When the Old Testament talks about other “gods,” who or what are they?
The Old Testament sometimes speaks of “gods” (in Hebrew, elohim) besides the Lord, as in Psalm 82. On this map two figures read them as real spiritual beings ruling under God, one as human judges, and six never take up the question in these terms. Nobody on the map holds that they are only angels or nothing at all, so that gives three views.
The 3 views side by side
| Real spiritual beings under GodThe divine council | Human judges called “gods”Gods by office | Never asked this question |
|---|---|---|
| Who are these “gods”? | ||
Real spiritual beings God created, ranked under him and given real authority. | Human judges and rulers. They are called “gods” because of their office, not because of what they are. From John Calvin | They never ask it. The spiritual beings they do discuss are angels, fallen angels and demons, not other gods. From Westminster Confession, Second London Baptist Confession, John Chrysostom, Martin Luther |
| Do they rule anything? | ||
Yes. Heiser says God gave them the nations at Babel; Edwards calls them “a kind of princes under God” over parts of creation. | Human rulers do, for a time. Calvin says God gave judges a sacred title that “will pass away with the fashion of the world.” From John Calvin | None of them describes a ruling council. Chrysostom calls the demons condemned prisoners awaiting punishment. From Martin Luther, John Chrysostom, Westminster Confession, Second London Baptist Confession |
| What about the gods of the other nations? | ||
Real spiritual beings stand behind them. Heiser argues that denying they exist would mean denying demons exist too. | Not a ranked group of gods. Calvin calls them “so many masks, under which the devil hides himself.” From John Calvin | Chrysostom says an idol is nothing, yet pagan sacrifices go to demons. He never links this to the Old Testament’s gods of the nations. From John Chrysostom |
| Where they differ among themselves | ||
Edwards doesn’t choose: he says angels and Israel’s princes are both called gods for the same reason. He also reaches his view without the texts Heiser builds on, such as Psalm 82 and Deuteronomy 32. | Calvin is the only holder on the map. He weighs the reading that these are angels and rejects it as “a fancy too strained.” From John Calvin | Why it never comes up. For Ockham and Scotus the question belongs to a much later way of reading the Bible; the two confessions discuss angels and nothing more. From William of Ockham, John Duns Scotus, Westminster Confession, Second London Baptist Confession |
| In their own words | ||
“אלהים is what I call a 'place of residence' term. It identifies the proper domain of the entity described by it." and "Yahweh is an אלהים, but no other אלהים is Yahweh.” | “But here, as also a little after, the name gods is to be understood of judges, on whom God has impressed special marks of his glory. To apply it to angels is a fancy too strained to admit of serious consideration.” | “Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature.” |
| On this map | ||
| 2 figures | 1 figure | 6 figures |
Who holds which view
21 other figures on the map have no entry on this doctrine. That means nobody has assessed them on it — not that they hold no view.
Real spiritual beings under God
Real created spiritual beings, ranked under Yahweh and holding delegated rule
Human judges called “gods”
Human judges or rulers addressed as gods by office, not by nature
Never asked this question
Never posed as a question in these terms
Figures who hold no stance here
These are not gaps in the table. Each group below says which kind of blank it is — searched and not found, held open on purpose, never framed in these terms, or deliberately unassigned because no stance fits.
How to read a cell — sourcing tiers, blanks, and why some figures are never quoted
A cell marked quoted carries the figure's own words — 359 of 518of them, about 69%. Where there is no quotation the claim is still sourced, and the tier says how far. 3 figures carry no quotation at all, for reasons that differ: a living author cannot be quoted at length under copyright where Calvin can, and a figure at the standard account tier has simply had no primary-source pass yet. 3 of them state their own reason on their page.
A state label ending in ° was read from the stance, tier and note rather than stated on the map. See themethodology.