Children of the Most High

Asaph opens this psalm with a scene rare in the Psalms: a courtroom. The judges sit in their places, and in their midst God Himself stands up to judge them. No enemy from outside — only a reckoning of society with itself: what happens when the one entrusted with justice abandons the weak.

The psalm is short — eight verses — and all of it one demand: how long. Out of it comes a clear list of duties: defend the poor and the fatherless, deliver the needy out of the hand of those who exploit him. And right after, the warning: the rank you were given is not your own.

The verse that names the song and beats at the heart of its chorus:

"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High"

Ye are gods is the title of those who carry the authority to judge; children of the most High, His envoys on earth. And in the very next verse the line is cut: but ye shall die like men. The crown is real, but conditional.