Psalm 82 has been intriguing me for some months now, each time it turns up in the daily readings for morning prayer. Here it is in the translation the CofE uses for worship.
God has taken his stand in the council of heaven; • in the midst of the gods he gives judgement:2 ‘How long will you judge unjustly • and show such favour to the wicked? 3 ‘You were to judge the weak and the orphan; • defend the right of the humble and needy; 4 ‘Rescue the weak and the poor; • deliver them from the hand of the wicked. 5 ‘They have no knowledge or wisdom; they walk on still in darkness: • all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 ‘Therefore I say that though you are gods • and all of you children of the Most High, 7 ‘Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals • and fall like one of their princes.’ 8 Arise, O God and judge the earth, • for it is you that shall take all nations for your possession.I guess the central move, for me, is to read 'the gods' as corporisations -what commonly gets called 'principalities and powers' (based on NT language). I've had a look at some commentaries and a number of them favour this sort of interpretation.So I notice, if we take it that way, that this passage implicitly asserts a divine mission for corporisations to do justly, do well by the marginalised and to lighten their darkness with wisdom and knowledge. It also strengthens the 'originally good but fallen' understanding of them. I'm also thinking that in those days, pretty much the only corporisations would have been imperial admin and religious networks -often two sides of the same coin. Nowadays we would start to include branded corporations and NGOs etc.
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