A psalm of David, this one makes more sense if we keep in mind the image of a God who reveals Himself through His character in Creation. Anyone born anywhere has the capacity and means to grasp something of God’s personality and moral nature through the voice of reality, even if they never learn of His covenants or His name. This psalm celebrates answered prayers.
David declares that his heart is fully committed to Jehovah. He refers to celebrating Jehovah in the face of elohim, often used as a figure of speech referring to human VIPs as well as angels or pagan deities. It hardly matters, since there is none on the level of his Lord. So it makes no difference who regards his physical form; David is going to elevate his Master in the face of everyone and make it clear that no one has any greater authority.
No matter where he finds himself, David will symbolically face toward the place God has marked with His name on the earth, Jerusalem. A noteworthy thing it is that God prefers to be known first and foremost by the power of His moral truth rather than a name or title that men might repeat. Either way, those who call upon Him by any name at all will find He answers and gives His servants boldness from within their own souls.
How can anyone of power, upon hearing the Word of His commandments, not marvel at the wisdom and rightness of it? Nothing in this world could make as much sense to seeking hearts as the revelation of our Creator. It shines with blinding brilliance. For here is one who resides in the very heavens, and yet is able to crawl down on the level of those oppressed and driven to the ground. Yet those who think highly of themselves will be lucky if He even allows them to come into His Presence.
So David is assured that even in the midst of distress, God will reach out to him. Everyone who seeks to persecute David will have to face the wrath of Jehovah. In the midst of noise and confusion, God knows that really matters. He is fully aware of our commitments, and His mercy will meet us there to fulfill our real needs. He has made us along with everything around us; He has no intention of winding things up to let them run out on their own. He pays close attention to His own Creation.
Speaking of the Elohim, I remember reading a webpage a long time ago from some new age huckster, who used this Psalm as one of the proofs that God was part of a master alien race. It was a great feat of logic, that Bible “study.”
Yep, a lot of nutty folks allege the Hebrew writers revealed all kind of things they would have actually found ludicrous.
Could have been Sitchin?
Exposing the Work of Zecharia Sitchin, Part 1: ELOHIM in the Hebrew Bible, http://drmsh.com/exposing-the-work-of-zecharia-sitchin-part-1-elohim-in-the-hebrew-bible/
The Plural Elohim of Psalm 82: Gods or Men?, http://drmsh.com/the-plural-elohim-of-psalm-82-gods-or-men/
“At last week’s annual ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) meeting I read two papers. The first was entitled. “What Is / Are (an) Elohim?” It dealt with why the reality of other gods (plural elohim) is not a threat to monotheism. The reason is that our modern definition of monotheism creates a problem that would not have been seen as a problem for an ancient Israelite.”
What is / are (an) Elohim? http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/WhatisareanelohimETS2010.pdf
I ran across that “divine council” business long ago. It’s actually from Zoroastrian theology, as reflected in Cyrus’ Edict. On the one hand, Moses made it plain as day that there was only one God over their covenant, but it wasn’t until the Exile that the common Hebrew folks finally embraced it fully. They would never have debated it intellectually in absolutist terms, but their answer was always: “We are accountable to our God alone.” In other words, we cannot possibly know and it doesn’t matter if there are other deities and powers; Jehovah is the only one we have to concern ourselves with.
Exposing the Work of Zecharia Sitchin, Part 2: Does the Bible Have the Gods Creating Humankind? http://drmsh.com/exposing-the-work-of-zecharia-sitchin-part-2-does-the-bible-have-the-gods-creating-humankind/
“This is a Sitchin signature teaching. In an effort to marry his notion that the Anunnaki (a group of gods in the Sumero-Mesopotamian pantheon) created humankind to the biblical story, Sitchin teaches that the Bible itself has plural gods creating humankind in Genesis. This is just paleo-babble.”