Psalm 82. A plea for justice.

Psalm 82 is a strong plea for true justice, which is God’s justice, not man’s. The psalm begins with the idea of God standing at the centre of everything, in the congregation of the mighty, and he judges among the gods (the word ‘gods’ here means the judges of this world. By God’s position all else is measured and seen for what it really is, good or bad, true, or false.

Spiritually, for us, this is a helpful picture of God at the centre. It asks us to measure all of our intentions, motives, reasons, actions, against the presence of the Lord at the centre of our life, in order to see if they stand comparison and if they are happening from God or from ourselves. (See Arcana Caelestia 4482.3)

The psalm moves on to rebuke the judges of this world for their injustices, favouring what is wicked. It holds up several clear needs for justice among people, to defend the poor and fatherless, give justice to the afflicted and needy, and deliver them, and free them from the hand of the wicked. Literally this is true civil justice; spiritually it is advocating care and consideration for those who are spiritually poor and spiritually fatherless. In other words, those states in people where there is poor understanding and no sense of God as heavenly Father. (Arcana Caelestia 8897)

At a deeper level, these impoverished states apply to ourselves. It is about our own poverty and our sense of being without the Lord and feeling alone. It is about our genuine constant need of the Lord to guide and protect us, even from ourselves and our wilfulness. (Arcana Caelestia 9209.5, 6)

Verse 5 describes the bereftness and deficiency of one who is without any truth or good in their lives to help and lead them. They do not know; they walk in darkness; the foundations of the earth are unstable. The spiritual idea here is that a lack of knowing the truth of the Lord leads to a life in darkness and finally to a lack of any trustworthy foundation in our lives. Foundations are the truths which support and carry us safely in our lives. (Arcana Caelestia 9643)

The psalm closes with a clear statement that while we are children of God, of the Most High, we will die and we are capable of falling; therefore the psalm continues, May God arise and be the judge over all the earth... because everything finally goes back to God.