Adamic Themes in Psalm 82 (and Hebrews)

March 8, 2014

It appears to me that Psalm 82 is working with Adamic themes. There is of course the creational (or un-creational) motif in verse 5: the foundations of the earth are out of course due to the misjudgment of “the gods” (i.e. the judges). But beyond that, judgment itself is a function of maturity, of “knowing good and evil” (cf e.g. Isa 7:16; Heb 5:14).

In this light, verses 6–7 are of interest when viewed against the backdrop of Adam: “I have said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are children of the most High.’ But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”

Adam and Eve of course ate from the forbidden tree, in part because of the deceiver’s promise, “You shall be as God,” but the result (as God had warned) was death. They “died like men.” Their clasping after divine glory underscored their mortality.

But the story of the first Adam is not the final word. For not only Adam, and not only the unjust judges die like men. The one who is the Son of the most High and truly God of God has “died like men.” He laid hold of the tree precisely in order to die as a man, and paradoxically, in so doing profoundly disclosed what it truly means to be God. His willing death is punishment for sin, yes, but only the sins of others. For Himself, it is (as Hebrews describes it) the death of maturity, of completed pistis (faith and faithfulness). It is in the embrace of this tree of judgment that He becomes complete through the things He suffers (Heb 5:8–9). This is His pathway of glory.

(This thought should be seen in the shadows and presuppositions of Galatians 3 and 4, as well: Torah could not bring Israel to maturity. It takes the last Adam to embrace the cross in order for maturity to arrive upon earth. This is the release for those “born of a woman” generally, and born under Torah, specifically.)

Incidentally, it is fascinating that the writer to the Hebrews introduces the immaturity of his readers/hearers precisely at this point. He is calling them into the maturity of Jesus, a maturity that is fashioned in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. It is when we embrace the “long run of agony” that we experience Jesus as the originator and completer of pistis (Heb 12:1–2): we share in His own faith and faithfulness, and just as He learned to “die like men,” we learn to die like God.