Talk:Divine Council

Yahweh not a participant in an assembly of deities

This article does not reflect Jewish-Christian understanding and appears to be an attempt to construct an association between Yahweh mentioned in the bible and an assembly of deities. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.196.154.194 (talk) 14:12, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

This article is clearly in the Comparative Theology arena. It is not true that "Jewish-Christian understanding" precludes examination of a theme shared among the Near Eastern religions. And the word "Yahweh" is not used in Psalm 82. Instead it is "Elohim" with plural verbs in Hebrew.Derrick Chapman 22:01, 26 December 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Derrickchapman (talk • contribs)

I've added a link by Michael S. Heiser that discusses the meaning of the two elohim in Psalm 82:1. The section on the Hebrew Bible could have more discussion of both sides of the issue. -- Aronzak (talk) 14:47, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Agree. Adjusted it a bit more myself, but having studied this matter a great deal myself, while it's key to make sure that Yahweh's role is not downplayed, the Biblical text does refer Yahweh as being in an assembly of elohim, which is translated "gods." That doesn't mean on its own, of course, that Yahweh is not in a markedly different category than them. Hopefully more on this issue can/will be added over time. GreenRedGreen (talk) 05:30, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

Merge in Celestial bureaucracy

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Celestial bureaucracy is in the See also section. It has two paragraphs:

The Celestial bureaucracy is the pantheon of Chinese mythology. As the name suggests, it is organized similarly to a government administration (patterned after political structures found in the Han dynasty), with the Jade Emperor as the senior official to whom the other deities must report. The constituents of this bureaucracy are decided in the Underworld, where extremely good souls will rise to heaven. They govern aspects of our world, like fire or epidemics.

Many notable immortals are included in this pantheon, and one can get into it by applying for a post (only if you are a rather strong god), or committing a good deed in the name of heaven, and thus possibly get an honorable title or a reward. Note that there are spiritual forces higher than it, like Tai Shan Lao Jun and the three sacred masters of the Dao.

I propose the article is merged in as a new section "Chinese Celestial Bureucracy" -- Aronzak (talk) 13:32, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Opposed. The articles should be mutually linked and the treatment here and there may need to be improved; but the Chinese bureaucracy was not a council in any sense of that word. — LlywelynII 09:05, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

It's been months with no support and the topics seem necessarily forked, so I'll just close this. — LlywelynII 10:55, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Mormonism (Latter-day Saints)

"The Council in Heaven" is central to mormon theology, and depicted in a few different places in their scripture and discussed by their prophets and apostles at length. I don't have the time to write something up, but I will leave a few links in the hope that someone else can. the short version is basically, god called all his children and all other intelligences, held a council in which he proposed a plan to help all other creatures progress to his level and achieve a higher level of glory and dwell with him and his son. Satan opposed his plan, and a third of all spirits joined him in rebellion. A "Heavenly War" or "war in Heaven" was fought between them and Jesus, Michael (Adam) and their followers on the opposing side. Lucifer and his hosts were cast down to earth, he became Satan and the spirits who followed him became subject to his will and are now evil spirits. God's plan was then set in action, to great rejoicing. The plan entails, birth, death, judgement and ressurection (possible rebirth depending on the mormon

)http://mormonmysticism.blogspot.com/2007/12/reincarnation.html.

https://www.lds.org/liahona/1984/04/the-great-council-in-heaven?lang=eng - for kids

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/4.1-4?lang=eng#0

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/gs/council-in-heaven?lang=eng

http://bystudyandfaith.net/2010/03/hugh-nibley-on-the-council-in-heaven/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.70.60.85 (talk) 21:05, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Last bit in Hebrew section

The last graf there is a quote, shoehorned in. It should be a cite and the graf should be rewritten encyclopedialy. Temerarius (talk) 17:46, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Heiser and scare quotes around "gods"

Heiser's section (which is a key one and could even be expanded in my view by a bit) was edited so the second reference to gods reads as "gods". Heiser himself doesn't use these scare quotes. The first set of quotes around that word in this section indicate the linguistic translation, but the addition of scare quotes in the second misrepresents Heiser. GreenRedGreen (talk) 18:30, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Given that "gods" is a misrepresentation issue, I went ahead and removed them. At minimum, think before including those we should have a discussion here. Thanks! GreenRedGreen (talk) 04:42, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

Author of the Anchor Bible Dictionary article

Toward the end of the Hebrew / Israelite subsection, it cites David N. Freedman in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. Freedman is the editor of the whole (multi-volume) dictionary. The author of the particular article cited is E. Theodore Mullen, Jr. I'm not a habitual wikipedian and don't know the rules of style for this case, but the credit should be updated. ~2026-28613-78 (talk) 20:25, 11 May 2026 (UTC)