What about other gods?

The Lord’s first commandment for Israel was, You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). So, did they think there were other gods?

Worship him, all you gods! says Psalm 97:7. They describe the Lord as exalted far above all gods (verse 9). So, did they believe in other gods?

As always, understanding Scripture requires us to appreciate the framework they were using. It’s worth the effort to understand their worldview, and how it developed over time.

The nations made their gods by carving an image from wood or stone. The idol wasn’t actually the god; it was the medium through which they offered worship to one of the gods they believed lived in the heavens. Different nations recognized different gods ruling over different territories. You needed to feed your god well (with sacrifices) so your god was strong enough to defend your territory and defeat your enemies.

In practice, Israel was often seduced by the promise of power offered by foreign gods. Jacob brought his wife’s foreign gods to the Promised Land (Genesis 31:19). King Solomon did the same on many occasions (1 Kings 11:10).

From the time of the judges, Israel formed the habit of turning to other gods (Judges 2:10-23). This practice continued under the kings (1 Kings 12:28; 18:18–19:2; 2 Kings 21:1-15). Psalm 78:58 says, they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

But was there any substance to these other gods? In some Psalms, it sounds like Israel’s God was one of many gods:

Psalm 82:1, 5-8 (NIV)
¹ God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods” …
⁵ “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness …
⁶ “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’
⁷ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”
⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.

The late Michael Heiser wrote much on this topic. He understood the divine council (great assembly) to be made up of spiritual beings (gods) who were sons of the Most High (verse 6). These “gods” assisted (or perhaps hindered) God in running the world.

There are other ways to read Psalm 82. These so-called “gods” (in quotes, as the NIV puts it) know nothing, understand nothing (verse 5). They claim to be “gods” (sons of the Most High), but they’re mortals (verse 7).

Mortal rulers claiming to be gods? Of course! That’s exactly how things worked in the Ancient Near East. The Pharaohs claimed to be gods. So did the rulers of other nations. But human rulers are not gods: they die (Psalms 90:3; 103:15-19; 118:6-8; 146:3). These god-claimants fall like every other ruler in history.

Verse 8 therefore calls on God to judge the earth because all the nations are his inheritance. When the world is set right, there are no nations resisting God’s sovereignty, no rulers claiming to be gods though they’re mere mortals.

The gods of the nations are delusions and lies (Psalms 4:2; 24:4; 40:4), worthless (31:6), lifeless (106:28). They’re unable to see, hear, or help (115:4-8; 135:15-18). God’s people do not need to be focused on demons, for the Lord is greater than all the gods (86:8; 95:3; 96:4; 135:5; 136:2; 138:1).

Returning to Psalm 97:7, there was an example of a false god bowing to the Lord in Israel’s story. The Philistines captured the ark, and treated it as if it was a god (an idol):

1 Samuel 5:2-4 (NIV)
² Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. ³ When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴ But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.

Isaiah also depicts Babylon’s gods as “bowing” to the Lord:

Isaiah 46:1-2 (NIV)
¹ Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. ² They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity.

Whenever Babylon captured a city, they burned its temple and destroyed the gods that had been unable to protect it. The captured city was now part of the Babylon’s Empire, under Babylon’s gods. The defeated people discarded their previous gods (compare Isaiah 37:18-19). Well, that was the propaganda anyway.

But what about when Babylon fell to Persia? That’s the context of Isaiah 45–46. Babylon’s gods had been humiliated, unable to protect their people. Bel and Nebo bow to a higher power, and the Babylonians wonder why they bothered to carry these gods around when the gods couldn’t help them anyway.

But the reason Babylon fell to Persia was not the Persian gods. Isaiah says it was YHWH who took Cyrus’s hand and raised him up to subdue the nations (Isaiah 45:1). That means Babylon did not capture the Lord when it destroyed Jerusalem. The Lord reigns over all nations.

That’s the point Psalm 97 is making. Like Isaiah said, the nations are merely bowing down to a block of wood, feeding on ashes, a deluded heart misleading them so they cannot realize, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?” (Isaiah 44:19)

That’s the sense in which the idols must bow to the Lord.

People today still worship “gods” such as money with a devotion that is the equivalent of idolatry (Colossians 3:5; Matthew 6:24). There are also other spiritual beings in God’s space, but I’m don’t think it’s helpful for us to use the word “God” for these other beings in our language.

Adapted from the series, “Formed in God’s Story: Psalms.” Full notes and podcasts here.

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