Justification and Psalm 82

In my quest to gain a whole-Bible understanding of justification I want to look at another psalm that utilizes righteousness/justification language, Psalm 82. I say whole-Bible because the Old Testament forms the background to and informs the New Testament’s understanding of justification. The theme of justification runs through the whole Bible and so I don’t want to isolate the New Testament from the Old Testament. There will be some differences between the two testaments but there will be commonality too. I go to Psalm 82 because it contains an appearance of the verbal form of sdq. The psalmist writes,

1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!

Briefly, this psalm is about Elohim pronouncing judgment upon the the Canaanite gods, led by El. The divine council in 82:1 could also be rendered “the assembly of El” (Psalm 82:1 NET). The crime is that these gods have judged “unjustly” and favored the wicked. What they should be doing is defending the poor and the weak, rescuing them from the hand of those that would oppose them. Therefore the sentence rendered and carried out is that El and his assembly are to die like human beings. Though they are divine, like any man or woman they will die. They have been stripped of their status as gods. The psalmist concludes his prayer for Elohim to rise up in the place of the El and his assembly and to judge the earth because all the earth belongs to Elohim (“you shall inherit the nations” could also be rendered “you own the nations,” [Psalm 82:8 NET] showing that Elohim already has possession of them and is not waiting for a future time).

Now I want to zero in on Psalm 82:3-4. I found an interesting verbal pattern in these two verses, a-b-a-b. In the “a” part of the pattern there is a qal imperative linked to the noun dal (NET: “poor”; ESV: “weak”) by a maqqef. In the “b” pattern the verb is an hiphil imperative that concludes the sentence. Both verses 3 and 4 open with the qal verb and end with the hiphil verb. And so what I am seeing is that “Give justice” (ESV)/”Defend” (NET) is paired with “Rescue” (NET/ESV) and “Maintain the right” (ESV)/”Vindicate” (NET) with “Deliver” (NET/ESV).

The hiphil imperative rendered “Vindicate” (NET) or “Maintain the right” (ESV) is haseddiqu from the verbal root sdq. Literally the verb could be read “Cause to be just/not guilty/innocent” or “Cause to be declared just/not guilty/innocent” or quite simply “justify.” In this context, being paired with the verb “deliver” as well with being paralleled with the verbs that mean “defend/give justice” and “rescue” it seems to me that haseddiqu is not a simple declaration. Elohim expect the gods to act on behalf of the poor that goes beyond a simple declaration. The declarative terms in 82:3 are paired with action terms in 82:4. So not only does Elohim command the false gods of Canaan to declare the poor to be in the right against their enemies, negating the case brought up against the poor, but to then make the wicked stop oppressing the poor. The gods are expected to act. They didn’t and so they are cast down like in Isaiah 14.

The more I read the Old Testament the more I see justification as both pronouncement upon a person but then also acting on behalf of said person. Not only does God see us to be in the right, but he then acts accordingly to our being in the right. That is what it means for someone to justify. To recognize them as in the right and to act accordingly.

In my tradition, justification is always stopped at the pronouncement of “In the right.” God does not then act according to that declaration. I think of the story of the woman in Luke 18 who asks the unjust judge for justice against her enemies. If the judge would have said, “You are in the right in this matter,” but did not see to it that the men oppressing her were dealt with to end her oppression, then can one say that the judge gave her justice? The declaration must enact something or it is of no use and only empty words. The declaration means nothing to the one who is declared, “in the right.” That would be a severe miscarriage of justice for the woman.

I think that justification needs to be reworked to reflect not only God’s declaration of the sinner to be “In the right,” but God’s then acting in accordance with that pronouncement. I really do believe that this declaration upon us comes only by faith when we are united to Christ at conversion, and again at the eschaton when it is revealed that our faith was true, genuine, persevering, saving faith. On the one hand it is Christ being declared in the right for us, representing us before the throne of God, and on the other it is Christ bestowing that declaration upon us who have represented him to the world. But as part of God’s justification of Christ, he was raised from the grave as the firstborn of the new creation. By union with Christ, we are able to participate in that new creation as he represents us in that new creation. Upon Christ’s justification of us whom he has been united to he raises us up at the eschaton to fully participate in the new creation. This seems to me to be more reflecting the ideas of justification that have a background in the OT.