The Divine Council in the Hebrew Bible: God's Heavenly Assembly and the Supernatural Worldview of Scripture

Many Bible readers carry a rich picture of heaven drawn from hymns and sermons, and yet most have never heard of the divine council. That is surprising, because the idea runs through the Old Testament from the Psalms to the prophets and from the book of Job to Daniel. Once a reader learns to recognize it, the council appears everywhere, and several famously puzzling passages suddenly make sense. Why does God speak in the plural in Genesis 1:26? Who are the gods in whose midst God judges in Psalm 82? Who is the satan that God is speaking to in Job 1? Who is addressed by the comforting voices of Isaiah 40:1? The answer to each question involves the same biblical picture: God as king, surrounded by his court.