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Is There a Divine Council in Psalm 82?
Psalm 82:1 states, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment.” Later in Psalm 82:6-7 we read, “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.'” The identity of the “gods” in Psalm 82 has been interpreted in a variety of ways. For sake of brevity, we will cover the two most popular understandings of “gods.” 1. The Gods as Human Judges Interpreting the gods in Psalm 82 as a reference to human judges is very common. Support for this idea is drawn from Exodus 22:8, where someone accused of being an accomplice to a thief comes “near to God” to take an oath about what happened. This is often interpreted as going before the Israelite judges (cf. Exod 21:6, where a master brings his…
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Why is Ezekiel Called Son of Man?
Anyone who reads the Gospels understands that one of Jesus’ favorite titles to use of himself is the son of man. Interestingly, the son of man moniker is used 79 times in the Gospels, and once in Acts (7:56), but in each case it is Jesus using the phrase of himself. Nobody calls Jesus the son of man, nor is anyone else called the son of man. Although there is debate about where the New Testament title son of man comes from, it almost certainly comes from the backdrop of Daniel 7:13-14, where “one like a son of man” comes before the Ancient of Days and is given dominion over the entire world with an everlasting kingdom. Daniel 7, which was understood as Messianic even before the time of Christ (cf. 4 Ezra 13) provides the vocabulary which Jesus could appropriate for himself—indicating He is the Messianic representative of humanity.…
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Who was Darius the Mede in Daniel?
In Daniel 5:31 we are introduced to Darius the Mede, who is said to rule after Belshazzar when Babylon falls to the Persian kingdom under Cyrus (cf. 2 Chron 36:22). Darius also shows up in Daniel 6 as the king who puts Daniel in the lion’s den. Finally, the vision of Daniel 9 is also said to take place in “the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede.” The identity of Darius has boggled many Bible interpreters because we have no record of a Darius ruling during this time. Who was Darius the Mede? The following charts display the typical understanding of the Median and Achaemenid/Persian dynasties. Note that there is no Darius at the appropriate time period. The Median Dynasty Deioces 700–647 BC Phraortes 647–625 BC Scythian Rule 624–597 BC Cyaxares 624–585 BC Astyages 585–549 BC The Achaemenid/Persian Dynasty Cyrus the Great 550–529 BC…