Psalms

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Psalm 82

1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the assembly of El; in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.⁠ 2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked?⁠ (Selah)⁠ 3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.⁠ 4 Rescue the poor and needy. Deliver them from the power of the wicked.⁠ 5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble. 6 I thought, ‘You are gods; all of you are sons of the Most High.’⁠ 7 Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.” 8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth! For you own all the nations.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 82:6 and Sifre Deuteronomy 306

Hebrew Bible · Rabbinic

Summary

Psalm 82 calls the divine council gods and children of the Most High, then warns they will die like mortals. Rabbinic tradition in Sifre Deuteronomy applies it to anyone who studies Torah or neglects it and remains earthly.

Passages

Psalm 82:6

Hebrew Bible

5 They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble. 6 I thought, ‘You are gods; all of you are sons of the Most High.’ 7 Yet you will die like mortals; you will fall like all the other rulers.”

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Sifre Deuteronomy 306

Rabbinic · Halakhic Midrash

Variantly: "My taking shall drip as the rain": R. Simai was wont to say: These four winds correspond to the four corners of heaven: The east (wind) is always propitious; the west, always detrimental; the north, propitious for wheat when it is one-third grown, and detrimental to olive trees when they blossom; the south, detrimental to wheat when it is one-third grown, and propitious for olives when they blossom. And R. Simai was wont to say: All the creatures created from the earth — their spirit and their body are from the earth (except for men, whose spirit [soul] is from heaven and his body from the earth.) Therefore, If a man learns Torah and does the will of his Father in heaven, he is like the celestial creatures, viz. (Psalms 82:6) "I said that you are gods, and all, children of the Most High." If he does not learn Torah and do the will of his Father in heaven, he is like the lower creatures, viz. (Ibid. 7) "But you shall die like Adam." And it is written (Ibid. 50:4) "And He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth for din with him."

200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sifre Deuteronomy

References

"... Norman Russell, in his study on The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, espies an earlier trace of theosis in rabbinic thought when he briefly takes up the interpretation of Psalm 82:6-7 in the Tannaitic Sifrei, piska 306: Rabbi Simai said: All created beings that were created from the heavens, their souls and bodies are from the heavens; and all creatures that were created from the earth, their souls and bodies are from the earth, with the exception of the human being, for his soul is from the heavens and his body is from the earth. Therefore, if the human being practices Torah and does the will of his Father in Heaven, he is like the creatures above, as it is said, "I have said you are Elohim, and children of the Most High, all of you," (Psalm 82:6) but if he does not practice Torah and does not do the will of his Father in Heaven, he is like the creatures of the earth, as it is said, "Howbeit you shall die like men." (Psalm 82:7) ..."

Jonah Chanan Steinberg, “Theosis through Works of the Law: Deification of the Earthly Righteous in Classical Rabbinic Thought,” in Crossing Boundaries in Early Judaism and Christianity: Ambiguities, Complexities, and Half-Forgotten Adversaries: Essays in Honor of Alan F. Segal, ed. Kimberly B. Stratton and Andrea Lieber, JSJSup 177 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 59–60.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 82:6 and Sifre Deuteronomy 306

Summary

Passages

Psalm 82:6

Sifre Deuteronomy 306

References

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