Psalm 82: A Plea For Justice

Psalm 82, known as A Plea for Justice, or A Psalm of Asaph within its first few lines gives credence to this idea of acknowledgment of other gods, “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment…” Within these lines it can be seen that the ancient Israelites see their god as one of many, they see their god as sitting within a council. (NRSTV Psalm 82:1) However, while within the first line it does acknowledge that the ancient Israelites acknowledged the existence of other gods, later on, their specific god is seen as being angered by the other gods seeing them as unjust. (Patrick d miller psalms) “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan;

From pot fragments from a local shrine at Kuntillet Ajrud comes mention of her in relation to Yahweh. Yahweh being another named for the Israelites main god. These fragments infer that there is Yahweh and his Asherah. “I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his Asherah.” This same theme continues in these fragments “I bless you by Yahweh of Teman and by his Asherah. May he bless you, protect you, and be with my lord forever.” (Hendel 55- 56) These fragments all have in common of mentioning two main things Yahweh in whatever city and the by his Asherah. Asherah is a goddess who is known from close by cultures as a creating goddess and for being called holy one. (Hendel 55) While some doubt does exist that the word “Asherah” refers to the goddess and not a wooden pole or tree seen as a part of the cultic furniture of shrines. The use of Asherah could have easily been used to mean both with the goddess being inferred to by the symbol of a tree or pole. (Hendel 57) In looking at it as Asherah and not asherah or as her being represented in symbolic form as an asherah object it can be understood that the ancient Israelites were not only aware of other deities but offered up some form of praise to select ones like

“…we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem…” (Jerimiah 44:17) With these lines, it can be seen that offering praise and sacrifice to a queen of heaven was something that had been done by many if not every ancient Israelite they gave to her, this queen of heaven. Going back to the last paragraph on Asherah we mayhaps can even see some cohesion within this the queen of heaven being the Asherah previously mentioned adding strength to the argument of multiple gods due to the consistency of another god being mentioned and identified in multiple sources. Their belief in multiple gods goes even further with them believing that by no longer worshipping another deity they have brought misfortune onto themselves. “We used to have plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no misfortune. But from the time we have stopped making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by the sword and by famine.” (Jeremiah 44:17-18) This shows how deeply ingrained the belief of multiple deities was to these people, they have doomed themselves by turning their back on someone they gave not only worshiped but sacrificed