Last night I (Emily Dixon) began to doze as I was listening to a recording of Psalm 82 in Hebrew on loop. My mind began to wander (wonder?) from the words spoken, and I found myself thinking of the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew 6.
In my rather sleepy state, the two passages began to swirl about each other collide in my mind until they formed an image of a crystal with opposing points and shimmering connecting planes. For one beautiful moment, I was able to hold it steady and appreciate the interplay. I decided to share what I saw, but you will have to forgive how degraded the image becomes when I try to force it into mere words.
Matthew 6:9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Psalm 82:1
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
Both passages open with a statement of location. Jesus acknowledges God as being in the heavens, and Asaph tells us God has taken his place in the Divine Council of the gods. Other passages from the Hebrew Scriptures firmly locate the Council in the heavens. So each passage places God in the Heavens, presumably with all that inhabiting such location would entail which includes the presence of the God’s Divine Council.
From here the connections are not lined up as precisely. Instead they are embedded throughout the texts and held together with themes flagged by hints and allusions rather than through identical key words or phrases.
Psalm 82:2-3
How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Asaph asks for justice for the weak and the fatherless, and in beautiful and hopeful opposition, Jesus’ opening words reveal the Father of all. None are fatherless in the kingdom, despite whatever physical reality we may experience. I call it hopeful opposition because to one alone and abandoned, given over to destitution, a child’s best and most effective defense is a loving and fierce Father.
Jesus’ uses different words in
Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread
However, he expresses our utter dependence on God’s provision and love. Even the most poor and tragic among us were to be fed in God’s economy. It was built into the system, if you will, as those who fasted should distribute the bread they did not consume to the “afflicted and destitute.” Isaiah castigates those who fasting does not ease the burden of others in Isaiah 58:6,7.
And then Jesus pushes us farther, we have the ability to alleviate suffering through forgiveness in Matthew 6:12:
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Unlike the psalmist whose petitions seem to made on behalf of those with no power, Jesus offers some dignity to each of us and extends the invitation to participate in this kingdom economy in a definitive act of our will and choosing.
Psalm 82:4
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
In these words it is hard not to hear the echo found in Matthew 6:13
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil (one).
While most of us have been taught to pray against an abstracted form of evil that might cause harm, more often the Bible presents evil as the result of a deliberate act perpetrated by either human or spiritual agents who wish to damage those who serve our God. The evil ones in Psalm 82 are specifically and even shockingly identified as spiritual beings.
Psalm 82:6,7
I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
We find hints of this idea in Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Both the Psalmist and Jesus are calling for the unified manifest expression of God’s reign in both realms – in the heavens with judgment of the gods who formed the Divine Council and the resulting blessing to God’s children here on earth.
When I first learned the Lord’s prayer it concluded with the words,
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory forever.
Many newer Bible translations drop this from their text because it is not found in the earliest manuscripts. However, many Christian traditions continue to maintain it as part of the prayer, and I think it is fitting to include in light of Psalm 82:8
Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!
Each celebrate God’s rule and dominion over this earth. They affirm his rights and claim to exercise his power and authority in this world where we live because it all belongs to him and to him alone.
Based on all of this, I am compelled to read these two passages as two interlocking pieces of the same puzzle.
The psalmist is more pointed, focusing on the evils perpetuated against humanity by evil gods that God will judge. While Jesus words feel calmer, more assured, as is right for the Son of God and God embodied on this earth.
Yet, each declare our dependence on the nature of God as just and holy, able and willing to act on behalf of his children. They end in celebration of his power and right as sovereign to reign upon this earth and to execute judgment against those powers that would oppress and harm us.
Each declare vindication for those who love God and place our hope in him. Reading the passages together, we see the whole picture a little more clearly, and in doing so, we can join in that celebration as we live in the hope of seeing God’s justice enacted.
Posted with permission from Emily Dixon’s Facebook page on Feb 11, 2025.