John 10:34. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? The quotation is from Psalms 82 (the word ‘law' being used, as in chap. John 15:25 and some other places, for the Old Testament scriptures generally), ‘I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.' The psalm is a reproof of unrighteous judges. Its opening words bring before us God judging ‘among the gods,' that is; among the judges, for the sacred name is in other passages (Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8, and probably Exodus 22:28) given to those who were to the people the representatives of God, and gave judgment in His name. In following verses of the psalm as far as John 10:7, it is supposed by some that God Himself is the Speaker (comp. Psalms 1.). If so, the words ‘Ye are gods' are here quoted as if spoken by God; and in the next verse ‘he called' must be similarly explained. It seems more likely, however, that the rebuke of the judges' injustice is administered by the psalmist in his own person; and in John 10:35 the meaning will either be that the law ‘called,' or the speaker implied in the emphatic ‘I,' viz. the psalmist writing under inspiration from God and expressing His mind. In any case the pronoun ‘I' is strongly marked, I myself, who utter the rebuke and had foretold the punishment, had borne witness to the dignity of the position of the judge.

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Old Testament