Psalm 82 is probably the strangest of all the Psalms and one of the most unusual parts of the whole Bible.  I recommend you read the whole thing, but a couple quotes will demonstrate its unusual character.  Verse one sets the scene:

God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

Wait a minute!  God is addressing a “divine council”?  In the midst of “gods”? 

If you will recall, the fundamental ‘creed’ of Hebrew Bible is this:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Strict monotheism is the hallmark of Judaism.  Unlike all its neighbors in the Ancient Near East, Jews worshipped one God and only one, so what’s with this business about a divine council of gods?

Later in the psalm, the God of Israel tells the other gods that because they have proven deficient, they will have to die like mortals and cease being divine.  So why did these gods get demoted to mortal status?  Because they failed in the mandate to be on the side of the poor and downtrodden.

Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
    maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

A true god is one who is for us, a God who acts!

Before we get feeling too superior towards our ancient Israelite ancestors, think about the useless gods we serve.  Without ever meaning to, we bow before the gods of wealth and beauty.  We worship the famous and powerful and attempt to shape ourselves in their image and likeness.  We venerate success and sacrifice our individuality on the altar of social convention.  We lay down our lives, one paycheck at a time, for houses, cars and nice vacations. 

God’s judgment on all these lesser gods is that they are mortal.  They all will pass away.  None is strong to save. They will not care for the needy and oppressed.  They are gods found in the church of the winners – sinners and losers (like us) need not apply.  And every winner loses sometime.  All the false gods die.

Prayer:  It’s me.  I’m back.  Yeah, I’ve been worshipping the dead gods who never did me or anyone else any good ever.   Will you take me back?  I need you.  Those dead gods have sapped the life out of me. 

PS.  Some biblical scholars think this psalm was written to help explain to the people of Israel why Israel was monotheistic, even though the people had cultural memories of a time when their ancestors worshipped many gods.  Instead of telling them that their ancestors were silly, superstitious rubes, this psalm explains that there used to be other gods, but they weren’t good enough gods to remain divine and so the Lord, the God of Israel, took away their divine status and they died like all mortals.