Also referred to as the heavenly hosts - Psalm 82:1.
The word Elohim simple means GODS (spiritual eternal beings). The word Elohim in the Hebrew Bible is used for —not just God, but is also used for other eternal beings— like the gods of the nations, angels, even fallen angels called demons.
The Bible, however, emphasizes that the being that we refer to as GOD, there is no other Elohim like Him, and He created all of the other Elohim (eternal spirits), the heavenly hosts or the divine counsel. Now do not let the word heavenly fool you, some of these being are not "heavenly". They come to steal, kill, and to destroy --- John 10:10.
There is only one GOD existing as three Persons— The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. All three Persons are of One Spiritual substance. There is only One GOD, However, the Bible has made it very clear there are other spirits that exist and some have authority, rank and power, some great and some less than.
Then Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ 23 Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you.” --- 1 KINGS 22:19–23 NKJV.
See how the Divine counsel works. The Father chose to "workshop" with His heavenly counsel.
And all of you are children of the Most High --- PSALM 82:6 NKJV.
This is quite the statement. Are we gods; as in lower case "g" gods. Well, we are most definitely eternal beings; regardless if we go to heaven or hell; we live forever like the eternal beings we call angels. And we were intended to be the lowercase "g" gods of this world. And we, the church, are set apart to show GOD's wisdom the fallen sons of Elohim.
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known "by the church" to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places --- Ephesians 3:10 NKJV.
--- Those Kingless principlalities and powers in the spirit realm are NOT creative GODs and we are NOT capital "G" GODs like GOD but we were made in His image. I know it can be confusing, especially in English. In Hebrew it is very clear:
Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one!--- Deuteronomy 6:4 ISR1998.
This is why I write "GOD" with all capitals out of respect and to declare there is no being like Him.
I am יהוה, and there is none else – there is no Elohim besides Me. I gird you, though you have not known Me. 6 so that they know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none but Me. I am יהוה, and there is none else--- Isaiah 45:5 & 6 ISR1998.
To underscore this point even farther just keep reading Isaiah 45:
Verse 7: forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil. I, יהוה, do all these.’
Now, do not let the word evil, throw you. GOD did not create evil as we refer to the evil Lucifer and his cohorts caused. The word evil here is "ra' " and it is in fact often translated as evil and in many cases it is how we see evil: which is rooted in traits of extreme selfishness, sadism, or a profound lack of empathy over the harm, suffering or destruction of others. Verse 7 is not defying the theology that GOD is LOVE. The context of the word ra' here in the original Hebrew is "calamity" a force that disturbs or cause great harm. When it is connected to GOD we can rest assured it is referring to how GOD resists the proud. In the original Hebrew verse 7 says it this way: "I am GOD, I am calamity --- in other words "a dangerous force against the enemy". GOD resist the proud --- James 4:6.Even still GOD is not all flowers and roses. Do not forget that the Lord is a warrior --- Exodus 15:3: "The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name" and Isaiah 42:13: "The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies". Even the etymology of the Hebrew word salom is: Shin (ש): Originally a picture of teeth, it is often interpreted as meaning "consume" or "destroy."Lamed (ל): Depicted as a shepherd's staff, symbolizing "authority" or "control."Vav (ו): A tent peg or nail, representing "attachment" or "establishing."Mem (ם): Originally water, which ancient Hebrews associated with the unknown and "chaos." So, anytime you see the word evil connect to GOD its not talking about evil connected to the Devil.
Getting back to the main point:
Verse 12: “I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.
So we see in multiple witnesses that GOD, the one true GOD is the Creator GOD and their is only one like Him. Yet He did make man in His own image.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them --- GENESIS 1:26-28.
There is only one GOD but there are trillion upon trillion beings He Himself created. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? It is a position that we have in the Earth —to be human is to image God and God also shares His attributes with us. In the beginning, God wanted the whole Earth to be like the Garden of Eden and God assigned humankind to make it that way.
The Bible also mentions the sons of GOD in Job:
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the cornerstone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? --- JOB 38:4,7.
Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes. This is why I said earlier to not let the word "heavenly" fool you. Somethings get lost in translation. "In His holy ones He puts no credence". Holy simply means "set apart" not necessarily of a sinless nature. --- Job 15:15 YLT.
Some scholars say that Eden was the headquarters of God on the Earth, and He wanted His heavenly beings as well as His human beings to express His image in the Earth. One family in heaven and earth blended together, expressing God‘s glorious attributes. Unfortunately, one family member did not like that idea.
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High --- Isaiah 14:13-14.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire--- Ezekiel 28:14 .
Now, what happened in Eden was just one of the reasons why there’s so much hurt and evil in this fallen world; according to the Bible, there’s at least two more catastrophic rebellious events perpetrated by these types of beings.
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually --- Genesis 6:1–5.
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly --- 2 Peter 2:4-6.
Jude, one of Jesus younger brothers addressed this historical moment:
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day --- Jude 5-6.
Therefore, Genesis 6 documents another rebellion. The Nephilim were the descendants of this horrible violation.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown --- Genesis 6:4.
And the books of numbers and Joshua, we learn that the descendants of the Nephilim survived the flood.
They are also called “Rephaim” and several Bible passages describe the Rephaim in the realm of the dead— what we call hell.
An extra biblical writing discovered at the Dead Sea called “The Book Of The Giants” make the point that the spirits of the giants are what we call demons.
These giants are also called Anakim— we see this in Joshua’s time:
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. --- Amos 2:9.
Much of what we call the Old Testament is a spiritual warfare and to preserve the Messianic family line from Abraham through David to Jesus.
But before we get to this spiritual revelation, let’s talk about the tower of Babel:
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth…
…6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech…
…9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth --- Genesis 11:4, 6-7 & 9.
This is also at this point in earth's history we see the Most High God dividing the nations to these eternal beings that have rebelled against Him. These nations are also referred to as "the disinherited nations" – at least until Jesus came.
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance --- Deuteronomy 32:8-9.
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.
2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah .
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations --- Psalm 82:1-8.
This is the divine counsel now ruling unjustly their portion and God Judges them. This also reinforced in Isaiah:
For wrath [is] to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their HOST, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter.
3 And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood.
4 And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree --- Isaiah 34:2,4 YLT.
In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below --- Isaiah 24:21.
This glorious Day has not yet come but it is extremely close.
Daniel refers to these heavenly hosts, more commonly referred to as angelic beings or entities as Princes:
20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. --- Daniel 10;20-21.
All the underlined are heavenly hosts — Michael is loyal to the Most High as well as the messenger angel speaking to Daniel but the other two are not. The prince of Persia and the prince of Grecia are demonic-principalities. We might just refer to them as Devils or demons. They are like the Mafia. They have capos (captains) or leaders. And there is a hierarchy. Often you will hear me refer to the Devil and to convey to those who think there is one entity causing all the chaos in the world; I'll explain that the phrase the Devil is not Lucifer's personal pronoun, it is a job descriptive of what he and his cohorts do --- which is to "tear apart". That is what the Devil is. Just like when you hear the phrase the Mafia, one doesn't think of just one person. They think of multiple people operating as a force to perform criminal acts. The Devil, like the Mafia is not just one person or entity. Its a hierarchy of entities that is organizational by levels of wickedness. And the chief prince is Lucifer, a morning star angel, we read about earlier in Job 38. then one may ask what is Satan? Satan is just the Hebrew form of the Devil --- the ones who tear a part. This also reflects the spiritual warfare that is going on to this day and the separation of humankind from God Almighty. But God had a plan to redeem humankind back to Himself and replace this rebellious heavenly hosts with His own born-again children.
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Other scriptures that underscore the biblical revelation of the divine counsel.
Psalm 82: Describes God taking his place in the divine council and holding judgment among the gods.
1 Kings 22:19–23: The prophet Micaiah has a vision of Yahweh seated among the "whole host of heaven.
Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7: The "Sons of God" assemble in the presence of Yahweh.
Isaiah 6: The prophet takes on the role of a messenger of the assembly.
Amos 3:7: Describes the Lord's "sod" as being revealed to his prophets.
Job 15:8: Eliphaz insists that Job has not sat in the "sod" (the Hebrew word for counsel) and therefore cannot understand God's will.