Ps 82 opens abruptly, without an introduction, with an immediate focus on God (Yahweh) having taken his stand in the midst of a council, or assembly, of divine beings while he pronounces judgment (v 1). He is clearly in charge, presiding over the meeting. “God” is not further identified, but he is surely Yahweh, the “Great God” who is designated as the “Great King over all the gods” (מלך גדול על־כל־אלהים) in Ps 95:3; cf. 96:4 (Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 155). The “gods” (אלהים) are the divine beings who function as his counselors and agents. cf. v 6; Pss 8:6; 29:1 (“sons of gods,” בני אלים); 89:6–7; Exod 15:11; Job 1:6; 2:1; Gen 6:2. The scene is pictured as that of a divine assembly in which the great king pronounces sentence on some of the gods who have failed in their duties. Tsevat (HUCA 40 [1969] 127) notes that the psalm’s opening suggests that what “might normally be a routine assembly, where the gods report or participate in deliberations, has unexpectedly turned into a tribunal; God has stood up to judge the assembled.” See also, Mowinckel, PIW, I, 151. In this regard the meeting is similar to that in Job 1:6–12, which seems routine until Yahweh and Satan come into conflict over Job . . . Vv 3–4 are composed of a set of commands to the gods, following the question in v 2. They must recall the commission of the gods, since it would make little sense to command them to do what they will no longer have the opportunity to do because of their sentence in v 7. Their commission has been to provide judgment for those who lack the wealth and power to defend themselves in human society. The repetition of words for poor and needy people in vv 3–4 is an effective poetic device (Tsevat, 128): דל—יתום—עני—רשׁ—דל: “weak”—“orphan”—“humble” (or, “oppressed”)—“needy”—“weak.” The imperative verb “judge” in 3a doubtless means “judge justly,” but it seems to me that it may indicate the need for elders, judges, kings, and other leaders to actively intervene in the interest of powerless people who cannot defend their rights. V 2 expresses the positive action of the gods in giving advantage to the wicked, and v 3 sets forth their failure to act on behalf of the needy.
Yahweh expects judges and leaders to protect the marginalized people in society: the poor, the oppressed, and those without family support. Thus Job in his days of power and wealth testified that he went into the gate (where legal cases were tried) and “delivered the poor [עני] who cried, / and the orphan who had no helper. / The blessing of the poor [אבד] came upon me, / and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy” (Job 29:12–13, nrsv). Further he declared: “I was eyes to the blind, / and feet to the lame. / I was a father to the needy, / and championed [ריב] the cause of the stranger. / I broke the fangs of the unrighteous [עול] / and made them drop their prey from their teeth” (Job 29:15–17, nrsv). Also, note the reference in Amos 5:10–12 regarding the hatred of wealthy oppressors for “the one who reproves [מוכיח] in the gate” and the “one who speaks the truth” about those who “trample on the poor [דל]” in order to build their fine houses and maintain their affluent lifestyle. The contrast with the performance of the gods is evident; they have failed to do their duty.
The identity of the speaker in v 5 is ambiguous. God may continue his charge against the gods, or else further describe the condition of the oppressed people in vv 3–4, as in Johnson (Sacral Kingship, 90), who translates: “Rescue the weak and the poor/who have neither knowledge nor understanding,/But live persistently in darkness, / So that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.” Also, Kidner (II, 298), who takes the verse as describing “the plight of the misgoverned and misled.”
However, it seems more likely that v 5 describes the condition of the gods; it is part of their indictment. The speaker could be God addressing other members of the assembly who are not under judgment, turning aside for a moment from direct address to the condemned gods and perhaps presupposing a pause after v 4 when the gods could have responded but did not (Gunkel, 362; Ackerman, 380–83). Tsevat (HUCA 40 [1969] 129) suggests that the speaker is God and that the verse is “not an address or a proclamation but the deliberation of the judge in camera in preparation for the verdict.” It is, of course, possible that it is the voice of the psalmist who interrupts the flow of the account with a reflection or commentary on the nature of the gods—or possibly on the condition of the lowly and poor in vv 3–4. It seems more probable to me, however, in view of the form critical nature of the psalm (see Form/Structure/Setting) that the speaker in v 5 is an anonymous voice of one of the members of the heavenly assembly, the narrator in vv 1 and 8. (Tate, M. E. (1998). Psalms 51–100 (Vol. 20, pp. 334–335, 336-337). Dallas: Word, Incorporated)
