divine council

While the tide is slowly turning, many modern scholars and pastors still reject what the late Michael S. Heiser popularized as the divine council worldview (DCW). But it’s not entirely clear to me which claims they find controversial or difficult to accept, since it’s often accepted or rejected wholesale as a set of interconnected ideas. I suspect it’s mostly due to lack of familiarity, misunderstanding, or tribal loyalties—or perhaps a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater (I don’t love his chapter on free will, either). I’d love to better understand the exegetical and theological objections, and I’m hoping to draw some of them out.

In this article, I aim to lay out what I believe are the major claims of the DCW in an attempt to demonstrate that they (a) aren’t built on fringe interpretations of one or two obscure, debated texts and (b) don’t require embracing 1 Enoch or borrowing ideas from religious texts of the ancient Near East. I attempt to demonstrate that the DCW is thoroughly biblical.

Table of Contents

• 1. Yahweh, the uncreated and eternal triune creator, created other spirit beings who are properly called elohim, gods, or sons of God, which the broader canon identifies as angels.
  • 1.1. Yahweh created humans lower than gods = angels.
  • 1.2. Yahweh is incomparably higher than these gods = his heavenly sons.
  • 1.3. The gods are commanded to worship Yahweh.
• 2. These other gods participate with Yahweh in a heavenly council or assembly.
  • 2.1. Yahweh’s assembly or council
  • 2.2. Divine council scenes
    • 2.2.1. Well-known divine council scenes in the Old Testament
      • Job 1
      • Job 2
      • Isaiah 6
    • 2.2.2. Lesser-known divine council scenes in the Old Testament
      • Daniel 4
      • Daniel 7
      • Zechariah 3
      • 1 Kings 22 // 2 Chronicles 18
      • Creation
      • Judgment at Babel
      • The giving of the Law at Sinai
    • 2.2.3. Divine council scenes in the New Testament
      • Ephesians 3
      • Revelation 4–5
• 3. These heavenly beings play ruling roles over the nations.
  • 3.1. Old Testament
  • 3.2. New Testament
• 4. These heavenly ruling beings are the gods of the nations = “demons”
  • 4.1. The gods of Egypt were real.
    • 4.1.1. The secret arts of Egypt’s magicians
    • 4.1.2. Yahweh’s judgment of Egypt’s gods
  • 4.2. Yahweh gave these gods to the nations.
  • 4.3. The gods of the nations are “demons.”
  • 4.4. The New Testament identifies Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, as Satan.
• 5. Some of these heavenly beings rebelled—on multiple occasions.
  • 5.1. Genesis 3 and the Lie
  • 5.2. Genesis 6 and Lust
  • 5.3. Genesis 10–11 and Curiosity
• 6. Yahweh brings judgment on these wicked heavenly rulers.
  • 6.1. Yahweh’s judgment on the serpent, Eve, and Adam
  • 6.2. Yahweh’s judgment on the sons of God, the daughters of men, and their offspring
    • 6.2.1. Judgment on the sons of God
    • 6.2.2. Judgment on mankind and the Nephilim
  • 6.3. Yahweh’s judgment on the nations and their gods
• 7. Jesus came to bring Yahweh’s judgment on the spiritual forces of darkness and to claim his rightful place as heir of the throne.
• 8. The Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost marked the reversal of Babel and Yahweh’s reclamation of the nations.
• Conclusion