How Long Will You Judge Perversely?

Ps 82:1-2

For as long as there have been judicial systems there has been concern over the institution. Who will judge the judges and how can justice be assured when so many other factors get in the way despite the best intentions? 

It isn’t just the human judges who come under scrutiny for what is sometimes seen as partial justice - but also the supreme judge of them all. How can the Creator be called a righteous judge when so many innocents suffer and so many evil ones prosper? 

These ancient and perennial concerns are at the center of today’s psalm, which includes a fascinating word that can be read in more ways than one, making it all the more troubling. The Hebrew ‘Elohim’ is used throughout the Hebrew Bible to indicate one of two things: It is most often one of the ways to depict God. And it is also a term used to describe human judges or local leaders. In other words - the same word is used for both the ultimate judge - and the ones supposedly responsible for dispensing justice on earth. Maybe that’s why in so many cultures judges sit on high, above the court, as if to indicate their closer-to-god-like position in determining people’s fates.

What can possibly go wrong with the same word applied for both entities?? 

The poet Asaph, to whom this psalm is ascribed, gives voice to both the expectation and the disappointment. We have always wanted our judges to be the wise and truthful voices of our highest standards, yet often find out that they too, like all of us, fail in multiple ways and don’t always get it right. 

Today’s chapter was assigned the role of Tuesday's Psalm, recited each morning in the synagogue and thus quite familiar to many who likely know it by heart. But how many have paused to unpack the way contains both the highest hopes and realistic disappointment with the judicial system?  It begins with aspiration, but right away calls out the  reality:

מִזְמ֗וֹר לְאָ֫סָ֥ף אֱֽלֹהִ֗ים נִצָּ֥ב בַּעֲדַת־אֵ֑ל בְּקֶ֖רֶב אֱלֹהִ֣ים יִשְׁפֹּֽט׃ עַד־מָתַ֥י תִּשְׁפְּטוּ־עָ֑וֶל וּפְנֵ֥י רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים תִּשְׂאוּ־סֶֽלָה׃

A psalm of Asaph.

The Divine stands in the divine assembly,

pronouncing judgment among the divine beings.

How long will you judge perversely,

showing favor to the wicked?    Selah.

Ps 82:1-2

It isn’t clear who these opening verses are directed at. The use of ‘Elohim’ can mean that this is directed at God who is part of the divine assembly  - perhaps in some allusion to the pagan pantheon of deities, once clearly part of our theology.  Or else it is directed at the human judges who are also sometimes known as “elohim”. 

Either way there is an accusation - if you are so divine and high above us to be our judge - where is the justice for all? 

The poet’s own response to the question in the following verses seems to hint that the judges guilty here are the human ones -- appointed by the people who they are supposed to serve:

אֲֽנִי־אָ֭מַרְתִּי אֱלֹהִ֣ים אַתֶּ֑ם וּבְנֵ֖י עֶלְי֣וֹן כֻּלְּכֶֽם׃ אָ֭כֵן כְּאָדָ֣ם תְּמוּת֑וּן וּכְאַחַ֖ד הַשָּׂרִ֣ים תִּפֹּֽלוּ׃

I had taken you for divine beings,

attendants of the Most High, all of you;

but you shall die as mortals do,

fall like any prince.

Ps. 82:6-7

Once again the word ‘Elohim’ is used here, translated as ‘divine beings’-  but perhaps with intentional scorn. 

How can the judges be considered remotely God-like when they too will wither and die, with their own weakness and failures, blindspots and limitations?  

We know too well that even in the halls of law where fact and proof above all partial preferences are supposed to reign supreme - other aspects interfere, including political viewpoints, greed and religious values. The title “Elohim” should no longer be associated with human judges, our poet concludes, and wraps up the psalm with an appeal to the highest court -- a plea for the ultimate judge to be the one to whom we can turn:

קוּמָ֣ה אֱ֭לֹהִים שׇׁפְטָ֣ה הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־אַתָּ֥ה תִ֝נְחַ֗ל בְּכׇל־הַגּוֹיִֽם׃

Arise, O God, judge the earth,

for all the nations are Your possession.

Ps. 82:8

The rapid rise of conservative religious reforms that seek to take over judicial systems in liberal democracies and bring god into the modern courtroom is cause for concern. Do we want archaic and patriarchal notions of divine justice to rule over the complexities of our fast changing lives? This last verse of the psalm can be a lump in our throats pointing at this direction with recent rulings by the US Supreme Court indicating where we’re going. But perhaps we can read this coda in a creative and more helpful way. Regardless of who’s on the bench, which judge or justice rules on matters that have impact on us all -- they all, like us, are merely human, and a bigger picture, universal motivation, and collective will prioritizing our better outcomes of true equity and just love for all - is always in the work - despite and in spite of failing humans? 

Let’s go with that, your honors, get god out of the courtroom, keep divine love in it, and never lose sight of the prophetic power of our collective to call out injustice even in the highest realms and work together for our greater good.

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