Influenced
by the strong biblical precedence for interpreting humanity as intrinsically
theomorphic, the Jewish community at Qumran held the theological stance that
the members of their religious society functioned as participants of the divine
council. “The members of the [Qumran] community were ipso facto companions to the hosts of heaven,” writes John J. Collins,
“and so living an angelic life, even on earth.” In what appears to many
scholars as a statement expressed by an exalted human being, a fragment from
the War Scroll (4Q491 11) declares: “I
am counted among the gods and my dwelling is in the holy congregation.” With
statements such as these circulating throughout first-century Judaism, no
wonder Jesus could invoke the words “Ye are gods” in defense of his own
divinity. In reality, expressions concerning the biblical and early Jewish
belief regarding the connection between humanity and the council (many of which
are explored in greater detail in Peterson’s essay) provide an important
backdrop for understanding Jesus’s use of Psalm 82. Given the persistence of
the biblical view regarding theomorphic humans witnessed in a variety of texts
from the Dead Sea Scrolls, readers should take seriously the proposal that
Jesus defended his own divinity by drawing attention to the divinity of others:
“Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10:34).
For a
Jewish audience familiar with the expressions articulated in the writings from
Qumran, Psalm 82 was a text that could be specifically linked with ideas
concerning the exaltation of humanity. In the text 11Q Melchizedek, Melchizedek
appears as the deity who passes judgment against the gods in Psalm 82:
And
the day [of atonem]ent is the end of the tenth jubilee in which atonement will
be made for all the sons of [God] and for the men of the lot of Melchizedek.
[And on the heights] he will decla[re in their] favour according to their lots;
for it is the time of the «year of grace» for Melchizedek, to exa[lt in the
tri]al the holy ones of God through the rule of judgment, as is written about
him in the songs of David, who said: Ps 82:1
«Elohim will stand up
in the assem[bly of God,] in the midst of the gods he judges».
Since
the text refers to “the sons of God” and the “men of the lot of Melchizedek,”
interpreters should take seriously the possibility that this Dead Sea Scroll
passage refers to an exalted human Melchizedek—after the order of 4Q491
11—responsible for the judgment invoked in Psalm 82. At minimum, 11Q
Melchizedek provides strong evidence for an early Jewish trend toward linking
Psalm 82 with human beings. Even John Collins (who contrary to this proposal
suggests that there is no indication that the Melchizedek of the Melchizedek Scroll was ever a mortal man)
states:
In the
view of the midrash, the Most High God is El. Elohim is a lesser deity, an angel, if you prefer. But the
striking thing about this passage is that the term Elohim, which is usually understood to refer to the Most
High in the biblical psalm, now refers to a lesser heavenly being. There are at
least two divine powers in heaven, even if one of them is clearly subordinate to
the other.
A
survey of a Jewish midrashic use of Psalm 82 demonstrates that the connection
between humanity and Psalm 82 more than likely attested in 11Q Melchizedek, is,
in fact, well established in early Jewish texts. This midrashic approach to
Psalm 82, which links Israel with the gods of the council, carries important
implications for understanding John 10. (David E. Bokovoy, "'Ye Really Are
Gods': A Response to Michael Heiser Concerning the LDS Use of Psalm 82 and the
Gospel of John," FARMS Review 19, no. 1 [2007]:305-7)
