Saturday, May 27, 2023

Benjamin D. Sommer on the Ontological Similarity between Humans and the Gods in the Divine Council

  

[The] ontological similarity of humanity and the gods becomes apparent in Psalm 29:1-2 and Psalm 103:20-22, in which humans call out to the gods to praise Yhwh, just as humans call on each other to praise Yhwh in most psalms of praise. Here the human beings are on the same level as the gods or angels; indeed, the humans are a little higher than the angels, whom they lead in worship. (Benjamin D. Dommer, “Monotheism,” in The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Companion, ed. John Barton [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016], 256)