Both the historical
context of Genesis 1:1-2:4a and numerous other passages in the scriptures of
Israel provide the explanation: God is speaking to his heavenly court.
Influenced by various ancient Near Eastern pantheons consisting of a high god
surrounded by subsidiary gods, several biblical texts depict a divine council
with whom God consults. This council appears in Genesis 3:22, the Adam and Eve
story, where “the LORD God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us’”; in
reference to the Tower of Babel, God again speaks in the plural in invoking the
heavenly hose: “Come, let us go down, and [let us] confuse their language there”
(Gen 11:7).
Job 1-2 (see
especially 1:6) depicts a divine assembly, with God surrounded by the heavenly
council called, literally, “children of God” (benei ‘elohim). Included
in this constituency is hasatan, “the adversary,” who has not yet become
Satan, the evil being who opposes God. A less well-known but equally illustrative
passage of this divine council appears in 1 Kings 22:19: “Then Micaiah [the
prophet] said, ‘Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on
his throne, with all the host of heaven [that is, heavenly beings] standing
beside him to the right and to the left of him.’”
The Psalms also mention
this heavenly court. Psalm 82 opens with, “God has taken his place in the
divine council;/in the midst of the gods [‘elohim] he holds judgment.”
Psalm 29:1 commands, “Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings [benei ‘elim,
literally “children of God”; cf. Ps. 89:7],/ascribe to the LORD glory and
strength.” The Septuagint, composed in a Hellenistic context of multiple
deities translates the Hebrew benei ‘elim as huioi theou, “sons
of God,” and correctly understands these passages as describing a divine
entourage.
Modern English
readers will typically miss this suggestion of a plurality of deities, since translations
are often softened, or “monotheized,” to conform to later theological proclamations
of only one God. For example, the beginning of Exodus 15:11, properly rendered
in the NRSV as “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?” enters the NPJS as, “Who
is like You, O LORD, among the celestials.” This verse appears several times in
the Siddur, the Jewish prayer book, where one version renders it, “Who
is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the mighty” (emphasis added” (Joseph H.
Hertz, The Authorised Daily Prayer Book, rev. ed. [New York: Blocks,
1952], 103). Such (mis)translations obscure the role of the divine council.
(Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, The Bible With and Without Jesus:
How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently [New York: HarperOne,
2020], 88-90)