Council of YHWH

I was recommended Michael Heiser's The Unseen Realm a few years ago but never felt a strong desire to read it. Last Winter I decided to teach a class on the spiritual realm which included some classes specifically discussing the role of angels and demons. I had written a paper on the demonology in the ANE and Second Temple Judaism worldviews before, so I was somewhat familiar. However, I decided to get Heiser's book to take another look at it all. I was blown away.

What follows are some of my takeaways from his books. I realize that some of these are unorthodox and I am willing to concede my stance on a number of points. But as it stands right now, What I am reading here makes the most sense out of what we find in scripture.

I think his treatment in the three books of his I read: Angels, Demons, and The Unseen Realm are unmatched. Unseens Realm is what really shook my view of the Hebrew conception of demonology, angelology, and the spiritual realm. It is now in the top 5 books that have shaped my theology the most (I think that is deserving of a post all on its own - let me know if you'd be interested in reading that.)

The underlining concept in The Unseen Realm is the council of YHWH. I'm going to overview of few of these occurrences, discuss their significance, and make some application which will segway into several future posts.

A basic outline for this series will be as follows:

1. What are the roles/duties of those within the Divine Council as seen in the Old Testament?

2. Prophets as members of the Divine Council

3. Members of the New Covenant as Members of the Divine Council

This will all flow into a short series on prayer. As I believe this is an action taken by members of God's council and gives us a correct theology on why prayer is a powerful act that all Christians should be intimately connected to.

The scripture we are most familiar regarding God's council is Job 1-2 where "The Accuser" comes to speak with God:

Job 1:6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God (בֵּנֵ֣י הַאֱלֹהִים; bᵉnē hāʾᵉlōhim "sons of God/gods") came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan (הַשָׂטָן haśśāṭān "the accuser") also came among them.

Job 1:7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

Job 1:8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?

Job 1:10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Job 1:11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

Job 1:12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

Without getting too deep, I want to draw attention to some things in this passage. First off, the term "Sons of God/gods" is a term employed to refer to divine beings. It is not an evil connotation. One may gather as much from texts like Gen 6:2, 4 but the evil of act of the "Sons of God" in this passage does not preclude that the status of a "Son of God" is an evil thing (in fact, we know the opposite to be true from the way John applies it to us as Christians in 1 John 3). "Sons of God" in this passage clearly refers to a divine being of some capacity, what their job duties entail are not directly identified, but we can get some idea from the passages we will view shortly. The only thing that should be noted is that "The Accuser" is a part of this group.

John Walton in his commentary on Job (NIV Application Series) spends a lot of time unpacking who this accuser is. What can be established, is that this is not "The Tempter" we might read about in other parts of scripture (I. e. Genesis 3; Matthew 4; 1 Peter 5), but someone who comes before God to accuse someone else of not being faithful to YHWH. This is my second point... this "Accuser" is not a divine status that includes duties to tempt (from what scripture reveals - not saying it is not possible). Looking at what is included in "accusing," we see that this divine figure is given the freedom to harm Job, specifically in taking away possessions, descendants, and health. That being said, this isn't the example to turn to when we talk about how Satan may tempt us to do evil or give in to our base desires. None of that is happening here. Again, not saying that this role cant be a part of this divine figure's repertoire, but there is no sign of that here. He is in the business of showing God that Job is not faithful. Rather, Job only serves God because of the blessings he receives from Him (John Walton makes a great argument for this in his commentary).

So, what we have here is a member of what scripture hints to as a "Divine Council" (Michael Heiser, again, is the guy you need to read on this subject). This council meets with God, discusses people on earth with God, makes plans to test people on earth with God (thereby influencing God in matters), and is given permission by God to take on particular ventures. "The Accuser" then possibly has the name because of the specific role he has within the council. Meaning, not every council member has the same role, nor could every member take on the responsibilities of other members.

Let's look at a second example of the Divine Council:

1 Kings 22:19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;

1Kings 22:20 and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.

1Kings 22:21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’

1Kings 22:22 And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’

Here we have another example with slightly different terminology (which makes sense, moving from a time when Job was written to a time when Samuel/Kings was written). "Spirit" is the term used several other times in the OT to refer to spiritual beings that are sent by YHWH (Judges 9:22-23; 1 Sam 16:14-16; 18:10-11; Isa 37:5-7).

What we find here is that God "calls together" his divine council and asks them who will deceive Ahab. A volunteer speaks up, "I will go" and then gets to offer up a possible method to set in action YHWH's request. I find this to be such a fascinating moment in scripture. Who all is able to have this type of communion with God? Do all spiritual beings (i.e. angels/messengers, seraphim, cherubim, sons of God, Holy Ones, etc...) get to, in some degree, set the parameters of their assignments? Such an interesting road to go down, but we won't there - yet.

Nor can we address the fact that this messenger is doing "evil." But a quick note should be placed here... the Jewish believer who wrote this work clearly saw no issue in God directing a spirit to do "evil." We also know though that Jewish understanding was that YHWH did "good" to all (Exod 34:6). What might need to change from a modern perspective is what is actually good or evil.

Aaannddd, our last scripture...

Zech 1:11 And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’

Zech. 1:12 Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’

Zech. 1:13 And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

Zech. 1:14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.

Zech. 1:15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster.

Zech. 1:16 Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.

This text can be confusing. There are four characters: YHWH, the angel of the LORD (AofL), the angel speaking to Zechariah, and Zechariah watching it all.

Whether or not you take the angel of the LORD to be a pre-incarnate Christ does not really affect what we're doing here today. (Though that could be a fun discussion. Let me know if you'd like me to do a post on that).

What we can see here is a similar situation to our previous two scriptures. There are some big differences though. First, the AotL speaks out to YHWH first to ask when he will act on Jerusalem's behalf. Second, the LORD responds graciously, and the angel speaking to Zechariah tells us YHWH's answer. What we see is intercession on behalf of the AotL regarding earthly affairs (Heiser gives good reason as to why divine figures are interested in such matters and ties it all to Psalms 82 and Gen 11). While this is similar to the above scriptures, it differs in that the AofT initiates the conversation. It has seen, what it considers to be an injustice against Jersusalem and reaches out to YHWH on behalf of those being mistreated. YHWH responds with mercy and grace.

To sum up the roles of these divine figures so far we have:

Job the role of "Surveyor" and "Accuser."

1 Kings the role of "Council Member" and "Deceiver"

Zechariah the role of "Advocate"

To keep my posts the length promised, I'll end it here. Prayerfully, I desire that this kind of study opens your eyes to the spiritual realm that is at work around us all the time. I encourage you again to pick The Unseen Realm and dive into this much further with Michael Heiser. Let me know what you think in the comments and be sure to subscribe so you can follow this series!