Yahweh's Divine Council

In Job 38.4-7, Job is getting some pretty tough treatment from God. In the midst of God putting Job in his place, we read something quite fascinating. I'll emphasize in italics the portion of interest to us today. These are the words of God to Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of earth? Tell me, if you have understanding! Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" God is asking Job where he was during the creation of the cosmos (the point being that Job, a mere creature, was nowhere to be seen, so he'd better shut his presumptuous mouth). Of interest to us is the fact that, while creation was being created, the 'morning stars' sang together and the 'sons of God' shouted for joy. Who are these morning stars and sons of God who witnessed the fashioning of the cosmos?!

In the ancient Near East, 'morning stars' referred to the bright stars that were visible at dawn. In Near Eastern thought paradigms, these were celestial beings. The 'sons of God' - Hebrew benet elohim - were also celestial beings, and in the Old Testament this term is often used to designate spiritual beings with higher-level responsibilities within certain jurisdictions. According to Job 38, these celestial beings were present at the creation of the cosmos, and they were exhilarated by it! These 'celestial beings' are commonly called 'angels' today, though in Old Testament linguistics, an 'angel' wasn't an identity but a job function. Angels were spiritual beings tasked with delivering messages. In the New Testament, spiritual beings who are loyal to God are called 'angels.' This is because the New Testament is in Greek whereas the Old Testament is in Hebrew, and Hebrew had far more words and nuances for spiritual beings than are found in Greek (in the same way that Eskimos have over two hundred different words for types of snow). In the New Testament, 'good' celestial beings are called 'angels' (regardless of whether or not they're delivering messages), and bad celestial beings are called 'demons' (or 'powers' and 'principalities' and 'rulers of the air' - but more on that in the coming weeks). The point of all this is that the 'morning stars' and 'sons of God' in Job 38 are high-ranking angels; they don't necessarily include the many other lower-ranking angels or other creatures God created for His throne room, such as the cherubim and seraphim - but, again, we'll address these in the coming weeks). The 'sons of God' are part of what's been called God's 'divine council' or 'heavenly council.' Some people prefer the term 'heavenly council' because the word 'divine' connotes being of the same substance as the Creator; but 'divine' in this sense simply means 'of God,' and celestial beings are 'of God' in that they were created by God and are, like Him, immaterial (that isn't to say they have no substance, only that their substance is not composed of atoms and molecules and the weighty stuff we know as 'matter'). 

God has a divine council of higher-level celestial beings whom He has created. This council advises him, gives opinions, and has delegated responsibility. God is ultimately in control and must approve their actions. These celestial beings are not automatons; some of them have rebelled, and others have been haughty and presumptuous. They have personalities and desires and wills. They are a part of the way God has ordered His cosmos. 

In 1 Kings 22 we are given, via the vision of the prophet Micaiah, a glimpse into the workings of God's divine council. In 1 Kings 22, King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel are allies and are meeting in Samaria. The wicked King Ahab wants Jehoshaphat to join him in an excursion against the Aramean fortress of Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat isn't sure it's such a good idea, as the fortress is well defended and would be a bear to take. Ahab parades his prophets before the Judean king, and they proclaim that God has promised to give Ramoth-Gilead into their hands. Jehoshaphat, however, doesn't trust the prophets. He's well aware of Israel's political situation: Ahab's wife Jezebel, a staunch worshiper of Baal and a high priestess in the Baal-Melcart cult of Phoenicia, has persecuted those who worship Israel's God Yahweh. She's hunted and murdered the prophets of Yahweh, so Jehoshaphat knows Ahab's prophets are really pansies kowtowing to the Jezebel. If they were genuine, they'd be locked up or killed. Jehoshaphat demands a word from a true prophet of Yahweh, and Ahab begrudgingly summons for the imprisoned Micaiah to be brought before them. This loyal prophet of Yahweh has some harsh words the proposed campaign against Ramoth-Gilead. He says, , verses 19-23, "Therefore hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and Yahweh said, 'Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before Yahweh, saying, 'I will entice him.' And Yahweh said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And [Yahweh] said, 'You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.' Now therefore behind, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; Yahweh has declared disaster for you." Despite these harsh words, Jehoshaphat agrees to go with Ahab against the Aramean fortress (perhaps these discussions were mere formalities, and the terms of the alliance already forced his hand); while Jehoshaphat and his army survived - albeit barely - the northern Israelite troops were scattered and Ahab was slain, just as Micaiah had predicted.

But let's go back to Micaiah's glimpse into God's heavenly throne room in which He was gathered with His loyal 'divine council.' The heavenly host was to his right and left, places of honor and authority. God had decided that wicked King Ahab was going to die, and he looked to his council to get it done. He posed the question, 'How will we get Ahab to go against the Aramean fortress?' Members of the divine council threw out some suggestions, but God particularly liked the idea of one of the elohim who proposed deceiving the false prophets into believing God would be on their side and thus goading Ahab into marching against Ramoth-gilead. So we see that God made the decision to kill Ahab by sending him against the fortress, and he turned to the council to hear their ideas for bringing about Ahab's end. We see that the elohim - the 'sons of God' of the divine council - are capable of deceiving the wicked in order to further God's aims. This is an uncomfortable thought, but there it is.

The question is begged: 'Why has God created such a council?' Because He is Creator and is sovereign, He doesn't need a council. He has fashioned the council and its responsibilities because He wanted to. The Godhead is relational - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - so it's no surprise that He has created a world filled with relational beings. He's created a world in which His will is to be carried out by others rather than by Him snapping His fingers. Humankind, too, is created to do God's will in the wider world. We must note, of course, that even though God is sometimes referred to as Elohim, He is in a class far above the other elohim. God - whose personal name is Yahweh - is the 'God of Gods' (Hebrew El Elyon); He is the Most High God (Genesis 14.19-20); elsewhere in the Old Testament He is El Shaddai (Almighty God, the One Who Provides); He is Yahweh Tsevoat (the God of the Celestial Armies). Here shortly we'll examine a number of Old Testament passages that showcase Yahweh's uniqueness above the benet elohim ('the sons of God'); but first let's examine why God actually has a personal name.

The idea that God has a personal name like you and me is quite shocking to a lot of people. This is because (a) we're used to confusing the title 'God' as if it were a proper name (in this vein, 'Allah' isn't a personal name for God but the Arabic word for the title of God, which denotes a whole slew of attributes possessed only by the sovereign Creator); and because (b) our English translations of the Bible obscure the mentioning of God's personal name. In our Bibles, the tetragrammaton - the four letter personal name of the Creator - is translated as LORD with all capital letters. The four Hebrew letters of the tetragrammaton are yod hey waw hey (יהוה); this looks like yhwh, and so many scholars represent the personal name of God as YHWH or as Yahweh or Jehovah (because Hebrew doesn't include vowels in written words, scholars need to figure out what vowels go where; depending on what vowels you choose and where you place it, the two possibilities for the pronunciation of God's name are 'Yahweh' and 'Jehovah'; those historically many scholars went with Jehovah, most modern scholars tend towards Yahweh). The question then becomes, "Why does the Bible not show this? Why does it capitalize God's name as LORD?" The reason goes back 2300 years to when the Jewish people began to believe that God's personal name was too sacred to be pronounced or even written. When the Greek version of the Old Testament was created (known as the LXX, or the Septuagint), the Jewish translators put 'Adonai' (or 'Lord') in place of the tetragrammaton, and it comes across to us in English as 'LORD'. As an aside, this Jewish tradition continues today; this is why Jews often write 'God' as 'G-d', and why they refer to Him as Adonai ('My Lord'), HaShem ('The Name'), and hakadosh baruch hu ('The Holy One, Blessed Be He'). 

The word 'God' is a title, not a name. God has a personal name, and it is Yahweh, based upon the tetragrammaton of the Hebrew letters yod hey waw hey. In Moses' psalm of praise to God in Deuteronomy 32, he says he will proclaim 'the name of the Lord' and 'ascribe greatness to God.' The name that Moses is proclaiming isn't 'Lord'; he is really saying, 'I will proclaim the name of YHWH and ascribe greatness to God!' There is a name we are to proclaim, and it is YHWH, the personal name of the Creator God. 

It's important to know this, because it really brings to light several passages in the Old Testament. For example, in Genesis 2 it is YHWH Elohim (translated "the LORD God" in English) who creates Adam, instructs Adam, and walks in the Garden with Adam. This phrase differentiates Yahweh from the other elohim. In Genesis 1.26, God says to His divine council, "Let's make man in our image." He's speaking to His divine council, not to the other members of the trinity - but when it comes time to do the creating, Yahweh Elohim is the only one doing the work. This is His project. Mankind is not the result of any creative acts of the 'gods' of Yahweh's divine council. Skip forward to Exodus 3.13-16, we see the point in time when God reveals His personal name to Moses. God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh in Egypt and demand that he release the Israelite slaves to worship God. Moses says, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" It's a good question, because there were a lot of gods running around the ancient Near East. Which one of these gods was the God of Israel? It is then that God gives Moses His name: "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" In Hebrew, I AM WHO I AM is ehyeh asher ehyeh, and it can be translated as 'I am Who I Am' or 'I Am Who I Will Be.' (Side note: in the Gospel of John, seven times Jesus makes 'I Am' statements; seven is a symbolic number for completion in Jewish thought, and John structures his gospel in such a way that Jesus is identified with the 'I AM' of Exodus 3.14). So here we have God giving His personal name as 'ehyeh asher ehyeh', but then something odd happens: God then instructs Moses to say to the Israelites, 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you." Why the change from the name God revealed just prior? Yahweh - our translation of the tetragrammaton that appears in this text - can be translated to mean 'He Who Is.' So God identifies Himself as 'I AM WHO I AM,' and we call Him 'HE WHO IS'. 

The celestial beings of God's divine council are called 'sons of God' (benet elohim) in some texts and 'gods' (elohim) in others. Are there, then, really other gods? The answer is both Yes and No. Yes, there are other gods in the sense of celestial entities with real powers. Some of these gods are good in that they are loyal to the Most High God (Yahweh) and others are bad in that they are disloyal to the Most High God. Yahweh is called 'the Most High God' because there are other gods beneath him; He is called the 'God of gods' because He is the God of other gods; if there are no other gods, then these titles are silly nonsense. At the same time, there are no other Gods but Yahweh, in the sense that the gods who do exist aren't like the God we worship. These other gods - what some call 'lower-case gods' - are created beings; their power is limited and given them by their creator; and they are held responsible to a higher power for their actions. Though Yahweh is classed as an elohim (as a god), the Scripture is emphatic that He is high, high, HIGH above them. He is in a different class altogether. He is the creator of other gods, the creator of the cosmos, and He is sovereign and in authority over all. We see this again and again throughout the Old Testament, and here are just a few examples:

  [Psalm 89.5-7]

    The heavens praise your wonders, Yahweh,

      your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.

    For who in the skies above can compare with Yahweh?

      Who is like Yahweh among the heavenly beings?

    In the council of the holy ones Yahweh is greatly feared; 

      he is more awesome than all who surround him.

  [Psalm 97.9]

    For you, Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth;

      you are exalted far above all gods.

  [Psalm 148.1-5]

    Praise Yahweh!

    Praise Yahweh from the heavens;

      praise him in the heights above.

    Praise him, all his angels;

      praise him, all his hosts.

    Praise him, sun and moon;

      praise him, all you shining stars.

    Praise him, you highest heavens

      and you waters above the skies.

    Let them praise the name of Yahweh,

      for at his command they were created. 

  [Nehemiah 9.6]

    You alone are Yahweh. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,

      and all their starry host, the earth all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.

    You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

We see, then, that there are many gods in the universe - but there is only one Yahweh, the Creator God, and He is the one who fashioned all other gods. These other gods were created to serve and worship Yahweh, as is His due. What about Jesus, the 'only begotten Son of God'? Is he, then, a created being, as well? Interestingly, the Greek phrase translated 'only begotten' actually means 'unique' or 'one of a kind.' So when Jesus is referred to as 'the only begotten Son of God,' the phrase actually means 'the unique, one-of-a-kind Son of God.' He is in a class way above the other benet elohim ("sons of God"). Jesus wasn't created; He is eternal with God, and He is God. What, then, do we make of the phrase 'Son of God' since the benet elohim in the Old Testament are created celestial beings? If Jesus was never created, why does he get called a 'Son of God'? We must understand that 'Son of God' is used throughout the Bible in reference to many things: Adam, God's divine council, Israel, peacemakers, etc. are all called 'sons of God.' The idea is that these things have familiarity with God in a familial relationship. To call Jesus "Son of God" is to link him to that familiarity while also echoing an idea of Jews of Jesus' day that the "Son of God" would come and deliver them from the oppressive Romans and rebuild the Temple into Solomonic splendor. By Jesus' time, the phrase "Son of God" was a political term that implied Messiahship. All this to say that Jesus' identity as "the Son of God" doesn't mean that Jesus was actually a created being (even if he was God's favorite created being); no, it is a title of Messiahship. In the early church, when Christians pieced together that Jesus was God, the phrase "Son of God" gathered to itself all kinds of divine undertones that simply weren't present during Jesus' ministry. This is why many Christians assume that the term "Son of God" refers to Jesus' divinity whereas "Son of Man," which Jesus is also called (and which he calls himself), implies his humanity. "Son of Man," however, isn't implying his humanity (no one doubted that he was human, after all, at least not until the gnostics later got a hold of Christian faith and twisted it this way and that). "The Son of Man" is a title drawn from Daniel 7, in which one "like a son of man" is given authority over all the earth; he is given an empire that will rule over all other empires. Again, "Son of Man" isn't about some ontological reality about Jesus' 'humanity' but about his position and authority to take a seat at God's right hand and rule the world with an iron scepter. 

This week we've examined a lot: we've learned about God's personal name (Yahweh, "He Who Is", based upon the tetragrammaton); we've learned about the lower-case gods whom Yahweh created and who are a part of His divine council; we've looked at what the divine council is tasked to do - to advise Yahweh, to carry out Yahweh's orders, to serve and worship and obey Yahweh; and we've looked at who Jesus is, not as a created god but as Yahweh Himself (hence the 'I AM' statements in John and the early Christian affirmation that Jesus was, indeed, Yahweh in the flesh). To bring these threads together, before the creation of the world, Yahweh created a vast host of celestial beings or spiritual entities called gods (elohim) or 'sons of God' (benet elohim). Even before time and space were created, Yahweh existed with a host of celestial beings whom He had created. When He undertook the creation of the cosmos, they witnessed it and celebrated it and were thrilled by it. They may even have been advisors in it! When we get to the creation of mankind - Yahweh's 'enfleshed' image-bearers - God seems to 'spring' this on His council. It's possible that they weren't aware of what God was getting at as He spun the cosmos together; it's possible they had no idea that God intended to creature a special creature who was made of 'material stuff', an 'imager' in the physical cosmos who would have one foot in the spiritual realm and one in the physical. We know there was a decent amount of hostility towards the creation of mankind, for in Genesis 3 we are told about the first of three 'divine rebellions' in Genesis.

Christians face three spiritual enemies:

(1)     Satan, the Diviner in the Garden of Eden, who wars against Yahweh and His people,

(2)     The demons – Hebrew shedim and Rephaim – who are the disembodied spirits of the dead Nephilim; and

(3)     The ‘Fallen Angels’ or ‘Powers and Principalities’, who are the elohim who rebelled against Yahweh sometime after the Tower of Babel but before the calling of Abraham. Sometimes these are called ‘demons,’ because they are evil beings lower in rank than Satan.

These three enemies are unmasked in Genesis via three 'divine rebellions.' Genesis 3 details the emergence of the Diviner in the Garden of Eden; Genesis 6 details the emergence of the demons; and Genesis 11 (along with Deuteronomy 32) details the emergence of the rebellious 'fallen angels' or 'powers and principalities.' We will examine each of these at length in the coming weeks.