When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. Heiser argues for what he calls “the Deuteronomy 32 worldview.” This is because he not only argues that there is a divine council, but he also argues that the fallen spirit beings ruled over the nations in the Old Testament. (See also Psalm 8:5.) This divine council is seen in other texts, such as 1 Kings 22:19-22. He is simply arguing that the Bible refers to members of the divine council as elohim. Of course, Heiser is not advocating polytheism. Thus elsewhere when the Bible speaks of “other gods,” it is often referring to the spiritual beings of the divine council.
Heiser argues that the Hebrew elohim, which can be translated “God” or “gods,” refers to the divine council in Psalm 82.
I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince” (vv. God has taken his place in the divine council in the midst of the gods he holds judgment (v. The main text from which he derives this is Psalm 82: Heiser’s thesis in the book is that Scripture teaches that God has a “divine council” made up of spiritual beings (which includes angels), some of whom rebelled against God.
Hence the subtitle of the book, Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. This book challenges conventional interpretations of Scripture and provokes the reader to consider a more supernatural view of the world than he likely holds. Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm is a book that every serious student of the Bible should take up.
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