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It is Precisely What we’d Expect if we Understand The Elohim to be Divine Being.

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Cosmic Philosopher

Cosmic Philosopher

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Psalm 89:5–7 explicitly contradicts the notion of a divine council in which the elohim are humans.

And so the heavens will praise your wonderful deed, O Yahweh,
even your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the sky is equal to Yahweh?
Who is like Yahweh among the sons of God,
a God feared greatly in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all surrounding him?

God’s divine council is an assembly in the heavens, not on earth. The language is unmistakable. This is precisely what we’d expect if we understand the elohim to be divine beings. It is utter nonsense if we think of them as humans. There is no reference in Scripture to a council of human beings serving Yahweh in the skies (Jews or otherwise).

What Psalms 82 and 89 describe is completely consistent with what we see in Job 38:7—a group of heavenly sons of God. It also accords perfectly with other references to the sons of God as plural elohim:

 The sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh. (Job 1:62:1)

Ascribe to Yahweh, O sons of God,
ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name (Psalm 29:1–2).

Do these references describe a group of Jewish leaders, among whom (in the passage from Job) Yahweh’s great adversary appears, leading to Job’s suffering? The conclusion is obvious.

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