"The 'gods' know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. – Psalm 82:5

Today's Scripture Reading (August 12, 2022): Psalms 81 & 82

I recently had a great conversation with a friend about the "gods" of the Bible, and yes, the plural is intended. My friend admitted that he has always believed that there are many gods. The heavens are filled with the pantheons of the gods, which might include Zeus, Odin, Thor, and some lesser-known deities. But of all these "gods," Yahweh is the prime God, the number one. It was a great conversation, but it went against what I believed. Judaism, and by definition, its offshoots Christianity and Islam are monotheistic faiths. We believe only one God exists, although we sometimes disagree on his name.

And that is where I directed my conversation with my friend. I returned to the conversation that Moses had with God in Exodus 3. In that conversation, Moses asks God for his name, and God's response is "haya, haya. Tell the people that haya has sent you" (Exodus 3:14). The most common translation of haya is "I Am." God's name is I Am that I Am. Tell them that I Am has sent you. But there is another translation; this one argues for "I Will Be what I Will Be." Taken together, maybe we get to the root of the name God was trying to give to Moses; "Moses, I am the God who exists, the only one you need. Look to me because I am here. The heavens aren't filled with gods. There is only me. You can trust in me, or you can place your trust in the gods made of wood and stone that you have created. The choice is yours. So, who are you going to choose."

Asaph, as he writes Psalm 82, once again brings up "the gods." In the opening of the Psalm, Asaph argues that "God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the 'gods'" (Psalm 82:1). It seems that, according to Asaph, my friend might be right. God presides over Thor and his friends. But then, Asaph makes what appears to be a very contradictory statement. The "gods" understand nothing. They walk in darkness. Asaph's description of these gods doesn't sound like any definition of "gods" of which I was aware. Unless, of course, the gods don't exist.

The truth is that the "gods" we have created don't even measure up to us. If we made the gods, they can't know more than we do. And they have no power to change our world that we don't already possess. They are just blind gods, made of stone and wood, created by our own hands. And these gods will die with us.

So, why would we trust these useless gods when the God who exists is willing to guide us through life? It is a good question and one for which Asaph has no answer.

Today's Scripture Reading: Psalm 83