"A Psalm of Asaph.
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!"
Psalm 82
The implication of what was said in the previous note must surely be that it is a Christian duty to be obedient to lawful authority. But the question arises: what if the powers that be are unjust and oppressive? Is it not right to oppose and resist? There are two things to be said here: one is, that so far as the apostle Paul is concerned, in his teaching in Romans 13, it is God's prerogative, not man's: 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay' says the Lord. The other thing is that the Psalm itself bears this out. It is God Who calls the unjust princes and judges to account, and there is no suggestion in the Psalm that it should ever be otherwise.
As to the text of the Psalm, in 2-4 God speaks, calling princes and rulers to account, and this underlines the graphic emphasis in 1: God is there, He is in the midst, and He sees what is going on, however hidden its presence may seem to be. And He is always liable, at any moment, to break in. Experience in public life should confirm this to us: the downfall of those who unjustly abuse authority can be very sudden and very final. This is what faith should see and hold on to, in difficult times. In 5, there is, almost, a plaint from God over human impatience. Maclaren suggests that the Divine voice pauses, to see if what has been said will reach any consciences - and when it does not, God grieves in wonderment at the blindness of our hearts. Being blind, the rulers have lost any understanding they might have had about the nature of their calling, and their responsibility to God for exercising justice. And because this is so, their attitudes are threatening the very foundation of society (5b). More of this in the next Note.