Introduction
In today’s psalm, the Lord rebukes unjust rulers for defending the wicked, instead of defending the cause of the weak and innocent. The psalmist refers to these unjust rulers in verse 1 as gods. And so, the question arises: Who are these gods?
A number of commentators believe the psalm is referring to human rulers. One reason for believing this is that a few times in the Bible humans who represent the Lord and who bear his authority are called god. For instance, in Exodus 4, when the Lord appeared to Moses and told him to speak to the people of Israel, Moses complained that he wasn’t a good speaker and he suggests that the Lord should send someone else. But the Lord said that Aaron could go with Moses and he could speak to the people on Moses’s behalf. And the Lord said that Aaron will speak to the people for Moses; and it will be as if Moses was God to Aaron. That is to say, just as the Lord gives a prophet the words to say, so Moses will give Aaron the words to say. And then, in Exodus 7, the Lord said to Moses that he has made Moses like God to Pharaoh and Aaron will be like Moses’s prophet. On those two occasions, the Lord referred to Moses as God. Then, in Psalm 45, the psalmist refers to the king as God. He said to the king: ‘Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever.’ And so, it’s possible that someone who represents the Lord could be referred to as God. And if that’s the case, then it’s possible that human rulers — who represent the Lord — could be referred to as gods.
One further reason for thinking that the psalmist is writing about human rulers is because the Lord quotes this psalm in John 10:34, when the Jews wanted to stone him for claiming to be God. And the Lord quotes from this psalm to make the point that if the rulers in the psalm could be called gods, then surely he too can be called God.
However one objection to this view comes from what it says in verses 6 and 7. God says to these unjust rulers that they will die like mere men. Why would the Lord say to human rulers that they will die like men? If they’re human, then of course they will die like men. And so, other commentators believe the unjust rulers in the psalm are, in fact, supernatural beings. They are the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms which Paul mentions in Ephesians 6.
We don’t know a great deal about the spirit world of angels, but we know that God created all things in heaven and on earth. And therefore, the angels were created by God and they are under his authority. And we know that among the angels, there are fallen angels, or demons, the chief one being Satan.
From Job 1 and 2 we know that the angels — or more literally, ‘the sons of God’; and Satan is included among them — the angels present themselves before the Lord from time to time. And this fits with what we read in verse 1 of the psalm, where it says that God presides in the great assembly. So, all the angels presented themselves before the Lord in a great assembly. And in 1 Kings 22, the prophet Micaiah said that he saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him. Once again, it’s a great assembly of angels who have gathered before the Lord. And the Lord asked them who will entice Ahab the king into attacking Ramoth Gilead so that he will die there. One angel suggested one thing and another suggested another thing. Then one of the host of heaven said that he would do it by becoming a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets.
And it therefore seems that the angels — including wicked angels like Satan — assemble before the Lord. And the angels are able to influence what the prophets — and presumably what other people — do and say here on earth.
Daniel 10 is perhaps also relevant, because there we read about ‘the prince of the Persian kingdom’ who opposed the Son of God. It’s likely that this was a fallen angel, or an evil spirit, who had been assigned in some way to the Persian Empire. We also read in Daniel 10 about ‘the prince of Greece’ who was presumably an evil spirit over the Greek Empire. And when we studied Daniel 10 together I said that there is far, far more than all we can see around us, because not only is there this world, which we can see, but there’s the unseen heavenly realm. And in that unseen heavenly realm there’s a great spiritual battle going on between the Lord and his angels on one side and the Devil and his satanic force on the other side. And what happens on earth is very much affected by what is happening in the unseen heavenly realm.
And so, it’s possible that the psalm is about supernatural beings who are influencing what happens here on earth by defending the unjust and the wicked and oppressing the weak and vulnerable. However, at least one commentator (Ross) suggests that the gods in the psalm are both human rulers and supernatural beings. So, Satan and his demons in the heavenly realm affect and influence what human rulers do here on earth. They lead the human rulers astray so that the human rulers deny justice to the innocent and give preferential treatment to the wicked. As I say, we know very little about the spirit world of angels and demons, but what we do know from the Bible is that the Devil and his demons are real and they have an evil influence on people here on earth.
Verses 1 and 2
Let’s turn to the psalm and to verses 1 and 2 where the psalmist tells us that God presides in the great assembly and he gives judgment among the gods. God has summoned the powers in heaven for judgment. And in verse 2 he accuses some of defending the unjust and showing partiality to the wicked. That’s the accusation which the Lord has brought against them.
Verses 3 and 4
In verses 3 and 4, the Lord makes clear what they should have done. These spiritual forces in the heavenly realms should have used their influence in the world for good and not for evil. They should have caused human rulers to defend the cause of the weak and fatherless. They should have caused human rulers to maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. These are the little people, who have no power of their own. They’re not able to stand up for themselves. They have no voice in the public square. But the little people should have been able to count on human rulers to defend them and to ensure that they received justice. But the spiritual powers in the heavenly realms have used their influence to corrupt the human rulers so that they sided with the wicked against the weak and poor members of society. The spiritual powers in the heavenly realms should have caused human rulers to rescue the weak and needy when they were being oppressed. They should have delivered them from the hand of the wicked. But instead they let wicked men and women oppress the weak and needy.
Verse 5
In verse 5 we’re told that they know nothing and understand nothing. He’s referring again to the rulers: the heavenly rulers and the human rulers who are under their evil influence. And he’s saying that they do not understand the way things ought to be and how the weak and needy need to be protected from the wicked. They don’t understand what justice is and how the innocent should be vindicated and the wicked should be condemned and punished. Think of Solomon who asked the Lord for a discerning heart so that he could govern the people well. He knew he needed discernment: wisdom to know what is right and wrong. Every ruler needs to know and understand what is right and what is wrong. But since these rulers lack knowledge and understanding, then they walk about in darkness. Darkness is associated not only with ignorance, but also with wickedness. And so, he’s saying that everything they do is marked by ignorance and wickedness.
And because of their evil influence in the world, the foundations of the earth are shaken. In other words, when rulers are wicked and when they defend the wicked and oppress the weak, then society will be unstable and anything might happen. When enough people are unhappy, they may rise up in rebellion and overturn the whole social order.
Verses 6 and 7
In verses 6 and 7 the Lord pronounces his sentence on these wicked rulers. Though they are gods and sons of the Most High God — that is to say, though they are spiritual powers in the heavenly realm and human rulers on the earth — they will die like men. They will fall like every other ruler. The Lord will bring them down. The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm will die like men in the sense that they will be condemned like all the wicked and sent away to suffer eternal punishment. And all those rulers on the earth, who did the Devil’s work, will be punished with him when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead.
Verse 8
The psalm ends with verse 8 where the psalmist asks the Lord to rise up and to judge the earth, because all the nations of the earth are his inheritance. In other words, all the nations belong to the Lord. The whole earth and every nation on the earth belongs, not to the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm nor to the powers and authorities on the earth, but they belong to the Lord. The spiritual forces in the heavens and the human rulers on the earth are answerable to the Lord. And, in the end, he will punish those who have done evil.
Conclusion
The Lord will judge every ruler who does not do what is right. This includes the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms as well as human rulers here on the earth.
No doubt some of you have watched Mr Bates vs The Post Office and the story of the post officer workers who were denied justice for so long. And in that drama we get to see the suffering of little people who were oppressed by powerful opponents for more than two decades. Fortunately, such cases are rare in the UK, because in countries like our own, which have been influenced by Christianity, we care about justice and we believe it’s a good thing for people in authority to defend the weak and vulnerable against the strong and mighty. Because our attitudes have been shaped by Christianity over generations, we are sympathetic towards Mr Bates and the other post office workers. And because of the influence of Christianity on our society, we can normally count on our courts to uphold justice and to vindicate the innocent.
And this is all thanks to the Lord, who makes clear in his word that rulers are accountable to him and they are required to rescue the weak and the needy when they are being oppressed by the wicked. And thanks to the Lord, there are nations around the world, such as our own, where justice is normally upheld.
However, we should always pray for our rulers, asking that the Lord will give them the knowledge and understanding they need to do what is right and that he will protect them from the evil influence of the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Fortunately, those spiritual forces of evil have already been disarmed by the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to destroy the works of Satan. But, though the Devil and his demons have been disarmed, they have not yet been destroyed and they are still active in the world. That’s why the Lord taught us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for deliverance from the Evil One. And so, we must ask the Lord to deliver, not just us, but the leaders of the nations from the Evil One so that they will continue to rescue the weak and needy from the tyranny of the wicked and to do what is right.
And we can look forward to the day when God will judge the living and the dead by his Son Jesus Christ. On that day, he will overturn every injustice and put right all that has gone wrong in the world; and he will give to the wicked what they deserve, and he will acquit his people who trusted in him for salvation and who tried to walk in his ways and do his will here on earth.
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