to whom it is said, “I said, ‘You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.’ ” Therefore, these gods received that grace to be gods so that they might become the children of God. The Evangelist says that “to those who did accept him, he gave power to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not by natural generation, or by human choice or by a man’s decision, but of God.” Likewise, to them it is said, “I said, ‘You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.’ ”

Of Asaph--(See on Psa 74:1, title). The historical occasion is probably that of Ch2 20:1-2 (compare Psa 47:1-9; Psa 48:1-14). After a general petition, the craft and rage of the combined enemies are described, God's former dealings recited, and a like summary and speedy destruction on them is invoked. (Psa. 83:1-18) God addressed as indifferent (compare Psa 35:22; Psa 39:12). be not still--literally, "not quiet," as opposed to action.

Though God admitted their official dignity (Joh 10:34), He reminds them of their mortality.