Terminology also shows that gods can organize into groups. They may form a QHL ‘gathering’ (Ps 89:6) or עדה ‘assembly’ (82:1). They may constitute a סוד ‘council’ (e.g., Jer 23:18), or they may muster into a צבא ‘army’ (e.g., Is 24:21). Gods can form a variety of collectives.
All of their designations, though, are referentially compatible. ON the one hand, like the grammatical structure of אלם and בני אלים , gods are plural. They have internal composition, and they may even number in the thousands (Dan 7:10; see also Ps 68:18). Further, if these gods follow the pattern of those in Gen 3:22, they are also a countable plurality an undifferentiated or homogenous group and, altogether, comprise a mass ‘totality’ (e.g., Zec 14:5; Ps 148:2). The many gods can coalesce into unions, assemblies, companies, congregations, or squadrons.
Biblical writers ascribe many attributes to nonforeign gods. Of paramount, and predictable, importance is their divine and God-like nature (e.g., Ps 96:4). They are at least as old as creation (Job 38:4-7), and they are presumed to live forever (Ps 92:6). Divinity renders them immortal. Moreover, they are holy (e.g., 89:6, 8), sovereign (e.g., 136:3), and masculine (see, esp., 1 Kgs 22:21a = 2 Chr 18:20a).
Israel’s gods have other God-like qualities, too. For example, they are awesome (Jdg 13:6), 'good' (1 Sam 29:9), and wise (e.g., Job 15:8). They are especially "considered to be paragons of knowledge and discernment," as the wise woman of Tekoa well knows.
Your servant thought, "Please, the word of my lord the king will act as comfort. For כמלאך האלהים like an angel of God, so is my lord the king--understanding good and evil . . . My lord is as wise as the wisdom of מלאך האלהים an angel of God--knowing everything on earth." (2 Sam 14:17a-ba.20b)
David's wisdom and knowledge are shared only with the gods (see Gen 3:22). (W. Randall Garr, In His Own Image and Likeness: Humanity, Divinity, and Monotheism [Culture & History of the Ancient Near East; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2003], 66-68)
