Psalm 82 - Earthly Judges Before the Great Judge

[Music] psalm 82 is a fascinating psalm a unique psalm with a unique new testament connection and we'll see about this as we get into the psalm verse by verse the title to the psalm is a psalm of asaph that's all it says and it identifies the author as being asaph probably the great singer and musician of david and solomon's era you can find reference to this asaph in first chronicles and in second chronicles i find it also interesting that in both first chronicles and second chronicles it adds that asaph was a prophet in his musical compositions and here we see asaph speaking or maybe we should say singing prophetically and talking about earthly judges and how they stand before the great judge god who stands in judgment and has authority over all things and this is the theme we come with right away when we come to verses 1 and 2 of psalm 82 and we read god stands in the congregation of the mighty he judges among the gods how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked now the opening scene here of psalm 82 is asaph gives us a picture of god in the midst of the mighty did you see that first line god stands in the congregation of the mighty god stands in authority among this congregation of the mighty in other words he's not just one of the other beings here in the midst of this congregation so to speak rather he is the leader he's standing there as matthew poole wrote about this that old puritan commentator he says god stands in the congregation of the mighty as a judge diligently to observe all that is said or done there and to give sentence accordingly the judge sits when he hears cases but stands up when he gives sentence so that's exactly what god is doing he's establishing his authority here he's standing in the congregation of the mighty and verse one also says he judges among the gods you see god's standing in the midst of these mighty ones is to bring judgment among them now it's a very interesting thing in verse 1 where it says he judges among the gods the word gods here in the original hebrew is elohim and that is the plural for the generic word for god in hebrew the generic word for god is el elohim is the plural and the idea of god judging the gods has led people to come up with several different suggestions regarding the identity of these elohim who are these gods that god stands in authority in the midst of and these gods whom god judges now elohim as a word is often most often when you'll find it used in the old testament you'll find it used to describe the true god yahweh it's in the plural elohim not just l to describe both the majesty of god's person and also to be a hint that points towards the triune nature of god the fact that god is as revealed by the new testament one god in three persons so elohim as a plural construct is definitely right on that track so most the time elohim is used in the old testament it's speaking of yahweh of god the the god who created all things now it it's not used that way obviously here in psalm 82 verse 1 because the lord yahweh judges among the gods so the most often way it's used in the old testament is not used here in psalm 82 1. now elohim is also sometimes used as the plural of pagan deities so if you're talking about the false gods among the nations ba'al ashraf i mean that's a plural of false gods they don't actually exist but they exist in the minds and in the hearts of people well if you've got more than one of them that wouldn't just be l it would be elohim a plural so is god judging here among the idols that's one possibility let's consider another elohim is sometimes used in reference to angelic beings in the scriptures and i could get a lot into that particular background but we won't get into it right now but sometimes that term elohim is referred to used to refer to angelic beings so maybe it's pagan gods maybe it's angelic beings but actually it's the third option i'm going to suggest to you the third option beyond it being god himself elohim here in psalm 82 verse 1 is best taken as a reference to human judges who stand in the place of god in their ability to determine the fate of others in other words as g kamel morgan said i'm going to quote here from morgan he says gathered around him is an assembly of judges who are called elohim because they are his delegates they administer his will they are his executive agents in other words there is a sense in which earthly judges stand in the place of god now what is that sense in which they stand in the place of god well it's very simple isn't it when a judge presides over a court the lives of other people are in his hands the fate of he has control over the fate of other people and in that sense he has a god-like quality so we understand this is speaking basically by way of analogy god isn't saying that human judges are gods but they're like gods in this sense now what's interesting about this is if god calls earthly judges by analogy gods because they hold the fate of other people in their hands james montgomery boyce noted that martin luther pointed out and i'm going to read here from boyce martin luther pointed out that psalm 82 verse 1 and verse 6 both establishes and limits the authority of princes it establishes it because it is god who appoints the authorities it's he who calls them gods god is the one who says you're like gods among men in the sense but it also limits their authority because as you're going to see throughout this whole psalm these judges these gods so to speak these elohim they are accountable to god and that's what's very interesting that's what puts a whole different spin on the idea here in psalm 82 god says to these earthly judges you're like gods but it isn't you're like gods you can do whatever you want to do you're like gods and you're going to answer to me for the judgments that you've executed now we find this even more clearly when in john chapter 10 jesus refers back to this passage we're going to talk about that a little bit more later in psalm 82 because when we get to verse 6 that's the actual verse that jesus quotes but the idea here is that how do we know that god isn't talking about angelic beings how do we know that he's not talking about the pagan gods of the nations because conceivably god could sit in judgment or in assembly with those at least conceptually how do we know it's not talking about angelic beings or pagan gods of the nations but it is talking about earthly judges we know this certainly by the way jesus quoted psalm 82 verse 6 in john chapter 10. so do you see what god says to these judges here back to psalm 82 now verse 9 verse 2 i should say what does god say he says to these earthly judges how long will you judge unjustly as god calls together this assembly of human judges he didn't do it to complement them he didn't do it to pay them honor he did it to confront them for judging unjustly and for showing partiality to the wicked this confrontation shows that god himself is the judge and you could say that god himself is the judge at the ultimate supreme court god looks at all these human judges say well you you think that you have a lot to do you think that you have great power let me tell you you're accountable to me and i ask you verse two how long will you judge unjustly i like what charles spurgeon had to say about this he said our village squires and country magistrates would do well to remember this some of them had need go to school to asaph till they have mastered this psalm their harsh decisions and strange judgments are made in the presence of him who will surely visit them for every unseemly act for he has no respect unto the person of any and is the champion of the poor and needy well that's what this psalm communicates now before we go on to verses three and four see what verse two ends with it ends with selah and you know the idea of that hebrew word selah that's used mostly in the psalms it's also used a few times in the book of habakkuk i think about 70 times in the psalms the idea of that word selah is a pause some people think that it was a pause for a musical interlude i won't call it a guitar soul i hope it's some kind of musical expression some people think that it was a pause of reflection pause and think about this i would say probably both ideas are in mine this is perhaps a pause for music but certainly a pause to meditate on just what has been said so we need to consider this fact number one that human judges stand somewhat in the place of gods among men and secondly that they will be held account by god now listen i i don't think i really know personally i'm kind of searching my minor i don't know personally any human judges somebody in a county court in a superior court in a appeals court and i'm using all terms from the american legal system or of course in the american legal system at the very top you have the supreme court the supreme court of the united states and i don't know any judges personally so i can't speak to the personality or integrity or anything like that but i just imagine in my mind what if there was an arrogant judge a judge who was sort of intoxicated with their own power and authority and they feel like man i am in charge and i can do whatever i please listen do you see what god from heaven has to say to that judge god from heaven says how long will you judge unjustly i'm calling you to account right now and i think it is extremely helpful for every earthly judge to do exactly what psalm 82 and spurgeon explained here simply you need to remember that you're going to be called to account before the ultimate judge do not become intoxicated with your own authority but realize that there is a god in heaven to whom you will have to answer and make every judgment that you proclaim under that thinking so let's go on now to verses three and four this is what god says to these unjust human judges okay here's god's instruction for them ready verse 3 defend the poor and fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy deliver the poor and needy free them from the hand of the wicked you see what god's instruction is to these unjust judges he tells them verse three you defend the poor and the fatherless he told them to do their duty in defending those who are often treated unjustly now in asap's day the poor and the fatherless were often targets of unfair treatment and it was the job of judges to defend them and as it says in verse 3 to do justice to the afflicted and needy it's as if god is speaking to these judges and saying you are supposed to be the protectors of these people you're supposed to protect the poor and the fatherless and the afflicted and the needy if they are oppressed you're supposed to punish their oppressors it doesn't matter if their oppressors are rich or powerful you are to protect the poor and the fatherless the afflicted and the needy and again i think it's very important just for us to pause and consider how this applies to modern judges today i'm going to read you something that martin luther said it's cited in james montgomery voices commentary on psalm 82. luther said this quote these three verses indeed the whole psalm every prince should have painted on the wall of his chamber on his bed over his table and on his garments for here they find what lofty princely noble virtues their estate can practice so that temporal government next to the preaching office is the highest service to god and the most useful office on earth in other words luther's just trying to emphasize this idea you remember this earthly judges this is your responsibility to do as it says here in verse 4 free them from the hand of the wicked you see one characteristic of the wicked is that they prey upon the poor and needy people that are mentioned in verse three and it is the divinely directed duty of judges to free the vulnerable from those who oppress them now i find it interesting that in second chronicles chapter 19 king jehoshaphat of judah gave a very similar wise instruction to the judges in his day this is what jehoshaphat of judah said to the earthly judges his judges in his realm in second chronicles chapter 19 verses six and seven reading now and said to the judges take heed to what you are doing for you do not judge for man but for the lord who is with you in the judgment now therefore let the fear of the lord be upon you take care and do it for there is no iniquity with the lord our god no partiality nor taking of bribes listen this is the responsibility of human judges to do justly and again in asap's day and of course it can be like this today as well the poor the afflicted the disadvantaged they don't find justice at the court of law it's the job of the judge to say no they will find justice in my court there's a man named price who was cited in spurgeon's commentary the treasury of david he said this it was said of francis the first of france that when a woman kneeled to beg him justice he told her to stand up he said woman it is justice that i owe you and justice you shall have if you beg anything of me let it be mercy now what a great mentality that french king francis the first had no i owe you justice as a judge in this realm i can or cannot give you mercy according to my own will but i owe you justice now god here is going to speak about the weakness of the unjust judges here in verse 5 he says this they do not know nor do they understand they walk about in darkness all the foundations of the earth are unstable now again he's referring here to the unjust judges themselves despite their high standing maybe they have a very high opinion of themselves maybe they have an education at least by the standards of their own day what does god say about him did you see that there in verse five they do not know nor do they understand because even though they have a high standing and maybe a a respected education human judges can often be ignorant they can often very easily over estimate their own understanding they can be way too confident about what they oh no now i found it very interesting when i was reading adam clarke's commentary on the psalms that's uh adam clark he has an old commentary written a couple hundred years ago in the early 1800s adam clark had a much better opinion of the judges of his own time again he wrote this in 1822. he understood the application to the judges in asap's day but i have to when i read this in adam clark i i just smiled when i heard him brag about the english judges of his own day this is what he says quote they are ignorant and do not wish to be instructed now he's saying that about the judges of psalm 82 so he says they are ignorant do not wish to be instructed they will not learn they cannot teach happy england how different from judea in the days of jehoshaphat all thy judges are learned righteous and impartial never did greater men in their profession dignify any land or country well apparently adam clark in 1822 figured that england had about the best judges any land could have and since i'm no expert on the legal history of england in the early 19th century i can't tell you if that's true or not but adam clark certainly saw a contrast between the judges that asaph the psalmist speaking prophetically in the voice of the lord rebuked in psalm 82 in the judges of his own day and this is the result of it all look at here in verse 5. it says all the foundations of the earth are unstable when judges walk in the darkness of their arrogant pride the lives of of everyday people are uncertain they're unstable it's as if the ground that should be firm under their feet is shaking now again this is very very important to keep in mind bad judges can do a lot of damage in a society when judges are the kind of judges as are described in psalm 82 i mean again if you just think of it in verse 5 let me read verse 5 to you again it says they do not know nor do they understand they walk about in darkness all the foundations of the earth are unstable think about these are three characteristics of these judges as described in verse five first of all they're ignorant they do not know secondly they're inept in their actions they're incompetent they walk about in darkness listen if you want to walk about in darkness you're going to bump into a lot of things you're not going to walk competently so they're ignorant they're incompetent and this means that society is shaken as it says there in verse 5 all the foundations of the earth are unstable so we see here in the first five verses of psalm 82 god is speaking to human judges earthly judges but he's not speaking of them very highly he's rebuking them and now in verse 6 it's going to get even more interesting god is going to pass sentences on these judges you know i suppose if you've been a judge for many years you're used to passing sentence on other people you're accustomed to that but now god is going to speak to these judges and pass sentence on them he says here verses 6 and 7 of psalm 82 i said you are gods and all of you are children of the most high but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes now again verse 6 god says i said to you you are gods and again he said that back in verse 1 of this very song these human judges stood in the place of the gods above other people they had the opportunity and the authority let's even say the responsibility to change people's lives with a word they had the power as judges sometimes to even end a life with one word guilty that could mean sentenced to death you're like gods now before i go on here into verse six i want you to notice in john chapter 10 starting at verse 34 jesus quoted psalm 82 verse 6 in a debate with the religious leaders of his day they accused jesus of claiming to be god in a sinful and wrong way now of course we know what the bible teaches that jesus of nazareth as he walked this earth he is god he was god but but we can imagine how that would raise accusation especially against the or from i should say the religious leaders and so when the religious leaders accuse jesus of unrightly unlawfully claiming to be god jesus answered back with psalm 82 verse 6 he says what doesn't it say in your own law you are gods you see jesus reasoned like this if god gave these unjust judges the title of gods because of their office why do you consider it blasphemy that i call myself the son of god in light of the testimony surrounding me and all the works i do basically he was exposing not only the hypocrisy but also the ignorance of the religious leaders of his day and he quoted psalm 82 verse 6 to do it now by the way i mentioned before that elohim this word gods can be used in at least four senses in the old testament it can be used of yahweh and we know that that's not what it's talking about it's not talking about the actual god who reigns in heaven and earth because he's the one speaking to these gods he's elohim elohim can be used of pagan gods but we didn't think that was it it can be used of angelic beings but we didn't think that it we settled on the idea that it was human judges because of how this is explained in the rest of the psalm and that makes sense but i want you to know that there are other passages in the old testament where god very clearly calls earthly judges gods for example in exodus chapter 21 verse 6 and exodus chapter 22 verses 8 9 those are at least two other passages where god clearly calls human judges elohim it's the same word now he's speaking to these gods here verse 6 i said you are gods and all of you are children of the most high he's still speaking to the earthly judges of israel in asap's day god reminded them that they and by the way all of humanity are children of the most high now this is true in the sense that every human being is made in the image of god and can be thought of as the offspring of god because we are created by god by the way when paul spoke to the philosophers of athens on mars hill he referred to the same idea that we are all the offspring of god in that sense we are all the children of god and when these unjust judges denied protection and justice to the poor when they denied justice to the fatherless the afflicted the needy when they treated them as less than fully human who was made in the image of god that when they treated them not as people who should be regarded as god's creation as his offspring they need to remember that they were god's offspring and they will be held to encounter this notice he says and all of you are children most high not only speaking to the judges but all of humanity hey judges you are a human too and all of humanity has some connection to god by creation if no other way now it's important to note that there is another sense in which it cannot be said that all people are children of god in john chapter 8 verse 44 jesus explained that there are some people who are the children of the devil so there are in this sense some people are truly god's children in that they are his chosen they are adopted into his family they're going to heaven and other people are not but there's another sense in which broadly speaking because god has created us all and created us in his image that we are of all children the most high and therefore we should receive justice and respect and the weak and the fatherless and the afflicted and all of them should receive protection before the judges of this earth well because these particular human judges were also uh children of the most high like all men look at what it says there in verse 7 you shall die like men the unjust judges in mind in psalm 82 they needed to remember that others were greater than the judges thought and they themselves were less than they thought in other words you remember that every person who comes and stands before you is also made in the image of god is also connected to god through creation if no other way remember that that's in verse six but you also remember that you're gonna die like men you think that you are gods and i'll even call you gods god says in a symbolic sense but you're gonna die like men like ordinary men and you're gonna face judgment before the judge of all the earth now verse 8 concludes the psalm by the way should we just pause before we go to verse 8 what an amazing thing for god to say to earthly judges every person that stands before you remember that they're made in my image god says to earthly judges secondly you remember that one day you're going to die and you're going to stand before me in judgment now concluding verse 8 arise o god judge the earth for you shall inherit all nations asaph closed the psalm with a plea to god to take his place as the ultimate judge you see the unjust judges referred to in psalm 82 have their own areas of authority but god's authority is over all the earth please remember that earthly judges oh it's true that judges in their courtroom have a god-appointed area of authority we don't doubt that at all but never ever forget that ultimately they stand before the god who will judge all the earth and this prayer calls upon god to do what earthly judges would not do remember what it says there in verse 8 arise oh god judge the earth well the the the human judges weren't necessarily properly judging the earth the human judges had failed so asap asked god to take the judgment into his own hands and rightfully so because look at the last line of the psalm the last line of verse 8 it says for you shall inherit all nations this inheritance shows the greatness of god as a judge now it's true earthly judges have their own greatness and deserve respect but it is nothing compared to the great judge this inheritance ultimately belongs to jesus the messiah now before we leave psalm 82 let's consider briefly how psalm 82 points to jesus and i'll start the first one i'll give you three examples of how some 82 points of jesus the first one we just spoke about here in verse 8. do you remember where it said in verse 8 you shall inherit all nations well it is jesus christ who will inherit all nations that's true it already belongs to jesus the messiah again i like what charles spurgeon said about this he said quote the last days shall see jesus enthroned and all unrighteous potentates broken like potter's vessels before his potent scepter the second advent is still earth's brightest hope come quickly even so come lord jesus amen to that if i can add one other thing by fb meyer fb meyer said this it is great encouragement in missionary work to know that every nation is by right of gift and inheritance our lords he sold his all to purchase it it is ours to make it his in fact yes you shall inherit all nations not only does that speak to the fact that jesus will exercise his authority over all the earth he'll reign over all but it says that it also agrees with what is said in revelation uh the book of revelation that there will be people from every tribe and tongue surrounding the throne of god now that's the first way verse 8 says that jesus will inherit all nations number two let's remember that jesus quoted psalm 82 verse 6 that line you are god's and again back in john chapter 10 he did this to expose the fact that the religious leaders were corrupt that they were like the judges of psalm 82 and again jesus reasoned like this if god gave these unjust judges the title gods because of their office why do you consider it blasphemy that i call myself the son of god in light of the testimony of me and my works now again jesus did not take the statement you our gods in psalm 82 and apply it to all of humanity or to all believers we're not little gods no that's not the idea at all the use of gods in psalm 82 and in john chapter 10 was a metaphor jesus spoke of that metaphor both to expose the ignorance and the inconsistency of his accusers so uh jesus will inherit the nations jesus quoted psalm 82 verse 6. finally jesus is the judge of all i mean obviously in psalm 82 we've talked a lot about judges have we not don't ever forget jesus is the judge of all verse 1 says god stands in the congregation of the mighty he judges among the gods and matthew chapter 25 starting at verse 31 plainly says that jesus will judge all the earth matter of fact jesus is the righteous judge acts chapter 17 verse 31 says that god has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained that's jesus christ he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead listen god will judge the world in righteousness by jesus christ that's what acts 17 31 says so when we think of god's ultimate judgment how everybody will give account before the god of all the lowly esteemed in this world and the highly esteemed in this world such as judges we will all have to give account before god so let's be serious about that and let me just close with this i imagine that there's not going to be many actual judges that view or listen to this teaching i've done on psalm 82. just because statistically speaking there's not all that many judges in the world and how many judges would be interested in a verse by verse study through psalm 82 i can imagine it's not all that many but i will say this it's probably so that god has given you some kind of authority in some realm of your life in your home at your job at your school in your community there's probably many who will view this or listen to this who have some measure of authority in a place god has placed them take that authority seriously and whenever you're called upon to make a judgment ask god for the ability to judge righteous judgment and to judge impartially because there are people who don't receive righteous judgment in psalm 82 they're described as the poor the fatherless the afflicted when we have the opportunity to exercise authority we need to do it in a way that reflects the heart and the mind of god so god helping us will do that let's pray to that effect right now father in heaven we pray for the judges of our community of our nation of our world and we ask god that you would work in and through those judges to give to us the blessing of justice in our lands that the guilty would be punished and the innocent would be acquitted and lord we understand that judges have a very difficult job when it comes to that but we pray that you would give them an honor and a reverence of you and lord god we pray that you would give them a mind that would understand that one day they will stand in judgment before you and lord for us whatever sphere of uh authority you have placed us in help us to exercise it with righteousness and with goodness lord with your justice with your heart finally lord we take great peace in the fact that jesus christ is the judge of all the earth and we confess all over again lord that we love our lord and savior jesus christ that we put our trust in him and it's on that basis that we seek to be found approved on the day of judgment we love you and praise you in jesus name [Music] amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, psalm 82, Earthly Judges Before the Great Judge, asaph, judges, judgment, old testament

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Length: 37min 24sec (2244 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021