Hans-Joachim Kraus on the Divine Council

In the heavenly world Yahweh, enthroned as God and king, us surrounded by powers who honor, praise, and serve him. Israel borrowed from the Canaanite-Syrian world the well-attested concept of a pantheon of gods and godlike beings who surrounded the supreme God, the ruler and monarch. In Ps. 29:1-2 the‎  בְּנֵי אֵלִים (“sons of God”) give honor to Yahweh. They are subordinate heavenly beings stripped of their power, who are totally dependent on Yahweh and no longer possess any independent divine nature. In Job and the Psalter, powers of this sort are called בְּנֵי אֵלִים, אֵלִים, ‎  אֱלֹהִים, or ‎  קדשׁים (“sons of God,” “gods,” “holy ones”; Job 1:6ff.; Ps. 58:1; 8:5; 86:8). But Yahweh alone is the highest God (‎  עליון ‘Elyon) and king. He has no rivals from the realm of polytheism. All heavenly or divine beings are servant spirits who glorify and praise him and carry out his will. In Ps. 82:1 we have a clear example of the idea of a “council of gods,” borrowed from the religion and myths of neighboring cultures: “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment.” The “highest god” is the judge. The gods (אֱלֹהִים) are his attendants. They are witnesses in the forum which Yahweh rules alone, and in which he alone possesses judicial authority. We might term the 
עדת אל  “Yahweh’s heavenly court.” All the gods and powers of the peoples are in his service. (Hans-Joachim Kraus, The Theology of the Psalms [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996], 48)