In Ps 81[82]:1, the figure identified as “God” ( אלהים
MT, θεὸς LXX) judges (διακρίνει) the celestial gods (θεοὺς) of the divine
council because they have judged “unjustly” (ἀδικίαν), failing in their
intended role in which the celestial rulers (Deut 4:19; 32:8–9) were to
exercise their rule “in law and justice” (δίκην καὶ νόμον, e.g. Philo, Spec.
1.13–19). Because of this, the immortal gods will “die like men” (ἄνθρωποι)
and will fall like one the “rulers” (ἀρχόντων, Ps 81[82]:7; cf. the celestial
bodies of Deut 4:19 in Philo, Spec. 1.13–19). The psalmist closes the
psalm with a plea, “arise, oh God” (ἀνάστα, ὁ θεός), which, for the author, is
intended to result in the “judgment of the earth” (κρῖνον τὴν γῆν) and to
inherit the nations that were once apparently oppressively ruled by the
gods/rulers (κατακληρονομήσεις ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, cf. Deut 32:8–9). Hence,
for Ps 81[82], the ultimate eschatological event within the context of the
Deuteronomic vision of the cosmos consists of three things: (1) the “arising of
God” (ἀνάστα, ὁ θεός); (2) the destruction of the gods or rulers (θεοὺς, ἀρχόντων);
and (3) divine judgment and inheritance: “God” is called upon to “judge the
earth” and “inherit the nations.” (David A. Burnett, "A
Neglected Deuteronomic Scriptural Matrix for the Nature of the Resurrection
Body in 1 Corinthians 15:39-42," in Scripture, Texts, and Tracing
in 1 Corinthians, ed. Linda L. Belleville and B. J. Oropeza [The Scripture
and Paul Series; Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2019], 194)
