The Divine Council - Part 1

Shabbat shalom, everyone! We just finished up our “Foundations of our Faith” series last week. Jeff ended with part 2 of the topic of circumcision. I’m sure we will have things to add to it in the future as need arises. For example, a couple months back on Shavuot, I spoke about…Shavuot. So for the upcoming appointed times, we will most likely do that once again, at least for this year. That way we can make sure we have covered the our bases for each feast day.

We have talked about what we’re going to do next, in terms of a sermon series. Will we continue with topics? Will we just cover the Torah Portion each week? At this point, it will probably be a little back and forth of both, at least for the time being. This way we can see what works best for everyone, and what builds up and edifies the body the most. I have opinions on just about every topic, but this is about more than just whoever is standing up here talking.

To get us started then on the next order of business, I have decided to start a new 3 part series I’m calling “The Divine Council.” If you’re already familiar with the term, you probably don’t need an introduction. However, for those that aren’t, we’ll take a look at the term, where it comes from in Scripture, and what it means. We’re going to be looking at the Supernatural Realm. Which, I’ll be honest here: scares me a little. Not the Supernatural, but teaching about it. If you had asked me just two years ago to teach about the Supernatural, I don’t know that I would have been able to do so.

This is a topic that I have not felt confident about for many years, not until the last couple years and my own significant study. Now if you are someone who is already attuned to the Supernatural, it’s probably no shock to you. And hey, kudos to you for that. But if you’re more like me - more focused on texts and evidence and proof than anything else - then this topic may start out a little uncomfortable. Let me go ahead and set you at ease, though: it does make a lot of sense. There are many Scriptural references that we’re going to go through that, when pieced together, will suddenly make a lot more sense than they used to.

I’ll also go ahead and answer the question that undoubtedly someone will be pondering: why do I even need to know this? What good does it do?

I could easily say, “Well it’s in the Bible, so it’s important.” But that answer is a bit of a cop-out. In reality, we need to be aware of these things first and foremost because they’re real, and they’re Biblical. But also because they inform our study of Scripture, they inform our prayer time, and they inform our understanding of the world.

For today’s teaching, we will take a look at the Divine Council terminology. We’ll look at some definitions - as I always tend to do - and we’ll look at the Scriptures.

God and the gods

So the first thing to establish is the topic of God - that is, Adonai, the Lord - and the gods. Yes, plural: gods. Please hold all cries of outrage and heresy until the end.

What I mean by “gods” is simply the common English translation of the Hebrew elohim. When referring to Adonai, Elohim is singular in the pronouns it uses. “He” and “His” and so on. But sometimes, it refers to a plurality of other beings. The “gods of the nations” and the “gods of Egypt” and so on. Most commonly, we use the term monotheism to describe our faith. That is, we believe in one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We use monotheist in contradistinction to polytheist, or “many gods.” So we say that pagans believe in many gods, while we believe in only One God. But there is a slight problem with this: the Bible doesn’t actually speak in these terms.

Rather, we find references all over the Scriptures to “other gods.” Like I said, the “gods of the nations” and the “gods of Egypt” and the “gods of Canaan” and so on. But these are just references to idols, right? To false gods; things that are called gods, but aren’t “actually” gods. Well, that’s our starting point.

Elohim:

Plural form of Eloah, “supernatural being”

First, the definition of the Hebrew elohim. Elohim is a plural form of the word Eloah, which means a powerful, superhuman being. The plural form is used thousands of times more than the singular. Eloah is derived from the word El, and indeed that word is also used of Adonai numerous times. This word refers more to strength and power, hence why the other words that derive from it denote power that surpasses natural human strength. But we need to get it out of our heads that this word refers only to one being or one thing. Here are some examples.

Genesis 1:1 (TLV)

1 In the beginning God (elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

This is the first sentence of Scripture, and it is clear that this use of Elohim is a reference to Adonai.

Exodus 12:12 (TLV)

12 “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods (elohim) of Egypt. I am Adonai.

This use of elohim is clearly not about Adonai, but about the supernatural beings of Egypt.

Now turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 28. We find our next reference there.

1 Samuel 28:10–14 NASB 2020

10 So Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” 13 But the king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up from the earth.” 14 He said to her, “How does he appear?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

You see that, in verse 13? The TLV says “godlike being” and the ESV just says, “I see a god” coming out of the earth. The NASB here says “divine being.” Once again, the word is elohim.

So we can see from these references that the word elohim can apply in many different scenarios. Recall, if you will, how Jacob wrestled with God, and even says “I’ve seen God (Elohim) face to face, and my life has been spared.” That’s Genesis 32:31, where he names the place Peniel, or “face of God.” Yet Hosea 12:4 says He wrestled with an angel. In both cases, be it God, or a Christophany (an encounter with the pre-incarnate Messiah), or the angel of the Lord, these are all references to God, Elohim.

To the ancient person, a “god” was a supernatural being, whether a god as we understand it, or an angelic being, or a cherub, or the image of a dead man raised back to life by a sorcerer or necromancer practicing some sort of witchcraft.

Additionally, “sons of God” used throughout the Tanakh, is a reference to heavenly beings as well. We of course have the well-known example of Genesis 6, where the “sons of God” take wives from the daughters of men, and raise up giant offspring, called Nephilim. I’m not going to go into that today, as that needs to be addressed more in-depth, and I will get to it in Part 2. For now, again, we have the brief reference in Genesis 6 to the “sons of God” or b’nei Elohim. Why assume they are heavenly beings?

The book of Job has a few references to establish this. Go ahead and turn to the beginning of the book if you will. It’s not a common book to turn to, so I’ll give you a second. Recall that Job was a righteous man who interceded for his children every day. Job was considered blameless.

Job 1:6–12 NASB 2020

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

The “sons of God” came to present themselves before Adonai, and Satan came with them. Nobody thought this was odd, or insane, or inappropriate. God even takes the opportunity to quiz ha’Satan on Job and his blamelessness. Hence the part of the story we all know: Job had everything, God allowed him to lose everything, and he had some pretty bad friends. But what this does is establish that the “sons of God” are a class of beings that are at least related to ha’Satan. We find a follow-up in Job 2:1 where they, again, present themselves to Adonai.

Job 38:1–11 TLV

1 Then Adonai answered Job out of the whirlwind. He said: 2 “Who is this, who darkens counsel with words without knowledge? 3 Now gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you will inform Me! 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who set its dimensions —if you know— or who stretched a line over it? 6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 “And who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling cloth, 10 when I prescribed my boundary for it, and set bars and gates, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no further; here your majestic waves will stop.’

Verse 7 again says “sons of God.” Notice this entire section is all about one event: namely, Creation. God laid the foundations of the earth; He set its measurements; laid its cornerstone. In verse 7 He says this - that is, the time of Creation itself - was when the “sons of God” shouted for joy. There is no reference in this text to humans. In fact, that’s the entire point: this is a time that predated humans. God was still in the Creation process, and yet the “sons of God” were shouting for joy. This is a reference to supernatural beings.

Turn with me now to Exodus 15. This is the Song of Moses and Miriam. Right after the chariots of Pharaoh were cast into the sea, and Israel was saved from their pursuers, Moses and Miriam took to song and dance to praise Adonai. This next verse, Ex. 15:11 is a verse we recite every Shabbat. It’s the mikamocha.

Exodus 15:11 TLV

11 Who is like You, Adonai, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, doing wonders?

Once again, who is like Adonai among the elohim, among the gods. Next we’ll turn to Psalm 82, and we will actually spend a few minutes there. You see, Psalm 82 is one of the most vivid descriptions in all of Scripture that refers to the Divine Council. We’re going to read the whole thing - it’s only 8 verses - and then go over it.

Psalm 82:1–8 NRSV

1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” 5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.” 8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

I chose the NRSV here because it better suits what we’re talking about.

Verse 1 says God has taken His place in the divine council. Now depending on your translation, that may say “assembly of God” or just “His assembly.” The NLT says “heavenly court” and the CJB says “divine assembly.” It should be clear, however, that this is a reference to a gathering. The Hebrew here is ba’adat-el, or “in the gathering/assembly of El.” The use of the word adat, or assembly, invites us to see multiple beings. After all, an assembly requires multiple parts. We call our congregation an assembly because we, the multitude of us, gather here. So God takes His place in the divine assembly. And what does He do there?

“In the midst of the gods He holds judgment.” The NASB is very similar here; the TLV puts “gods” in single quotes, but uses the term nonetheless. Who are these gods that Adonai is judging? And what is He judging them for? Let’s continue.

Verse 2: “How long will you judge unjustly, and how partiality to the wicked?” Now this is why so many - in fact, the overwhelming majority - of commentators have justified saying this passage is about human rulers, human judges, not about divine beings. The common interpretive method is to take the initial plural elohim, gods, and say it refers to human rulers, kings, princes, judges, etc. So here that would make sense, right? Whoever these “gods” are, they are unjustly ruling. Verses 3-5 sort of explain the plight of those being oppressed: weak, being treated unfairly and unjustly, walking in ignorance. But then we hit verse 6.

I said, “You are gods.” There it is again, elohim. “You are all sons of the Most High.” Verse 7, “Nevertheless you will die like mortals, and fall like any prince.” The word here for mortal in the NRSV is ka’adam, “like humankind.” Not just like a man (ish), as opposed to woman, but like a human. Adam refers to humanity, or humankind. Here’s the question that we have to ask: why do human rulers need to be told they will die like humans? They already are humans, and clearly they will die. There really is no purpose to warning humans here if they are the target of God’s judgment. But divine beings? Supernatural beings? They aren’t supposed to die like humans. But God is judging them for failing to rule justly. We will hit more on this next time.

For now, let’s look at an example of the Divine Council at work.

1 Kings 22, if you want to turn there. I’ll set the stage.

Ahab is king of Israel, and if you remember, Ahab is a wicked, wicked man. He was married to the most infamous queen in all of Israel’s history: Jezebel. Together they worshiped false gods, they led others in doing so, they killed their own people, and they hunted Adonai’s prophets. 1 Kings 22 is set with Ahab’s third military campaign against the nation of Aram. In particular, Ahab wanted to reclaim the land of Ramoth-Gilead. So he went to king Jehoshaphat and asked for an alliance. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah at the time, and despite some shortcomings, he wasn’t a bad king. He is commended for following in the ways of his ancestor David, and for delighting in the ways of God. 2 Chronicles 17 even says he removed the high places and the asherim, or Asherah poles. That is, he was a moral king who opposed idolatry.

So Ahab here in 1 Kings 22, goes to Jehoshaphat and asks for Judah’s help in retaking Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat agrees, but on one condition. Verse 5.

1 Kings 22:5–12 TLV

5 Jehoshaphat said further to the king of Israel, “Please inquire of Adonai for a word first,” 6 So the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and asked them: “Should I march against Ramot-gilead to battle or should I refrain?” They responded, “Go up, for my Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.” 7 But Jehoshaphat said: “Is there no longer a prophet of Adonai here that we may inquire of Him?” 8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Yes, there is still one by whom we may inquire of Adonai—Micaiah son of Imlah—but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, only evil.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so!” 9 So the king of Israel summoned one of his eunuchs and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.” 10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, at a threshing-floor at the entrance of Samaria’s gate. All the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says Adonai: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are consumed!” 12 Then all the prophets were prophesying so, saying, “Go up to Ramot-gilead and triumph! For Adonai will deliver it into the hand of the king!”

Jehoshaphat was not impressed with the so-called prophets that Ahab brought up. Notice he specifies: a prophet of Adonai. So they bring this man Micaiah, a known true prophet of Adonai. I think it’s worth pointing out that Micaiah, the name, is mikha’Yah, meaning “Who is like Yah.” Recall again the mikamocha from Exodus 15.

So they bring Micaiah, whom Ahab hates, before the kings. The messenger sent to summon him even informs him that all the other prophets spoke favorably about the impending battle with Aram. He asks Micaiah to align with them, and to speak favorably. Micaiah, however, in true prophet fashion, replies that he will only speak whatever Adonai says. Yet the next verse is curious, because he does exactly the opposite.

1 Kings 22:15–16 TLV

15 Now when he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we march to Ramot-gilead in battle or should we refrain?” “March and triumph!” he answered, “and Adonai will give it into the hand of the king.” 16 But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to speak to me nothing but the truth in the Name of Adonai?”

Now we get to the purpose of why we’re reading this account today.

1 Kings 22:17–23 TLV

17 Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills, as sheep without a shepherd. Then Adonai said, ‘These have no master; let each of them return home in peace.’ ” 18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy good concerning me, only evil?” 19 Micaiah then continued, “Therefore hear the word of Adonai. I saw Adonai sitting on His throne, with all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. 20 Then Adonai said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One suggested this and another that, 21 until a certain spirit came forward and stood before Adonai and said, ‘I will entice him.’ So Adonai asked him, ‘How?’ 22 And he said: ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said: ‘You shall entice him and shall prevail also—go and do so.’ 23 Now therefore, behold, Adonai has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and Adonai has decreed evil upon you.”

This is a council meeting; a Divine Council meeting. God, sitting on His throne, with all the heavenly hosts around Him. One of the spirits present goes and volunteers to be the method by which Ahab is brought down. Mind you, it works, because by the end of the chapter, Ahab is struck and killed in battle. It bears pointing out that this lying or deceiving spirit was the influence on the advisors and prophets to Ahab. They weren’t just making this stuff up and telling the king whatever he wanted to hear. But more on that in a future part. For now, let’s go back to Genesis.

Genesis 1:26 NASB 2020

26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.”

This is plural language again. Us and our. Most people explain this by saying it’s a conversation between Father and Son, but we don’t hear that in the text. Further, Father and Son both sharing in the Divine equally would not need to have a conversation. Rather, it is a reference to the Divine Council, God speaking to the heavenly hosts as He did in 1 Ki. 22.

Genesis 3:22–24 TLV

22 Then Adonai Elohim said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. So now, in case he stretches out his hand and takes also from the Tree of Life and eats and lives forever,” 23 Adonai Elohim sent him away from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 And He expelled the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He had cheruvim dwell along, with the whirling sword of flame, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Again, plural language. Man had become “like one of us” God says. He is speaking to the other heavenly beings.

Genesis 11:1–9 TLV

1 Now the entire earth had the same language with the same vocabulary. 2 When they traveled eastward, they found a valley-plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come! Let’s make bricks and bake them until they’re hard.” So they used bricks for stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.” 5 Then Adonai came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of man had built. 6 Adonai said, “Look, the people are one and all of them have the same language. So this is what they have begun to do. Now, nothing they plan to do will be impossible. 7 Come! Let Us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand each other’s language.” 8 So Adonai scattered them from there over the face of the entire land, and they stopped building the city. 9 This is why it is named Babel, because Adonai confused the languages of the entire world there, and from there Adonai scattered them over the face of the entire world.

Two major things to point out here regarding our topic today. First, again, is the plural language. God said, “Let US” go down. Second, note the results of this event. There are two. Yes, God confused the languages of mankind. But this was done to accomplish a more important goal: the scattering of the people. God confused the languages so that the people would be divided. This leads us to the point we’ll end on for today.

Turn with me, if you will, to Deuteronomy 32. We mentioned Exodus 15 earlier, the song of Moses. That was the first one. There is, however, another. And it’s found in Deuteronomy 32, written by Moses just before his death. The last words of Deut. 31 read, “Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete.”

Deuteronomy 32:1–6 TLV

1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak! Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 2 May my teaching trickle like rain, my speech distill like dew— like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants. 3 For I will proclaim Adonai’s Name, ascribe greatness to our God! 4 The Rock—blameless is His work. Indeed, all His ways are just. God of faithfulness without iniquity, righteous and upright is He. 5 Did it corrupt Him? No! The blemish is His children’s— a generation crooked and twisted. 6 Is this how you pay back Adonai, O foolish, unwise people? Isn’t He your Father who ransomed you? He made you and established you.

Exaltation of the name of Adonai, and ascribing greatness to Him. Followed by a harsh condemnation on the people of Israel themselves. But then we get to verse 7.

Deuteronomy 32:7–8 NASB 2020

7 “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. 8 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.

Hold on for a second. There’s a very important textual note to make here. In the Hebrew Masoretic Text, our primary Hebrew text for nearly every Bible translation, we have the words b’nei Yisrael, or “sons of Israel.” God set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. But this is inherently problematic. When God divided the nations, when He separated the peoples, there weren’t any sons of Israel. In fact, there wasn’t even an Abraham yet. Now we could say that He, knowing the future, knew how to set these boundaries according to the sons of Israel, knowing their future state. But the text gives us no indication of this, nor does Genesis 11. But this is why I mention the Hebrew text.

There’s a field of study known as textual criticism. I won’t go into much of that, because many of you would probably fall asleep from boredom. In short, this field of study looks at the various Biblical manuscripts and compares them, and searches for the best, most original words of a given passage that has any variances. Most of this field of study focuses on the NT, because there are so many fragmented copies of NT manuscripts. However, there is a very important note here in Deut. 32.

First, in the LXX - the Greek translation of the Tanakh - it does not read υἱοὺς Ισραηλ, or “sons of Israel” as we would expect in Greek. Instead, it reads ἀγγέλων θεοῦ, or “angels of God.” Well that makes a pretty significant difference, but why the variation? Let’s get some more evidence. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, we find b’nei Elohim, or “sons of God.” As we already noted, this is an ancient reference to divine or heavenly beings. So if the Hebrew text originally referred to the “sons of God” (not of Israel), it explains why the later translator of the LXX into Greek used “angels of God.” Because this person understood that “sons of God” in the Ancient Israelite context referred to heavenly beings.

Masoretic Text: בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל (sons of Israel)

LXX: ἀγγέλων θεοῦ (angels of God)

DSS: בני אלוהים (Sons of God)

So if we accept that the reference here in Deut. 32 is actually to heavenly beings and not humans, what does that change? Namely, it maps this story to Babel. Reading verse 8 again: When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance” - that is a land reference. “When He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” This makes more sense. Again, as we read in Genesis 11, there is a clear implication that the Divine Council was involved with the scattering of the peoples at the Tower of Babel. So God divided the people up and apportioned them according to the number of the sons of God, or according to the number of the heavenly beings. The rest of Deut. 32 will now make more sense as well, so let’s continue with that as we near the end for today.

Deut. 32:12 is a reference to them having no “foreign god” among them. Verse 16 refers again to strange gods, and then to “demons.” We’ll cover that more in-depth next time, but suffice it to say there’s more to that. He continues throughout this chapter referring to how Israel will turn away, make Adonai jealous with thee foreign gods, and how He will avenge His servants. The very end of the song, in verse 43, promises that the nations will rejoice with Israel His people, for He will repay and He will make atonement for His land and people.

It makes sense, then, why the very beginning of the covenant at Sinai, with the Ten Words or 10 Commandments, He says to have no other gods. It’s a bit of a silly commandment if there are no other gods to be had. If all it referred to was idolatry, then it would be covered by the following commandment not to make an idol.

I’ll end here and we can take some questions - I’m sure there are some. But depending on the question, I may well have to defer to next time, if it’s something that will be more fully explained in Parts 2 or 3.

Q&A

Aaronic Benediction (Num. 6)

Yeve-re-kakha Adonai

Va-yeesh-merekha

Yair Adonai panav ei-lekha

Vee-chu-nekha

Yeesa Adonai panav ei-lekha

Vaya-sim-lekha, Shalom

Aaronic Benediction (Num. 6)

May Adonai bless you and keep you

May Adonai make His face shine

upon you, and be gracious to you

May Adonai lift up His countenance

upon you and give you peace