Psalms 82:1 «A Psalm of Asaph. » God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
Ver. 1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty] There God is present and president by a particular providence, as Lord paramount, Ut praeses Synodi, and chief magistrate, higher than the highest, Ecclesiastes 5:8 Job 31:14 Ephesians 6:9. The Ethiopian judges, they say, do ever leave the chief seat of judicature empty for him, Locus praesidis est medius locus in ccetibus; and Solomon, for like reason, calleth that seat the holy place, Ecclesiastes 8:10. There Elohim (that is, the judge and avenger) standeth, or setteth himself, to behold the actions and affections of judges, and to pass a censure upon their sentences. Good, therefore, was the counsel of Jehoshaphat to his judges when to ride circuit, 2 Chronicles 19:6, "Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord your God be upon you; take heed and do it," &c. Judges should sit in as great, though not so slavish, a fear of offending as Olanes, in the history, did upon the flayed skin of his father Silannes, nailed by Cambyses on the tribunal; or as a Russian judge, that feareth the boiling caldron or open battocking; or the Turkish Senate, when they think the Great Turk to stand behind the arras at the dangerous door.
He judgeth among the gods] i.e. Among the magistrates (as our Saviour interpreteth it, Joh 10:34-35), who are called gods. First, By analogy, tanquam Deum imitantes, saith Theodoret, as resembling God, by having the power of life and death. Secondly, By participation, tanquam lumina illuminata, saith Austin; as stars participate their light from the sun, so do rulers their authority from the supreme Majesty. Thirdly, By deputation from God, whose viceregents they are, and to whom they must be accountable for their mal-administration.