Divine Council#Hebrew/Israelite

The concept of a divine assembly (or council) is attested in the archaic Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Babylonian, Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Israelite, Celtic, Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman and Nordic pantheons. Ancient Egyptian literature reveals the existence of a "synod of the gods". Some of our most complete descriptions of the activities of the divine assembly are found in the literature from Mesopotamia. Their assembly of the gods, headed by the high god Anu, would meet to address various concerns.Sakenfeld, Katharine ed., "The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible" Volume 2, pg 145, Abingdon Press, Nashville. The term used in Sumerian to describe this concept was Ukkin, and in later Akkadian and Aramaic was puhru.Freedman, David N. ed., "The Anchor Bible Dictionary" Volume 2 pg 120, Doubleday, New York

One of the first records of a divine council appears in the Lament for Ur, where the pantheon of Annunaki is led by An with Ninhursag and Enlil also appearing as prominent members.{{cite book|author=E. Theodore Mullen|title=The divine council in Canaanite and early Hebrew literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ko0SAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=1 June 1980|publisher=Scholars Press|isbn=978-0-89130-380-0}}

The divine council is led by Anu, Enlil, and Ninlil.{{cite book|author1=Leda Jean Ciraolo|author2=Jonathan Lee Seidel|title=Magic and Divination in the Ancient World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJ-kv9ueQREC&pg=PA47|accessdate=25 September 2012|year=2002|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12406-6|pages=47–}}

In the Old Babylonian pantheon, Samas (or Shamash) and Adad chair the meetings of the divine council.

The leader of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon is considered to either be Thoth or Ra, who were known to hold meetings at Heliopolis (On).{{cite book|author=Virginia Schomp|title=The Ancient Egyptians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj_V0k_URowC&pg=PA71|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=15 December 2007|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=978-0-7614-2549-6|pages=71–}}{{cite book|author=Alan W. Shorter|title=The Egyptian Gods: A Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xRxTOSQ865kC&pg=PA42|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=March 2009|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|isbn=978-1-4344-5515-4|pages=42–}}

Marduk appears in the Babylonian Enûma Eliš as presiding over a divine council, deciding fates and dispensing divine justice.{{cite book|author=Leo G. Perdue|title=Wisdom Literature: A Theological History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AN9lxYT0ZGUC&pg=PA130|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=28 June 2007|publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corp|isbn=978-0-664-22919-1|pages=130–}}

Texts from Ugarit give a detailed description of the Divine Council's structure of which El and Ba'al are presiding gods.{{cite book|author=Mark S. Smith|title=The Ugaritic Baal Cycle.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=in1lCQ0yF40C&pg=PA841|accessdate=25 September 2012|year=2009|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-15348-6|pages=841–}}

File:"Council of the Gods" in Galleria Borghese (Rome) ceiling.jpg

File:Loggia of Psyche (Villa Farnesina, Rome).jpg

In the Hebrew Bible, there are multiple descriptions of Yahweh presiding over a great assembly of Heavenly Hosts. Some interpret these assemblies as examples of a Divine Council:

{{quote|The Old Testament descriptions of the "divine assembly" all suggest that this metaphor for the organization of the divine world was consistent with that of Mesopotamia and Canaan. One difference, however, should be noted. In the Old Testament, the identities of the members of the assembly are far more obscure than those found in other descriptions of these groups, as in their polytheistic environment. Israelite writers sought to express both the uniqueness and the superiority of their God Yahweh.}}

The Psalm 82 states "God (אֱלֹהִ֔ים Elohim) stands in the divine assembly (בַּעֲדַת-אֵל ‘ăḏaṯ-’êl); He judges among the gods (אֱלֹהִ֔ים elohim)" (אֱלֹהִים נִצָּב בַּעֲדַת־אֵל בְּקֶרֶב אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁפֹּט). The meaning of the two occurrences of "elohim" has been debated by scholars, with some suggesting both words refer to Yahweh, while others propose that the God of Israel rules over a divine assembly of other gods or angels.{{cite web |url= http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/Psalm_82_overview.pdf |title= Divine Council 101: Lesson 2: The elohim of Psalm 82 – gods or men? |author= Michael S. Heiser |author-link= Michael S. Heiser }} Some translations of this passage render "God (elohim) stands in the congregation of the mighty to judge the heart as God (elohim)"{{cite web|title=Psalms 82:1|url=http://bible.cc/psalms/82-1.htm}} (the Hebrew is "beqerev elohim", "in the midst of gods", and the word "qerev" if it were in the plural would mean "internal organs"HamMilon Hechadash, Avraham Even-Shoshan, copyright 1988.). Later in this Psalm, the word "gods" is used (in the KJV): Psalm 82:6 – "I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High." Instead of "gods", another version has "godlike beings",{{cite web|title=godlike beings, in JPS 1917|url=http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2682.htm#6|accessdate=18 March 2013}} but here again, the word is elohim/elohiym (Strong's H430).{{cite web|title=Psalm 82:6 KJV with Strong's H430 (elohim/elohiym)|url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=82&v=6&t=KJV&sstr=0#conc/6|accessdate=18 March 2013}} This passage is quoted in the New Testament in John 10:34.{{cite web|title=John 10:34|url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=10&v=34&t=KJV#34|accessdate=18 March 2013}}

In the Books of Kings ({{Bibleverse|1|Kings|22:19|TNIV}}), the prophet Micaiah has a vision of Yahweh seated among "the whole host of heaven" standing on his right and on his left. He asks who will go entice Ahab and a spirit volunteers. This has been interpreted as an example of a divine council.

The first two chapters of the Book of Job describe the "Sons of God" assembling in the presence of Yahweh. Like "multitudes of heaven", the term "Sons of God" defies certain interpretation. This assembly has been interpreted by some as another example of divine council. Others translate "Sons of God" as "angels", and thus argue this is not a divine council because angels are God's creation and not deities.

"The role of the divine assembly as a conceptual part of the background of Hebrew prophecy is clearly displayed in two descriptions of prophetic involvement in the heavenly council. In 1 Kings 22:19–23... Micaiah is allowed to see God (elohim) in action in the heavenly decision regarding the fate of Ahab. Isaiah 6 depicts a situation in which the prophet himself takes on the role of the messenger of the assembly and the message of the prophet is thus commissioned by Yahweh. The depiction here illustrates this important aspect of the conceptual background of prophetic authority."Freedman, David N. ed., "The Anchor Bible Dictionary" Volume 2 pg 123, Doubleday, New York

In Chinese theology, the deities under the Jade Emperor were sometimes referred to as the celestial bureaucracy because they were portrayed as organized like an earthly government.

In Celtic mythology, most of the deities are considered to be members of the same family – the Tuatha Dé Danann. Family members include the Goddesses Danu, Brigid, Airmid, The Morrígan, and others. Gods in the family include Ogma, the Dagda, Lugh and Goibniu, again, among many others. The Celts honoured many tribal and tutelary deities, along with spirits of nature and ancestral spirits. Sometimes a deity was seen as the ancestor of a clan and family line. Leadership of the family changed over time and depending on the situation. The Celtic deities do not fit most Classical ideas of a "Divine Council" or pantheon.

Zeus and Hera preside over the divine council in Greek mythology. The council assists Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.{{cite book|author=Bruce Louden|title=Homer's Odyssey and the Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AKDfiWrXAx8C&pg=PA17|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=6 January 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-76820-7|pages=17–}}

Jupiter presides over the Roman pantheon who prescribe punishment on Lycaon in Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as punishing Argos and Thebes in Thebaid by Statius.{{cite book|author=Randall T. Ganiban|title=Statius and Virgil: The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1qV2wyyxFAC&pg=PA54|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=8 February 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-84039-2|pages=54–}}

There are mentions in Gautreks saga and in the euhemerized work of Saxo Grammaticus of the Norse gods meeting in council.{{cite book |author=John Lindow |author-link=John Lindow |title=Norse Mythology: A guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals and Beliefs |isbn=9780195153828 |orig-year=2001 |year=2002 |location=Oxford, New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jME8hD2UO4QC&q=assembly+of+gods+to+set+the+fate+of+the+hero+Starkad }}{{cite book |author=Viktor Rydberg |author-link=Viktor Rydberg |title=Teutonic Mythology |volume=1 Gods and Goddesses of the Northland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnnXAAAAMAAJ&q=opponents+in+this+council |location=London, New York |publisher=Norroena Society |orig-year=1889 |year=1907 |oclc=642237 |translator=Rasmus B. Anderson |pages=210–11}}{{cite journal |author=Samuel Hibbert |author-link=Samuel Hibbert-Ware |title=Memoir on the Tings of Orkney and Shetland |journal=Archaeologia Scotica: Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRFaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA178|volume=3 |year=1831 |page=178 }} The gods sitting in council in their judgment seats or "thrones of fate" is one of the refrains in the Eddic poem "Völuspá"; a "thing" of the gods is also mentioned in "Baldrs draumar", "Þrymskviða" and the skaldic "Haustlöng", in those poems always in the context of some calamity.{{cite book |author=Ursula Dronke |author-link=Ursula Dronke |title=The Poetic Edda |volume=2 Mythological Poems |publisher=Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, New York |orig-year=1997 |year=2001 |isbn=9780198111818 |type=her translation of rǫkstólar |pages=37, 117 }} Snorri Sturluson, in his Prose Edda, referred to a daily council of the gods at Urð's well, citing a verse from "Grímnismál" about Thor being forced through rivers to reach it.{{cite book |translator=Jean Young |title=The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |orig-year=1954 |year=1964 |isbn=9780520012325 |pages=43–44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Zwd99MRC2EC&q=Prose+Edda+Thor+wades+Kerlaugar&pg=PA44 }}Lindow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jME8hD2UO4QC&q=Kerlaugar p. 290]. However, although the word regin usually refers to the gods, in some occurrences of reginþing it may be simply an intensifier meaning "great", as it is in modern Icelandic, rather than indicating a meeting of the divine council.Lindow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jME8hD2UO4QC&q=appears+simply+to+be+a+great+assembly p. 148].

• Pantheon (religion)
• Rephaim
• Sons of God
• Heavenly host
• War in Heaven
• Deir Alla inscription
• Archon (Gnosticism)

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.2.2.2&charenc=j# Translation of the Lament], from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• [http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/ Michael S. Heiser's Divine Council Website]

Category:Polytheism

Category:Hebrew Bible topics

Category:Mythology