John Trapp on Psalms 82:1

PSAL. LXXXII

VEerſ. 1. God ſtandeth in the Congregation of the Mighty] There God is preſent and preſident by a particular providence, as Lord Paramount, and chief Magiſtrate,Ut praeſes Synodi. Locus [illegible: 1 letter]raeſ[illegible: 1 letter]dis eſt medius locus in caetibus. higher than the higheſt, Eccleſ. 5.8. Job 31.14. Epheſ. 6.9. The Etheopian Judges, they ſay, do ever leave the chief ſeat of Judicature empty for him; and Solomon, for like reaſon; calleth that ſeat The holy place, Eccleſ. 8.10. There Elohim (that is, the Judge and Avenger) ſtandeth, or ſetteth himſelf, to behold the actions and affections of Judges, and to paſs a cenſure upon their ſentences. Good therefore was the counſel of Jehoſaphat to his Judges when to ride circuit, 2 Chron. 19.6. Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the Judgement. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord your God be upon you; take heed and do it, &c. Judges ſhould ſit in as great (though not ſo ſlaviſh) a fear of offending, as Olanes in the hiſtory did upon the flayd skin of his Father Silannes nailed by Cambyſes on the tribunal, or as a Ruſſian Judge,Turk. hiſt. 728. that feareth the boyling caldron, or open battocking; or the Turkiſh Senate, when they think the great Turk to ſtand behind the Arras at the dangerous door.

He judgeth among the Gods] i. e. Among the Magiſtrates (as our Saviour interpreteth it, Joh. 10.34, 35.) who are called gods. Firſt, By analogie tanquam Deum imitantes, ſaith Theodoret, as reſembling God by having the power of life and death. Secondly, By participation, tanquam lumina illuminata, ſaith Auſtin; as ſtars participate their light from the Sun; ſo do Rulers their authority from the ſupreme Majeſty. Thirdly, By deputation from God, whoſe vicegerents they are, and to whom they muſt be accountable for their mal-administration.