Weird Stuff in the Bible

Does the Bible say there are multiple gods?
Psalm 82

Introduction
Christianity is a monotheistic religion. In fact, if you go to Wikipedia’s page on Christianity, the very first line says, “Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion.” If you google it, Google will tell you that “Christianity is the largest monotheistic religion in the world.”
So obviously, if we know anything about Christianity, we have to know it’s monotheistic.
Mono is a prefix that means “one.” Theistic refers to deity. Christianity has one deity: God.
This differentiates us from the polytheists such as the Hindus or Greeks and Romans or Norse mythology or any of the pagan religions out there. They believe in multiple gods; we only believe in one.
Christianity is monotheistic, this I know; for Wikipedia tells me so.
But what does the Bible say?
Well, you’ll hear verses that speak of the God of the Universe as the One True God.
Isaiah 45:5
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
Sounds simple, right? But then you read verses like
Psalm 82:1
God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.
Who are these gods it speaks of here?
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to Psalm 82, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Psalm 82
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about whether there are multiple gods spoken of in the Scriptures.
Actually, spoiler alert for the Bible: yes, there are. As you’re reading your Bible, it will on numerous occasions speak of multiple lowercase-g gods. So there are indeed multiple gods mentioned, and they’re spoken of as being real and not mere imaginary beings. But what exactly are they?
This exploration of lowercase-g gods will start with Psalm 82, where
It begins (v1)
God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.
Now let’s examine this in the original Hebrew. The word for God here is Elohim. You’ve probably heard that before.
What about this word that is translated as “the gods” at the end of that verse? Guess what: it’s the same word. Elohim. The same word translated as “God” at the start of the verses is also translated as “the gods” at the end of the verse.
Does that mean your Bible is mistranslated? No, it’s translated accurately. You’ll even notice that the word for God at the start of the sentence is capitalized- and we often do capitalize the first letter in God when we speak of Yahweh- but then the word “gods” at the end of the sentence is not capitalized. I would also say that’s an accurate rendering, even though it’s the same word being translated both times.
Capital letters did not exist in Hebrew, but in our English language, we often capitalize the G in God, and we give a lowercase “g” when we speak of multiple gods or false gods. In fact, I actually got a degree in journalism and mass communications when I was in college 10-15 years ago, and we were taught the principles of capitalization and punctuation and all that from the Associated Press style guide, and my AP Stylebook will say: “Capitalize the proper names of monotheistic deities.” Oh, there’s that word again: monotheistic. The AP Stylebook also says, “Lowercase gods in referring to the deities of polytheistic religions.”
So I have no problem with any of that. Words are meant to communicate ideas, and this system of capitalization and non-capitalization helps clarify what we mean by the word “God.”
But why is the Hebrew word “Elohim” translated in two different ways within the same verse? Well, this comes down to another grammatical principle regarding plurality. Typically, we make a word plural by adding an “s” or an “-es” to it. God becomes gods.
Sometimes the same word can mean a single or plural. Like the word “deer,” as in D-E-E-R. It can mean one or multiple. If I say that I hit a deer with my Jeep on the way home, it’s clear that I only hit one deer because I said “a deer.” The context of the surrounding words makes it obvious that there was just “one” because I used the indefinite article of the letter “a.” If I say I saw a group of deer running through a field while driving my Jeep home, that’s equally obvious that I mean multiple deer, since I said there was a group. This is how one word can be single or plural, even though it’s the same word being used in either sentence.
That’s one reason I like ice cream so much. I can say I ate ice cream tonight, and you don’t know if I had one cone or five cones or one scoop or three scoops. I can just say I had ice cream and leave it at that. The word is open to a lot of interpretation. It’s kind of vague. Sadly, my bathroom scale is a lot more specific, but I won’t go down that rabbit trail this time.
So what is meant by the word “elohim” here? Well, in the first use, it’s obvious it’s talking about THE God, Yahweh. It says, “God stands in the congregation of the mighty.” “Stands” is a singular verb, which means it’s talking about one being.
But then the next line says, “He- still talking about THE God- judges among the gods.” And “the gods” is obviously plural, since it says “among the elohim.” You can’t be “among” something unless there are multiple of that thing.
But that breaks our monotheistic paradigm just a little bit. What is it saying right here? That our God, Yahweh, presides over an assembly of gods. So who are these gods?

Introducing the Divine Council
They are the Divine Council. This is a group of divine beings who God uses to rule the world. They are lesser than God, but the Bible indeed refers to them as gods. This is an inescapable fact. We will look at the divine council in action next week.
Another name for these small-g gods are the Sons of God. We have studied some of the Sons of God before as we looked at the creation of the Nephilim in the early episodes of this podcast. If you’d like to know more about the Sons of God, you can go back to episodes 5 through 8 of the podcast. We will probably be going into that subject matter again when we tackle the book of Enoch on this podcast, which is coming later this year.
Let’s keep reading on Psalm 82 and learn a little more about this divine council. At the time of Psalm 82, God is not happy with how the lowercase-g gods have been helping Him rule the world. These gods are each in charge of certain sectors of the world, and their sectors have not been following THE God very well. The people of their nations are oppressing each other. People are spiritually ignorant.
Psalm 82:2-6
2 How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
6 I said, “You are gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
When it says “children of the Most High,” that is in Hebrew “beney Elohim,” the Sons of God. Now, in the New Testament, Christians are said to be Sons of God because they are saved. But that is not what is meant by “Sons of God” in the Old Testament. The Sons of God are clearly angelic beings who could not be human.
I’ll prove it right here, because some say, “Well the Sons of God or Elohim in Psalm 82 are just talking about human rulers. It’s poetic language or figuratively calling them gods, but they aren’t actual gods because there’s only one God.”
But that doesn’t work with the next verses:
Psalm 82:7-8
7 But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
For You shall inherit all nations.
If these were mere men, why would God tell them that they will “die like men”? And someone might say, “But God is just reminding them that they are mere men because they thought of themselves as above men.” But then look at the second half of verse 7- “And fall like one of the princes.” The princes were the leaders of the people. So God wouldn’t need to tell them that they would die like human leaders if they were already aware that they are human leaders.
Other commentators have admitted that these must be divine beings, but they said this must be a conversation among members of the Trinity. But that’s a downright heretical view, because the elohim are coming under judgment here. All three members of the Trinity are morally perfect. These are lesser gods who have behaved badly.
So what does God mean here when He tells the members of the divine council that they will die like men? I believe this is talking about the Second Death, as spoken of in Revelation 20. These divine beings are eternal, just like we humans are eternal. Our bodies may die, but we will exist forever in heaven or hell. And those who are cast into hell for eternity are said in Revelation 20 to experience the Second Death- eternal separation from God.
And that is what God is threatening these elohim with because of their poor management of the earth. God gave them command over various nations and sectors of the earth, and they decided to rebel against God and not do what He said.
Therefore God is going to reclaim the nations of the earth as His inheritance according to verse 8, and the nations will be His inheritance forever. This is referring to the Second Coming of Christ when He takes control of the entire earth.

multiple gods in Scripture
Now some of you may be thinking, “Luke, you sure are building a lot of theology on Psalm 82.” But actually, this idea is present throughout the Bible, and we’ll look at it more over the next couple of weeks. One episode from last fall you might want to check out is episode 48- Territorial Spirits and the Deuteronomy 32 Worldview.
But let me share a few more verses where we see the Divine Council popping up.
Psalm 89:5-7
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
The council of the holy ones. This is the divine council. Notice that divine council is in the skies or the heavens. This is not talking about human rulers. God has lowercase-g gods to help Him rule the planet. Next week we will dig into some more specifics about how God makes decisions with this council to direct the affairs of men.
Here are some verses that speak of multiple gods:
Psalm 95:3
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
Psalm 97:9
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above all gods.
Now some will say, “Well Luke, that’s just talking about the idols. Those are false imaginary gods, not real beings.”
Well if that were to be the case, then why would it be complimentary? “God, you are so much greater than a bunch of beings who don’t exist.” Well, duh. My pug is greater than a being who doesn’t exist. In fact, I’d say my pug is greater than a bunch of beings who DO exist, too.
Men, try telling your wives that you love them more than all of your imaginary friends or imaginary wives. I’m sure they won’t take it as much of a compliment. Why would we compliment our God that way?
The Bible is clear in many instances that the quote-unquote “false gods” of other nations are in fact real beings.
Deuteronomy 32:17
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.
So are they demons or are they imaginary? We understand from the Bible that demons are real.
Now, we have specified in the past when we are talking about demons and when we are talking about fallen angels. I believe there is a difference in these two things, which you can learn more about if you want to go back to episode 25- the Origin of Demons.
But I’ll mention that the word “demons” in Deuteronomy 32 is shedim (pronounced “shade-eem”), and it’s a very general or nonspecific word that can refer to various types of malevolent spiritual beings. Perhaps “fallen angels” or the rebellious sons of God would be the best understanding of shedim right here.
Or here’s one of my favorites: in a prophecy about the antichrist in Daniel 11, it refers to the blasphemous things that the future antichrist will say. And here is a line it uses in
Daniel 11:36
He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods.
Again, notice the capital letters. The antichrist will speak astonishing things against the capital-G God of the lowercase-g gods. Well, how can God be the God of lowercase-g gods if there are no lowercase-g gods?

Next time, Newsletter & Closing thoughts
So perhaps you are on the same page with me, by this point: the scripture speaks of multiple gods, even though the Bible makes clear these are lesser spiritual beings than Yahweh; but we can’t deny that these are genuinely referred to as gods throughout the Bible.
But you may be wondering: why does God have a Divine Council? Why can’t God just sit on a throne and tell everybody what to do; why does God use a council of shady beings to conduct His affairs? We will talk next week about a specific story in which God uses His council of some rather unsavory characters to conduct affairs on earth.
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
And if you’d like a little bit more of an apologetic on this subject of multiple gods, that’s what I’ll put in this week’s newsletter. I’ll try to answer your “what about” questions. Because some of you are probably saying, what about this verse, what about that verse. For example, in Isaiah 45:5, God says “I am the Lord, there is none beside me.” So what about that?
Well, I’ll tackle that and verses like it in this week’s newsletter. If you’d like to sign up for it, just visit the link in the show notes. It’ll take you to a page where you can enter your email. And also, you can scroll down and see all the previous newsletters below, if you’d like to read up on something you missed.
In closing, let’s return to this concept of monotheism and polytheism and relate it to the Trinity.
The way you make a word plural in Hebrew is by adding the letters “-im” to it. Cherubim. Seraphim. Elohim. These are all plural words.
It’s interesting when Elohim is used to refer to the Capital G God, Yahweh, because a plural word is being used to refer to a singular being. That’s really confusing and doesn’t make sense, logically or grammatically. Yet that’s what the Bible does.
Why? Because God is a Trinity. God is three-in-one. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All three are equal. All three are part of God, yet fully God.
Sometimes people use analogies to try to explain this, like how water can be liquid, solid or gas; but then other people get offended because they think you’re comparing God to physical objects, and I’m not going to go down that road today. Plus, God is always these three parts; God the Father doesn’t morph into the Son and then morph into the Holy Spirit. Each part of the Trinity is eternally existent in eternity past and eternity future.
And so there’s a confusion about the God we worship; do we worship one God or three Gods? And I think we just have to be OK with the confusion, and here’s why.
Monotheistic and polytheistic are manmade categories. They aren’t Biblical categories.
So maybe a word like “god” is a little more complicated than you thought before we started today’s lesson. Are there multiple gods? Yes. But is there just one God? Also yes.
Is God one being or three? Yes and yes.
Am I going to have some ice cream when this episode is over? Also yes.
I don’t have a human, man-made category that I can place God in. But that’s OK; God doesn’t have to fit into our categories. In fact, I’m not sure I’d want to worship a God that I could perfectly define and wrap my mind around.
If I could perfectly understand God, that would make Him a lower being than me. And if there’s one thing I know about the God I worship, it’s that He’s higher than everything- including every other god out there.
And if not really having a human concept for the God I worship sounds weird, then I hope you’ll be a little more weird with me.
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.