Tony Costa, in his Early Christian Creeds and Hymns rejects the claim that the elohim of Ps 82 are “human judges.” Note the following discussion of the heavenly council:
The Heavenly Council
and Heavenly Beings: Angels
The first time “sons
of God” appear in Scripture is in Genesis 6:2, 4, where “the sons of God” (the
heavenly beings) come down and defile themselves with the “daughters of men.”
Regardless of the various interpretations of this passage, both agree that the
phrase “sons of God” first appear here. We see the “sons of God” also mentioned
again in Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6, where they appear before Go at the heavenly
council, with Satan (adversary) is also mentioned as presiding among
them. In Job 38:7 the sons of God also sing together and shout for joy when God
lays down the foundations of the earth at creation and suggests that these
heavenly beings pre-existed humankind.
We see the council
again in Psalm 82:1-8 where the heavenly beings are called “sons of the Most
High,” and even “gods” (Ps. 82:6 (On the heavenly council see Michael S. Heiser,
“The Divine Council in Late Canonical and Non-Canonical Second Temple
Literature,” [PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, 2004]. It is
interesting that in Qumran, in a fragmentary text known as 11Q[13], Melchizedek
is referred to as a heavenly being and even identified as the Elohim [God]
of Psalm 82:1. See Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ, 501). Though the majority
of interpreters have taken this passage to refer to human judges, it is
interesting to note that the language is similar to that of the book of Job.
Sometimes such heavenly beings are also called the “sons of the mighty,” as in
Psalm 29:1 (NASB) and Psalm 89:6 (NASB). The heavenly beings, including angels,
are called the “sons of God” because they are his direct creation and part of
his heavenly council (see Deut. 32:8) (There is a textual variant in Deuteronomy
32:8. The Masoretic Hebrew Text has “according to the number of the children of
Israel” [see also AV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, HCSB], while others like the LXX and the
reading of Deuteronomy 32:8 in the Dead Sea Scrolls, have “according to the
sons of God” [ESV, RSV, NET reads “according to the heavenly assembly” and NRSV
“according to the number of the gods”]. I take “according to the sons of God”
to be the original reading as it is the more difficult one. It also appears in
the earliest manuscripts and makes better textual sense, as Deuteronomy 32:8 is
written about the scattering of the people into nations in Genesis 11). (Tony
Costa, Early Christian Creeds and Hymns—What the Earliest Christians
Believed in Word and Song: An Exegetical-Theological Setting [Peterborough,
Ontario: H&E Academic, 2021], 72-73; on Deut 32:8 and its potential relationship to Gen 11:7, see
