This, too, is a "Psalm of Asaph." See Introduction to Ps. 73. There is nothing, however, in its contents to determine the time or the occasion of its being composed, although there is no difficulty in ascertaining the design for which it was written, or the use to be made of it. It is intended to state the duties and the responsibilites of magistrates or civil rulers. Though the language is such as was adapted especially to the Hebrew magistracy, and to the duties of magistrates as specified in the Jewish law, yet the principles are such as should guide magistrates at all times and in all countries; and the truths suggested are such as are eminently worthy the attention of all who are entrusted with authority.
The psalm was evidently composed at a time when there was much that was unjust and oppressive in the administration of justice; when the magistrates were corrupt; when they could be bribed; when they were forgetful of their obligation to defend the poor and the fatherless - the afflicted and the needy; when manifest consequences of the evil administration of justice prevailed in the land, and "all the foundations of the earth" seemed to be "out of course;" and when those in power were haughty and arrogant, as if they were not people, and were not to die. DeWette supposes that the psalm was composed in the time of the Babylonian exile, and had reference to the conduct of the oppressive rulers in that land; but it is not necessary to suppose this. There were doubtless many occasions in the history of the Hebrew people when all that is here said of the conduct of their rulers and judges was applicable to them. Compare Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 1:23, Isaiah 1:26.
The contents of the psalm are as follows:
I. A reference to God as the Supreme Ruler; the Ruler of those that rule; the God to whom all magistrates, however exalted in rank, are responsible, Psalm 82:1.
II. A reference to the character of the magistrates at the time when the psalm was written, as those who judged unjustly; who were partial in the administration of justice; and who favored people of rank and position, Psalm 82:2.
III. A statement of the duties of magistrates, in reference particularly to the poor, the fatherless, the needy, and the afflicted, Psalm 82:3-4.
IV. A further statement in regard to the character of the magistrates at the time when the psalm was written, particularly as ignorant, and as walking in darkness, Psalm 82:5.
V. A solemn appeal to them as mortal people - as subject to death like others - though they had a rank which entitled them to the appellation of "gods," and were the representatives of the Most High on earth, Psalm 82:6-7.
VI. A call on God to arise and to execute judgment in the earth, for he was the Supreme Ruler, and the nations, with all their interests, pertained to him, Psalm 82:8.

A warning to corrupt judges, Psalm 82:1, Psalm 82:2; an exhortation to them to dispense justice without respect of person, Psalm 82:3-5; they are threatened with the judgments of the Lord, Psalm 82:6-8.
This Psalm, which, in the title, is attributed to Asaph, was probably composed in the time when Jehoshaphat reformed the courts of justice throughout his states; see 2-Chronicles 19:6, 2-Chronicles 19:7, where he uses nearly the same words as in the beginning of this Psalm.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 82
A Psalm of Asaph. This psalm was written for the use of persons in power, for the instruction of kings and princes, judges and civil magistrates; according to Kimchi, it was written about the times of Jehoshaphat, who appointed new judges throughout the land; those that were before having been very corrupt, to whom he gave a charge agreeably to the purport of this psalm, 2-Chronicles 19:5, but it seems rather to be written by Asaph, in the times of David, under a spirit of prophecy, and has respect to the times of Christ, when there was a great corruption among the judges and rulers of the Jews, both civil and ecclesiastic. The Syriac version calls it, "a reproof of the ungodly Jews"; our Lord cites a passage out of it in vindication of himself from their charge of blasphemy, John 10:34.

(Psalm 82:1-5) An exhortation to judges.
(Psalm 82:6-8) The doom of evil rulers.

God's Judgment upon the Gods of the Earth
As in Ps 81, so also in this Psalm (according to the Talmud the Tuesday Psalm of the Temple liturgy) God is introduced as speaking after the manner of the prophets. Psalm 58:1-11 and 94 are similar, but more especially Isaiah 3:13-15. Asaph the seer beholds how God, reproving, correcting, and threatening, appears against the chiefs of the congregation of His people, who have perverted the splendour of majesty which He has put upon them into tyranny. It is perfectly characteristic of Asaph (Ps 50; Psalm 75:1-10; Ps 81) to plunge himself into the contemplation of the divine judgment, and to introduce God as speaking. There is nothing to militate against the Psalm being written by Asaph, David's contemporary, except the determination not to allow to the לאסף of the inscription its most natural sense. Hupfeld, understanding "angels" by the elohim, as Bleek has done before him, inscribes the Psalm: "God's judgment upon unjust judges in heaven and upon earth." But the angels as such are nowhere called elohim in the Old Testament, although they might be so called; and their being judged here on account of unjust judging, Hupfeld himself says, is "an obscure point that is still to be cleared up." An interpretation which, like this, abandons the usage of the language in order to bring into existence a riddle that it cannot solve, condemns itself. At the same time the assertion of Hupfeld (of Knobel, Graf, and others), that in Exodus 21:5; Exodus 22:7., Ex 27,
(Note: In the English authorized version, Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8. ("judges"), Ex 28 ("gods," margin "judges") . - Tr.)
אלהים denotes God Himself, and not directly the authorities of the nation as being His earthly representatives, finds its most forcible refutation in the so-called and mortal elohim of this Psalm (cf. also Psalm 45:7; Psalm 58:2).
By reference to this Psalm Jesus proves to the Jews (John 10:34-36) that when He calls Himself the Son of God, He does not blaspheme God, by an argumentatio a minori ad majus. If the Law, so He argues, calls even those gods who are officially invested with this name by a declaration of the divine will promulgated in time (and the Scripture cannot surely, as in general, so also in this instance, be made invalid), then it cannot surely be blasphemy if He calls Himself the Son of God, whom not merely a divine utterance in this present time has called to this or to that worldly office after the image of God, but who with His whole life is ministering to the accomplishment of a work to which the Father had already sanctified Him when He came into the world. In connection with ἡγίασε one is reminded of the fact that those who are called elohim in the Psalm are censured on account of the unholiness of their conduct. The name does not originally belong to them, nor do they show themselves to be morally worthy of it. With ἡγίασε καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Jesus contrasts His divine sonship, prior to time, with theirs, which began only in this present time.