Psalms 82:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

God standeth in the congregation As a judge, diligently to observe all that is said or done there, and to give sentence accordingly. The judge sits when he hears causes, but stands up when he gives sentence. Or standing may here be intended, not to denote the posture of the person, but only his being present. Whence this Hebrew word נצב, nitzab, is by some learned interpreters rendered, is present, and by others, presideth, as this word is used, 1Sa 19:20; 1 Samuel 22:9. Of the mighty Or, of the gods, as it is expressed and explained in the next clause, the singular number, אל, eel, being here, as it is frequently elsewhere, put for the plural. He judgeth among the gods Accurately observeth all their conduct, and passes sentence upon them accordingly. By gods or, the mighty, he understands kings, or other chief rulers, judges, and magistrates, called gods below, Psalms 82:6; Exodus 12:12; Exodus 22:28. compared with Psalms 138:1, and John 10:35. They are called gods, because they have their power and commission from God, and act as his deputies, in his name and stead, and must give an account to him of their conduct in their high office and station. And by their congregation he means not a convention or assembly of such persons who seldom meet together, but either, 1st, All congregations or assemblies of people in which magistrates sit to execute justice. Or, 2d, All persons whatsoever of this high and sacred order or number; for the word here rendered congregation, doth not always signify an assembly of persons met together in one place, but sometimes denotes all the particular persons of, or belonging to, such a sort or body of men, though dispersed in divers places: see Psalms 26:5; Proverbs 21:16. Some render it as it is in the Hebrew, in the congregation of God; in his own congregation, that is, in the conventions or tribunals of princes or rulers, which he rightly calls his, because their authority is wholly derived from him. But the former exposition seems more agreeable, both to the following words, and to the scope and whole body of the Psalm.