Where Judgment Begins

Psalm 82 begins with the Lord in his “house of lords,” but He is there because they have been doing what is right in their own eyes. Thus, this prophetic song is as applicable to the authorities of our own day as it was in any previous era in history.

The erroneous claim that this psalm addresses a “divine council” of angels overlooks the fact that it deliberately recapitulates God’s pattern of qualification for human representatives, a sequence first observed in Genesis 2-3.

Adam was not only given a law but also required to develop wisdom and discernment. The Lord’s intention was always that Adam and Eve would become “as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5), but via submission to God’s laws, not in violation of them. Adam listened to history’s first false prophet, then misjudged the true intentions of both God and the serpent. Claiming to be wise, he became a fool.

Since God always works through qualified mediators, the same pattern can be found throughout the Old Testament. God prepared Abraham through various trials until he was mature enough to reason and dispute with Him as a legal advisor. As a “god” in God’s court, Abraham advocated for the righteous in Sodom, testifying “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” God put Moses and David in similar situations as advocates for the nation of Israel. He delights in our judicial maturity, often veiling His intentions (even His justice and mercy) so that we must consider things deeply, discern the truth, act wisely, and become His justice and mercy as judges on the earth. This process is how He gives His mind to us.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

In Israel, God ministered and exercised His authority through priests, kings, and prophets, but along with the Law he also established judges (Exodus 18:25; Deuteronomy 16:18). God’s laws were good (Transcendence), but even they required a mediator (Hierarchy) to discern the heart of each man (Ethics), administering both justice and mercy (Oath/Sanctions), and becoming wiser and more fruitful in the process (Succession).

When Israel lost its “church-state” status, it was necessary to interpret the letter of the Law for a new situation, discerning the “spirit” or fundamental principles behind it, thus developing greater judicial maturity and gaining a better understanding of the heart of God. Western culture was founded upon the Bible in a similar fashion. We were freed from the “childhood rules” of the Law in order that we might serve as images of God the Father as “fathers” and “gods” to those in our care.

Rulers and legislators were installed by God for the restraint of wickedness and the betterment of the world (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-17). The Elohim in heaven requires elohim on earth who will rule faithfully in His image. This is why the sacrificial “matrix” sequence is a process of transformation that begins with God (Creation/Initiation) and ends with the godly Man (Glorification/Representation).

In every human office, submission to God’s Law results in spiritual discernment and practical wisdom, and this is demonstrated both in man’s laws and in man’s judgments. Even if they are benevolent, secular rulers can be dangerous simply because they lack spiritual discernment and godly wisdom.

The perennial temptation for those in authority is to do what Adam did: evade the requirement for submission to heaven, sacrificing longevity for short term gain. Saul’s rejection by God also resulted from an “Adamic” refusal to submit.

The result is always tyranny in the lawmaking of man, and the establishment of kingdoms like those of Cain and Lamech, Pharaoh and the Canaanites, Ahab and Jezebel, and Herod and the Judaizers. On Psalm 82:1-5, Matthew Henry writes:

Magistrates are the mighty in authority for the public good. Magistrates are the ministers of God’s providence, for keeping up order and peace, and particularly in punishing evil-doers, and protecting those that do well. Good princes and good judges, who mean well, are under Divine direction; and bad ones, who mean ill, are under Divine restraint. The authority of God is to be submitted to, in those governors whom his providence places over us. But when justice is turned from what is right, no good can be expected. The evil actions of public persons are public mischiefs.

Just as Adam’s failure in the Garden led to sin in the Land and the corruption of the World, so wise judgment always begins in the Sanctuary, the “seat of Moses,” a throne founded upon the Laws of God. This is why the prophets always went straight to the heart of the matter, directly confronting unfaithful priests, despotic kings, false prophets, and corrupt judges. John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles did likewise, which is why John called Herod out for his adultery, why Jesus quoted Psalm 82 in support of His legal case against the Pharisees (John 10:34-36), and why Peter wrote concerning the Temple in Jerusalem:

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

Overview

ADAM		PSALM 82
Adam stands before God	TRANSCENDENCE	God’s authority in the congregation
He is given a single law	HIERARCHY	Man’s failure to judge rightly
He is given a bride to protect	ETHICS: PRIESTHOOD	A call to advocacy
He fails to defend her from the serpent	ETHICS: KINGDOM	Rescue the weak from tyranny
He fails to testify against the lie	ETHICS: PROPHECY	Corrupt judges bring darkness
God judges the conspiracy	OATH/SANCTIONS	The failed Sons of God would die like Adam
Adam is disqualified from office	SUCCESSION	God judges in Garden, Land, and World

Analysis

Psalm 82: Lord of Lords

TRANSCENDENCE
Creation: Day 1 – Genesis – SABBATH – Authority

• The first stanza serves as a microcosm of the entire psalm, at the end of which God remains the only perfect judge.
• Notice the symmetry in the uses of elohim (as the heavenly Head and earthly Body), and in “congregation” and “midst,” with the human rulers under inspection at the thesis.
• The legal pattern of the stanza recapitulates the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan as a process of qualification for dominion. There, Moses and the elders ascended Sinai as a governmental Head, Israel defied God and was disqualified, and Moses gathered a new Body. Of course, the book of Judges is the final step in that pattern, as Israel’s “Day 7.”

HIERARCHY
Creation: Day 2 – Exodus – PASSOVER – Perjury

• Showing partiality is a reference to Deuteronomy 1:17, so these elohim are not rebellious angels but Israelite officials who are being held accountable under the Law of Moses.
• Translation obscures the allusion to Cain’s face falling after the exposure of his unworthy heart (Genesis 4:5-7). Like Solomon, these judges were called to use wisdom gleaned from the Law, made alive by the Spirit, as a flaming, sacrificial sword to discern “Cainite” hearts (1 Kings 3:16-28).
• The musical “rest” in line 7 cuts off the “Adams” and reminds us that since God is the ultimate judge there will be no rest for either the wicked or those who received their bribes. The stanza’s full meaning is expanded upon in Hebrews 4:11-13:

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

• The various English versions gloss over the word “faces,” translating it as “persons” or simply “showing partiality.” These are not incorrect, but the idea is that to the wise judge “there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight:but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Unlike Adam, Solomon used wisdom gleaned from the Word of God, made alive by the Spirit, to get beyond false testimony and expose “the thoughts and intents of the heart” (1 Kings 3:16-28; Hebrews 4:12-13).
• Like God, the author puts a musical “rest” in line 7, the missing breath of the Spirit in Adam, and leaves no rest for the wicked.

• The Priesthood stanza calls the judges to be living sacrifices who advocate for the helpless in the Kingdom. Like the law in Eden, the Laws of Moses were intended to be a shelter for the people, not a weapon of tyranny against them.
• The fatherless at Ascension alludes to Adam’s “selling” of his wife and promised children for unqualified kingdom, resulting in a world filled with spiritual widows and orphans.
• The sixfold inverted parallelism omits the “light” of the lamp at the center—not the transcendent light of Day 1 but the delegated lights of Day 4. The Lampstand-Law, which serves as a light to the path of kings, has been taken away (Psalm 119:105; Proverbs 6:23; Matthew 5:15; Revelation 2:5).
• “Afflicted” alludes to the Trumpets testimony of the righteous who are “plagued” for speaking truth to power.
• The lack suffered by the “needy” corresponds to the office of mediators as self-sacrificial “providers” (Genesis 22:14).
• In line 7, the judges are bringers of rest like Noah.

ETHICS: KINGDOM
Testing: Day 4 – Numbers – PENTECOST – Tyranny

• Like Aaron on the Day of Atonement, the stanza works its way into the Most Holy and emerges bearing salvation.
• The poor and needy from lines 2 and 6 in stanza 3 are now being lifted onto the altar, moving the action from “priestly” defense to “kingly” deliverance, from Garden to Land.
• Once again, the light of the Law is missing, in this case highlighting the absence of true kingdom due to the failure of priestly hearts in Israel’s rulers.
• The hand of the wicked at Trumpets is an Israelite bearing a sword against his own brother, and the wicked at Atonement are those who should be given over to the sword.
• Not only was there a failure in priestly advocacy, but the word “plunder” in line 7 implies a failure to bind the wicked of the Land as enemies (like the “strong man” in Mark 3:27). The failure to loose the weak (redemption) and bind their tormentors (vengeance) was the false Representation of a just and merciful God to the nations of the kind that ended the Davidic kingdom. Judah’s oppression of “the least of my brethren” (Matthew 25:40), that is, Hebrew slaves (Jeremiah 34:8), was the sin of Joseph’s brothers (Genesis 37:28) compounded into the tyranny of Pharaoh (Exodus 2:8-14). Their sin was the hatred of “kingly” Cain for his own brother.

ETHICS: PROPHECY
Maturity: Day 5 – Deuteronomy – TRUMPETS – Anarchy

• The Trumpets stanza is comprised of ten Hebrew words as an allusion to the Ten Words given at Sinai. The psalmist has dragged these apostates back to the mountain of fire and thunder in order to humble under the hand of God.
• At Transcendence, the rulers allowed themselves to become ignorant of God’s Law, so their vision has failed (Proverbs 29:18) and they are the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14; Romans 2:17-24). They need to resubmit to the Word of God, as did Hilkiah in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22) so that God will turn their darkness into light (Isaiah 42:16).
• At Hierarchy, the rulers have drawn a veil over their eyes. At Ethics, the hidden Lampstand has left the people stumbling in moral darkness. At Sanctions, the bronze pillars of priesthood and kingdom are unstable, “moved out of their course.” Israel has become a house built upon shifting sand. At Succession, the Land threatens to sink into the Gentile Sea.

OATH/SANCTIONS
Conquest: Day 6 – Joshua – ATONEMENT – Anarchy

 

• For their failure to represent Him faithfully, God’s blessing is revoked and replaced with an Adamic curse. Those who stand in the courts of God on earth are subject to stricter judgment in the court of heaven (Job 1:6-12; Revelation 2-3).
• God not only calls them “gods” but also “sons,” so His calling them “gods” is not satirical. They actually did possess God’s authority over the people but were being reminded that, as with Adam, this was delegated authority. If they were indeed sons of the Most High, then they should judge as He does.
• At Ascension, these sons are on the altar like Isaac. The word “sons” is a pun because it sounds like the word to “build up.” 
• “Most High” aptly appears at Ascension, prefiguring the ascension of Christ as the true priest-king. It is a name for God sourced in the Noahic priesthood, used by Melchizedek and later by Gentile believers. Its use here is likely to assert God’s authority over all rulers of all nations, all kings and all lords, not just His priestly people. The Gentile kingdoms and the modern “secular square” are merely extensions of the court in heaven, like the Temple’s Court of the Gentiles.
• Maturity is the “resurrection” step, so the pronouncement of death upon these “Adams” is an ironic inversion. In Genesis 2:7, the creation of Adam follows the same sevenfold “Tabernacle” structure, and at step 5 we find the breath of life. Here, the earthy, Adamic breath is repossessed.
• Line 6 corresponds Adam to Joshua as a chief in holy war, and line 7 cuts off his dynasty due to the spiritual defeat.

SUCCESSION
Glorification: Day 7 – Judges – BOOTHS – Immutability

• God Himself is exalted as the ultimate judge at the center of the final stanza, Elohim of elohim, king of kings and lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15-16; Revelation 19:16), whose fiery “pillar” legs straddle both the Land of Israel and the Gentile Sea as the foundation of all truth (Revelation 10:2).
• At Transcendence, He is righteous Noah, the first true judge, the one who offered the world’s first “ascension by fire,” and to whom the word “covenant” was first used in Scripture.
• At Hierarchy, He is Abraham and Moses, believing God and receiving the promise of Canaan.
• At Ethics, He is David, the king who loved God’s Law.
• At Oath/Sanctions, He is Israel, freed from idolatry, returning to the Promised Land.
• At Succession, He is Christ, placing Himself under the sword of the Father that He might bear that sword in all the World, in justice and mercy (Psalm 2:8; Psalm 110:1-7).

In Acts 12:22, the adoring crowd from Tyre and Sidon considered the speech of Herod to be “the voice of a god,” and God immediately struck him down as a sign of what would soon come upon the entire Herodian dynasty (see also Ezekiel 28:1-10). But in Revelation 2-3, Jesus is the Lord among lords, a new Jew-Gentile hierarchy of priest-kings, pastors referred to as “angels” and presented to us as the light of Lampstands. He prepares them to judge righteously, with His eyes rather than theirs, trimming their wicks that they might shine more brightly. He shows them the fate of the city that failed to shine by misrepresenting His just and merciful character in the way that the serpent did, robbing God as a den of thieves like Adam, and murdering the prophets as a queen like Jezebel.

Ascribe unto Jehovah, O ye sons of the mighty,
Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength.
Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due unto his name;
Worship Jehovah in holy array. (Psalm 29:1 ASV)

ART: Moses Elects the Seventy Elders, Jacob de Wit, 1737, Royal Palace of Amsterdam.

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, please become a patron and enable me to do more research and writing. Check out the perks for different levels of patronage.

If you are new to this method of interpretation, please visit the Welcome page for some help to get you up to speed.