Psalm 82- Psalm of Asaph.
1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
“The Lord suddenly comes into His court and the judges now find themselves being judged (v. 1). Those being rebuked in this psalm were Israel’s rulers who were responsible to promote justice, to punish evil doers, and to defend the weak and the oppressed (vv. 3,4). Israel’s leaders had failed in their responsibilities (v. 2). Injustice was promoted and the wicked were honored and treated with partiality.” (Lou Nicholes) “‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ — ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’ —Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods [Hebrew elohim, mighty ones; that is, the judges]’ [Ps 82:6]? If He called them ‘gods,’ to whom the Word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— what about the One whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:31-38)
So read this Psalm as a prophecy of that day. God stood in the congregation of the mighty; He judged among the gods [Heb. elohim, mighty ones]. "'He judges among the gods’— i.e. among the magistrates, as our Saviour interpreteth it, John 10:34-35.” (John Trapp) “But they were unrighteous in their judgments and so He comes Himself to execute judgment and to do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Arno Gaebelein) He came first to save and the second time to judge.
When Jesus comes again in glory, He will judge all the people of the world, even the dead, by the Words which He spoke, even the Holy Scriptures. (John 12:48) Observe “the high honor that Jesus Christ puts on the Holy Scriptures. We find Him using a text out of the Psalms as an argument against His enemies, in which the whole point lies in the single word ‘gods.’ And then having quoted the text, He lays down the great principle, ‘the Scripture cannot be broken.’... There are difficulties in Scripture, we need not shrink from conceding, things hard to explain, hard to reconcile, and hard to understand. But in almost all these difficulties, the fault, we may justly suspect, is not so much in Scripture as in our own weak minds. In all cases we may well be content to wait for more light, and to believe that all shall be made clear at last.” (J. C. Ryle)
Paul also taught the import of Light: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law (civil magistrates) before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!" (1 Cor 6:1-6)
“‘How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?’ (v. 2)— literally, bear, the faces of the wicked. The meaning is, that they showed favor or partiality to wicked people; they did not decide cases according to truth, but were influenced by a regard for particular persons on account of their rank, their position, their wealth, or their relation to themselves. This is a common phrase in the Scriptures to denote favoritism or partiality. Job 34:19; Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11; 1 Pet 1:17; Lev 19:15; Deut 1:17.” (Albert Barnes) “Barabbas oft is released, and Christ crucified.... 'This Man hath the right on his side, but the other shall carry the cause, for all that.'” (John Trapp) 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,[Hebrew elohim, mighty ones] And all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
Here is the call to magistrates, even all believers. “‘Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.” (v. 3-4) “‘But they’— these wicked judges or members of the congregation— ‘do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness;’ etc. Because they are blind to all justice, truth and mercy, there is no stability in society (5). They may have high rank, but it will not save them on the day when they themselves are judged. They will be destroyed along with other wicked people (6-8).” (Bridgeway Bible Commentary)— as it is written, “‘Ye shall die like men.’ Heb. כאדם ke-adam, like Adam, for ye are begotten in his fallen image; and the wages of sin is death.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)— “and fall like one of the princes,’ whose person they had regarded.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations.
'Seeing the state of the world is so universally corrupt and desperate, and thy vicegerents betray their trust, and oppress and ruin the nations of the earth, whom they were appointed to preserve, do thou therefore, O God, take the sword of justice into thine own hand, and maintain the cause and rights of the oppressed against their potent oppressors, and let truth and justice be established in all the parts of the earth. For, dear Jesus, as thou wast the Creator, so thou still art the supreme and unquestionable Lord, and Possessor, and Ruler of all nations, and therefore do thou protect and rescue them from all those who invade thine and their rights.” (Matthew Poole)— “’Arise, O God, judge the earth;’ Come again to judge. "Take the matter into thine own hand, for it is but time.— ‘for You shall inherit all nations.’ Thou, Lord Jesus, shalt, Psalms 2:8, Hebrews 1:1-14 : 2 Kings 11:15. Come, therefore, yea, come quickly.” (John Trapp)