Psalms 82:1

The Psalmist, having exhorted the judges, and reproved their negligence, prayeth God to judge.

A Psalm of Asaph.

Title. ףּלאס מזמור mizmor leasaph— This psalm is an admonition to justice, and an upbraiding reproof against the injustice of the Jewish tribunals; with an appeal to God, the supreme and just judge. The courts of justice in Hezekiah's reign were very corrupt: see Isaiah 1:23 where the judges and magistrates are called princes, in respect of their superiority over the common people; and here they are called gods, in respect to the fountain of their power, which was from the Most High. In this view the psalm conveys an useful admonition to all ministers of justice; from the supreme judge of the highest earthly tribunal, down to the most inferior and petty magistrate.

Psalms 82:1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty— God presideth in his courts of justice. Hebrew, In the court of justice of God. But the singular seems to be used here collectively for all the courts of justice in the land. See Psalms 82:5. The courts of justice were God's, as the judges were his vice-gerents; the charge given them being, Take heed what ye do; for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; who is present with you in the judgment. 2 Chronicles 19:6. It is plain from Numbers 15:33 that the word עדה eidah, rendered congregation, signifies, properly, a court of justice; to which sense the turn and drift of the psalm immediately leads. Respecting the word אלהים elohim, or gods, which signifies judges, in this place, see Green, and Exodus 21:6.