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Welcome to Day 1466 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to WisdomElohim In The Council – Worldview WednesdayWisdom - the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase Wisdom and Create a Living Legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. Today is Day 1466 of our Trek, and it is Worldview Wednesday. Creating a Biblical Worldview is essential to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical Worldview, you must have a proper understanding of God and His Word. This week, on our Worldview Wednesday episode, we will continue with our study based on a course I recently completed taught by Dr. Michael Heiser. Our study is titled “Sons and Daughters of God: The Believer’s Identity, Calling, and Destiny” Throughout this multi-week course, we will demonstrate that, in the Old Testament, “sons of God” and “holy ones” refers to supernatural beings whose Father is God and who work with God to carry out His will and that this divine family was present before humanity. By fully engaging with biblical texts such as Psalm 82; Psalm 89, and Deuteronomy 32:8–9, our study will show that this divine family functions as a template for God’s human family. God desires of humans, as His imagers, to participate in His council. This study addresses issues such as polytheism, the nature of the (little ‘g’) “gods,” and the uniqueness of Yahweh. Within this study, we will apply insights to the New Testament texts and shows how the metaphor of being in God’s family informs our sense of identity and mission as believers.
Elohim In The Divine Council·      Segment 14: Who Is/Are Elohim? (Part 1)
Refers to God of Israel, but Also Other Gods
So, how do biblical writers use the term elohim? Well, the most apparent referent would be the God of Israel. You’ll recall in Psalm 82; the word elohim occurred twice; the first one was undoubtedly singular and, of course, pointing to the God of Israel, later called “the Most High” in verse 6. But in Psalm 82:1 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+82%3A1&version=NLT), we also had the plural elohim of Yahweh’s council. God takes His stand in the divine assembly, in the midst of the gods, and in the midst of the elohim, He passes judgment. So, the God of Israel, the gods of the divine council, elohim, is also used to refer to the gods of various nations.
For instance, in 1 Kings 11:33 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+11%3A33&version=NLT), we have the names Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom (foreign deities), and they are all referred to with the term elohim. Now, if elohim meant to bring with it a unique set of attributes, this verse right here (1 Kings 11:33) would sort of explode that idea all by itself. Here, you have three different foreign deities. Very obviously, they are not going to have a specific set of unique attributes that we would attribute to the God of Israel. So attributes aren’t wrapped up in the term elohim.
Elohim Connected to Territorial Spirits
Further, elohim is used in Deuteronomy 32:17 in juxtaposition with the term shedim, which most English Bibles have translated “demons.” So these are other entities that are referred to as elohim. Specifically, in that verse, the problem is that Israelites were not sacrificing properly to God but had rendered sacrifice to these other elohim who are shedim (“demons”). The term actually means territorial spirits, territorial entities.
But the point is, of course, that we are not talking about the God of Israel when we refer to elohim here, and we are not assigning a specific set of unique attributes