I finally got around to reading "The Unseen Realm" by Michael Heiser. I was prepared to like it. I wanted to like it. I believe there is an unseen realm which is more real than this one. I am not saying he is wrong about everything. But he is wrong about enough that, having finally read it, I felt obligated to say why. Foremost among the things he has wrong is his interpretation of his two "go-to" scriptures. These are Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and Psalm 82.
I've already talked about part of the reason he has Deuteronomy 32 wrong here. On this post, I'd like to discuss his other go-to scripture- the 82nd Psalm.
82 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.
Heiser says that this passage describes God standing in His heavenly "Divine Council." The ones He is chastising are the lesser Elohim - heavenly beings that He put in charge of the other nations when He "disinherited" them after the tower of Babel. Here God is upbraiding them for their failure to pursue justice. He goes to some length trying to discredit they idea that this is God talking to earthly rulers, in particular the rulers of His people.
The problem is that Jesus Himself uses this scripture to make the point that men are called "Elohim", the word translated "gods" here, when the Pharisees sought to kill Him for saying that He was God's son.
33 "The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be broken – do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” John 10:33-36
33 "The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be broken – do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” John 10:33-36
Christ's whole point was that the scripture called certain of the sons of Israel "gods", so why try to kill Him for claiming that He was God's son? Christ is reminding them that their own law considers them "Elohim." Heiser's view of this passage assumes that it is not talking to humans, and thus is at odds with how Christ viewed the passage. The word translated "gods" isn't just used of the one true God, but of false gods and even "divine beings" that we would not think of as "gods". For example, when the witch at Endor called Samuel from the dead she described him as an "Elohim". Beings, including humans, who exercise divine authority on earth seem to be considered "Elohim".
I could spend a lot of time here talking about how different terms are used, and why his view of the passage is flawed, but showing that Christ Himself did not hold Heiser's position on it should be enough to convince all believers that this position is incorrect.
I have read where Heiser has tried to address this scripture by saying that Christ was claiming that the Elohim in Psalms 82 was the Divine Council, that THEY were the ones who "received the word of God" and that He was telling them "if your law called these other Divine beings 'gods' then how much more so Me, sent and sanctified by the Father."
ReplyDeleteThat is a distortion of the text. Christ could hardly be plainer. They did receive the Word of God, through Moses and the Prophets. It was through them, the people of Israel, that the Word of God came to the world. If their princes could be called "gods" then how much moreso Christ, who came from the Father. His point is crystal clear. They shouldn't be stoning Him for His claim because 1) they ALL had a claim and 2) He even moreso because He came from the Father. He wasn't just appealing to His special relationship with God, but making the case that it was available to all, and the rest of the NT teaches that it is - through Him.
He wasn't saying "the Divine Council was called "gods" and I am higher than the Divine Council". That would not address their point at all. If "elohim" were not humans but only a higher class of Divine being then they could still say that he blasphemed for making Himself out to be in that category. It only counters their point if He can say that God has declared them ALL to be Divine, (though sin gets in the way of His intent for us). And since they recognized Him as one of them He is saying in effect "What I say is in agreement with what your Law says about us, so why stone me for agreeing with your Law?"
As far as the "like men" reference goes, I can be and sometimes is translated "as men". It isn't ever translated "like men even though you are not". IOW God is telling them that even though He has pronounced them gods, they will not fulfill their destiny. Further, if you are going to take that tack, it must be noted that when it says they will fall like "princes" that word is the same word used in the book of Daniel of Michael and the "prince" of Persia. So whoever this group is, they are like men in a sense and like the supernatural princes in another. So then the message is, by not fulfilling their destiny they will get the worst of both realms. As men, they will die, as Elohim, they will fall.
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