Introduction
This study looks at aspects of what is called the Divine Council (DC). I refer to the Biblical concept only, seeing it as a depiction of Yahweh and His subordinate heavenly angelic hosts in the exercising of His will. I present a positional ‘sitting and standing’ pattern, both to draw attention to the DC’s theophanic framework and, with OT precedents, to account for Jesus’ DC ‘standing’ and not ‘sitting’ on the right hand of God in Stephen’s vision of heaven in Acts 7:55-56.[1] My approach involves matching texts within and across the Bible’s testaments, especially where relevant quotation of the OT in the NT facilitates inner commentary, or reveals their user’s theological viewpoint. Common terminology and repeated conceptual identities yield a Biblical theophanic perspective which fits Stephen into an angelomorphic category.[2]
Prelude on Positioning (Sitting and Standing)
Divine power, operative in the healing of a disabled man, powerfully enabled Peter and John’s preaching, and he is presented standing witnessing with the apostles:
And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: Acts 3:10
And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Acts 4:14
Inevitably, this caused a clash in the temple with the Jewish authorities (“…the priests, captain of the temple, and the Sadducees” – Acts 4:1-3) and the apostles being brought before “…rulers, and elders, and scribes, Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, gathered together at Jerusalem” (Acts 4:5-6).
The contrary counsel of this council is described thus:
When they commanded them to go aside out of the council, they [those judging the apostles] conferred among themselves. Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Acts 4:16-18
The apostles, as Divine agents, reacted to this by inviting the Jewish council to refocus their judgment:
But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge you. Acts 4:19
The apostles’ subsequent prayer pictures God’s overriding counsel as determining (recent) events, citing Ps 2:2 for its present prophetic fulfillment:
The kings of the earth stood up/took their stand (yitaccübû MT/ paréstësan NT), and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ…For to do whatsoever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4:26-28
We see this sitting and standing pattern in the following:
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat (i.e., they presumed they did). Matt 23:2
…the elders, and the scribes…brought him to the Sanhedrin/the council, And set up /caused to stand false witnesses…For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him [Stephen]… Acts 6:12-15
(We have only to recall God’s ‘sitting’ but not inactive state presented in Ps 2:4, as man is powerless to frustrate His will: “The One sitting in the heavens shall laugh…”.)
When a person’s case was judged before a judgment-seat, that person would not sit. Whilst “people standing” might include their waiting to appear before the judge, the point to note is that ‘stand’ is consistently coupled with ‘sitting’ in conventional council language in the Bible. A link between ‘standing’ and witnessing is analogous to the metaphor of a judgment then ‘standing’ in respect of the facts of a case. In fact, both a physical ‘standing up (against or for)’ someone and this metaphorical ‘establishing-standing’ sense occurs in this legal statement:
One witness shall not rise up/stand up [Heb: yäqûm] against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter/word be established/stand [Heb: yäqûm] Deut 19:15[3]
In Deut 19:15, just cited, the Hebrew for both ‘rise up’ and ‘shall be established’ is yäqûm, which could have been translated with ‘shall stand’ as some versions have for a priest’s estimation in Lev 27:14. A cognate of yäqûm, the imperative qûmäh, both forms of the Hebrew root q-w-m (qûm), is used in Psalm 82 in the context of the Divine Council when God is urged to ‘arise’ or ‘stand up’.
Arise/stand up [Heb: qûmäh], O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations. Ps 82:8
The request is for God to change His position from sitting (Psa. 2:4) to standing [Heb: niccäb] in the council of judgment (Psalm 82).[4] The Psalm’s usage of the imperative qûmäh has a parallel or precedent in Moses’ plea:
And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up [Heb: qûmäh], YHWH, and let your enemies be scattered; and let them that hate you flee before you (Num. 10:35).
This matches Jesus, as we shall see, standing and responding to Stephen, at the end of Acts 7.
Wrestling Jacob
The theophanic moment in Jacob’s wrestling concerns him seeing God’s/´ël’s ‘face’, and as formerly at Beth-´ël, it involves angelic activity; a mediated angelic manifestation of God’s face makes possible the preservation of Jacob as he recognized (Gen 32:30): “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (Exod 33:20). Although Jacob wrestled with a ‘man’, he soon came to realize that this was no ordinary ‘man’.[5]
In English versions, ‘God’ translates both the singular Hebrew noun ´ël in ‘Peni´ël’ (‘face of ´ël’) and the plural noun ´élöhîm in “I have seen God face to face….” (Gen. 32:30). Jacob applies ´élöhîm – ‘God’ – to this wrestling ‘man’, conscious that he was a representative of ´ël; hence, his naming of the place ‘Peni´ël’ (Gen. 32:30). Accordingly, Hos 12:4 comments on this event, and identifies Jacob’s wrestling foe, this ‘face’ of God/´élöhîm whom Jacob saw, as an angel (Heb: mal´äk).
This interpretation of Gen 32:30 in Hos 12:4 is consistent with the NT conventions of theophany. For example, the inner biblical exegesis of Hosea corresponds intertextually with the ´élöhîm of Ps 8:6 being represented by aggelous ‘angels’ in Heb 2:9; or, similarly, ´élöhîm in Ps 97:7 is matched with ‘angels of God’ aggeloi theou in Heb 1:6;[6] and again, ‘his angels’/mal´äkäyw in Ps 91:11 and 104:4 connects with tous aggelous autou in Matt 4:6, Luke 4:10 and Heb 1:7.[7]
Though Jacob has wrestled with one man, the plural term ´élöhîm connects through the angel-man to ´ël/God, the God of Israel. The ‘God’ term ´élöhîm unites the Divine agent on earth manifesting, or representing the one, singular, unseeable God, the referent of ´ël. There are plenty of other Biblical texts which conform to these theophanic features, and show that the term ´élöhîm, as distinct from ´ël (or ´élôah, and ´ëlîm), marks in its plural form and semantics this extension(alising) of ´ël.[8] Otherwise put, ´élöhîm references (or its sense and reference is of) a manifestational God; it marks the presencing (and thereby the accessing) of the ‘absent’ YHWH.
The ‘God’/´élöhîm in the Bush whom Moses engaged with in Exodus 3, Stephen says is “an angel of the Lord” (Acts 7:30, 35). This is the angel, of whom YHWH said later, “my name is in him” (Exod 23:20-21). As the manifestatory medium for God’s utterance, the angel does not say ‘thus says YHWH’ to Moses, or the like, but uses the first person pronoun,
I am the God/´élöhê [i.e., ´élöhîm in construct – ‘God of’ – form] of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God (Exod 3:6).
This form of speech is like Jesus’ ‘I am’ utterances in John’s Gospel.[9]
Unmistakably, at the end of his speech, Stephen is directly linked with heaven (Acts 7:55-56). However, no doubt with irony, he is also so linked in Acts 6:15:
They saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Acts 6:15
This theophany in Stephen’s speaking recalls times when God’s bidding was manifest(ed) in the lives of Israel’s founding forebears. However, this recognitional expression about how he ‘appeared’, whether or not just a surface reading by those assembled, enables the pin-pointing of Stephen’s continuity with past theophanic episodes. The relation of ‘face’ + ‘angel’ prompts a connection with Jacob’s Peniel/ Penuel (Hebrew: ‘face of ´ël/God’) wrestling experience in Genesis 32. This remark of Stephen’s opponents places them into the typical position of a wrestling Jacob and Stephen into the angelomorphic position of one manifesting God. How observers ‘saw’ Stephen, or his face, interprets him as a Divine agent occupying an angelomorphic category. In Jesus’ terms this would be equivalent to Stephen being an “´élöhîm -theos to whom God’s word came” (‘theoi’ – ‘gods’ plural in John 10:34-35; cf. Psa. 82:6, which has ´élöhîm).[10]
Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob’s vision at Bethel (Genesis 28) sees YHWH ‘standing’ above the ladder in heaven, and this connects with Stephen’s vision of Jesus as described in Acts 7:56. YHWH stood [Heb: niccäb the Niphal participle of ycb] above the ladder” whose top reached heaven (Gen 28:12-13), and Stephen sees Jesus standing with the heavens open. The same verbal form, niccäb, used of God’s action in Ps 82:1 (“God/´élöhîm stands in the congregation of God/´ël; He judges among the gods/´élöhîm”), is similarly contextualized in Isaiah 3. The parallelism in this Isaiah text leaves no doubt as to God’s stance: “YHWH stands up [Heb: niccäb] to plead, and stands [Heb: `ömëd] to judge the people” (Isa 3:13). In Gen 28:12, a cognate of the Niphal participle niccäb, the Hophal participle muccäb, is used to depict the positioning of the ladder: “it was set up” or “it stood” on the earth. Thus the ladder linking earth with heaven, and the means by which the angels ascend to or descend from the Most High at the top to the earth where Jacob was, is an analogue of God’s stationary position while at the same time He facilitates this bi-directional link.
The motifs of “standing”, “ascending and descending” should cause us to see analogues of Jacob’s ladder elsewhere, for example in respect of Mount Sinai. The verb ycb, which only occurs in Hithpael, seems similar in its semantic functions to ncb. For example, in Exod 19:17-20 the people stand (ycb) at the foot of Mount and YHWH descends upon it. While YHWH comes down, Moses goes up. Instead of a ladder there is Mount Sinai. Descending and ascending take place upon the mountain; heaven and earth are linked. To receive the Ten Commandments, Moses goes up Mount Sinai in Exodus 34. God tells him to ascend to the top and stand (from Hebrew: ncb) there, or (as per KJV) “present yourself to me there” (Exod 34:2). In Exod 34:5 we read: “And YHWH descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed in the name of YHWH. ‘Stood’ in v. 5 is Hithpael imperfect from the verb ycb, which, with respect to ‘standing’, functions like ncb; both are verb forms utilized similarly in this context. This functional correspondence between ycb and ncb, in the same or similar contexts about ascending and descending, and relating to standing stances of God and man, enable an intertextual paralleling between Ps 2:2’s “the kings of the earth stood up (ycb)”, quoted in Acts 4:26, and Ps 82:1, “God stands (ncb) in the congregation of God; he judges among the gods”.
In a similar way, Jacob’s ladder should be inferred in Stephen’s vision:
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:56
This text attracts mention of Jesus’ words: “And he said…Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51); this places Jesus into the position of the ladder. In typology and experience, at least in part, this connects Stephen’s vision with Jacob’s ladder experience, but Jesus is not now the ladder—he stands in YHWH’s position. As YHWH stood above the ladder, so Jesus stands beside God, with heaven opened, in support of Stephen. This moment is also conditioned by a Divine council ‘standing’ background, especially where there is a contrast with Jesus ‘sitting’ to Jesus ‘standing’.
The Divine Council
Members of the Divine Council, angels, were God’s medium of manifestation to men and women; they ‘were’ God, representatively (without confusion of persons): God’s ‘gods’ (Gk. theioi), as Jesus’ use of Psa. 82:6, the Divine council Psalm, in John 10:34 shows.[11]
In Stephen’s vision, Jesus is standing on heavenly holy ground (so to speak), in the holiest of all (to which earthly material antitypes of the true pointed that are not able to ‘contain’ God – Acts 7:48). The ‘standing’ in heaven contrasts with Jesus’ ascended position beside Yahweh of ‘sitting’ as per Ps 110:1. So, Jesus, as a manifestor of ´ël (‘Immanuel’ Matt 1:23) his Father, is standing, urged by his witness’s case to arise to stand. Hence, Jesus is ´élöhîm standing. This corresponds with the ‘God’ terms, actions and place of witness or testimony (English versions’ ‘congregation’) in the Divine Council Psalm 82 (Hebraically rendered):
God/´élöhîm stands in the congregation of ´ël; he judges among the gods/´élöhîm (v. 1)
Arise/Stand up, O God/´élöhîm, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations (v. 8)
‘Stand up’ in judgment implies, applying Ps 2:4 to both Yahweh and the Son (acting for the Father), that until then He/he is sitting. Jesus sits in Ps 110:1.[12] Regarding Stephen, he is one of the ´élöhîm in this council among whom Jesus pronounces judgment.
Stephen’s witness is based, among other things, on episodes of theophany in the Hebrew Bible:
[1] Acts 7: 2 The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham (speaks to him later of God’s future ‘judging’ of Egypt, v. 7. Also, it is Abraham, who, in Genesis 18 ‘stood’ before YHWH – the YHWH angel – as the other two angels descended on Sodom. Abraham, in this impending judgment context, reasoning for righteousness based on his knowledge of God’s ways, in v. 25 calls YHWH: “the Judge of all the earth”).
[2] Acts 7:33 Then said the Lord [by the angel which appeared to him in the Bush (Acts 7:35, 38)] to him, Put off your shoes from your feet: for the place where on you stand is holy ground.
[3] Acts 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
[4] Acts 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God (cp. verse 2) and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Stephen communicates with Jesus both for himself and for his misguided countrymen, so that their sin would not be laid to their charge, which, unknown to Stephen, will later impact for good upon Saul of Tarsus. In Acts 8:1, the text just says that Saul was ‘consenting’ [Gk. suneudokōn] to Stephen’s death, which could connect with a council – agreement in judgment – background. However, complementing this reading, later, in Acts 22:20, when recounting this moment, Paul inserts ‘standing’: “And when the blood of your martyr [witness] Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.[13] Finally, there is an irony to note in Stephen’s address. The charge levelled against Stephen is that “we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us” (Acts 6:14). The irony is in Moses, the Law-giver whom they revered, being one who also occupied an ´élöhîm-theos category.[14] Moses, speaking God’s word which had come to him, initially at the Bush, was God/a god/´élöhîm to Pharaoh (Exod 7:1). Later Moses’, on Jethro’s advice, creates other judicial ‘G/god’/´élöhîm extensions (Exod 18:13- 24; 21:6; 22:8, 9).[15]
Conclusion
Sitting and standing, or sitting versus standing, seem to be positionally significant features of theophanic-associated moments or acts of the Divine Council.
Jesus’ standing on Stephen’s behalf, seen by Stephen when the heavens opened, suggests Jesus is standing to judge. Jesus has arisen, and Stephen citing this implies a judgmental censure of the Sanhedrin’s earthly council of false witness.
This is a moment of significant contrast. The Jewish earthly council, before whom Stephen was charged, is the antithesis of the heavenly Divine council opened to Stephen’s view.
Stephen and Jesus ‘stood’ together in the Divine council. Stephen took the opportunity, though pressed upon, to make a plea for his false accusers (“Lord lay not this sin to their charge”) and asked Jesus directly, not in prayer, to receive his spirit, implying that he knew the Just One had justly judged him.
[1] In this unique context, prayer petitioning terms are not used when Stephen makes request to Jesus (though some evidently ignore this—H. A. Whittaker, Studies in the Acts of Apostles (Cannock: Biblia, 1985), 104: “Now Stephen prayed…to Jesus”). As we shall argue, Jesus ‘in council’ testifies of his testifier (‘martyr’), and thereby judges the Jews.
[2] [Ed: AP] The term “angelomorphic” is common in scholarship in discussions of how angelic categories apply to persons. For a recent study see S. R. Wiest, “Stephen and the Angel: A Typological Reading of the Story of Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles” (PhD diss., University of Wisconsin, 2001).
[3] Compare the NT quotation of this text in 2 Cor. 13:1, which matches the Hebrew with its equivalent NT Greek term for ‘arise’/‘establish’/‘stand’ – stathesetai – (from histemi). Greek LXX mss. normally translate the Hebrew ‘stand (up)’ with this same verb.
[4] Compare “The counsel of YHWH stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (Ps 33:11). This is a metaphorical ‘standing’ which can be matched by physical demonstration, moving from ‘sitting’ to ‘standing’ (an analogue of taking a firm stance) in the Divine act of judging. Also, this following eschatological text partakes in the role or fellowship of ‘standing’: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people” (Dan. 12:1).
[5] Note: the Hebrew for ‘man’ is ´îš, not ´ädäm, which if it were would be a confusion of categories; angels are not “of”, nor are they “in”, a set of ´ädäm).
[6] Here we are postponing discussion of LXXPs 96:7, LXXDeut 32:43, and 4QDeut 32:43 as proposed sources for Heb 1:6.
[7] [Ed: AP] A similar relationship of ´élöhîm and mal´äk as well as terms such as aggelos and theos can also be mapped in various DSS texts.
[8] [Ed: AP] The notion of the extension of a concept is common in logic and semantics; for an introduction see J. Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 454.
[9] Jesus and God present a witness of two who are one in manifestation – John 10:30.
[10] In Genesis 18 – 19, Abraham’s angelic visitors stood [Heb: niccäbîm] by him (Gen 18:2), and while they ate his prepared meal he stood [Heb. `ömëd] nearby (Gen 18:8). After two of the angels have gone to Sodom to destroy it, Abraham is recorded as being in a place where he stood (Gen 18:22; 19:27) before the remaining angel, representing YHWH, and communed with him over the fate of Sodom; this is another Divine council theophanic episode related to judgment.
[11] Isaac Newton, in his General Scholium appended to Principia (1713, Second edition, and 1726, Third edition), in arguing for a “relative God” concept in the Bible, picks out instances where Divine agents go proxy for God. This is some of what he spells out (in King’s College Keynes MS 3, f. 45, reproduced, with acknowledgement to S. Snobelen, as it appears in the manuscript): “We may give the name of Gods to other Beings as is frequently done in Scripture. Aaron shall be to thee a mouth [or Prophet <or Logoj>] & thou shalt be to him a GOD. Exod IV. 16. See I have made thee a GOD to Pharaoh & Aaron shall be your Prophet Exod VII. 1. I have said you are GODS, but you shall dye like men Psal. LXXXII.6.”
[12] On this see further, J. Adey, “Psalm 110” in CeJBI 2/3 (Jul 2008): 73-95.
[13] At this moment, recorded in Acts 22:1ff, when speaking his defence in the Hebrew tongue before his countrymen, Paul, ‘stood’ on the stairs! An incidental detail? Would this remind him of how he and his fellow Jews crowded in upon Stephen as he S/Paul stood by? Eventually, having been brought before the Jewish council (Acts 23:28) and the judge Felix (Acts 24:10), Paul appeals to be heard before Caesar in Rome, and later tells Festus: “I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as you very well know” (Acts 25:10). Paul had been advised by Jesus to witness at Rome. In Acts 23:11 Paul records that “the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome.” And, en route to Caesar’s judgment seat in Rome, shipwreck imminent, Paul was assured by angelic visitation that he would make it to Rome, the crew would be saved, but the ship would be lost: “For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve. Saying, Fear not, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God has given you all them that sail with you” (Acts 27:23 – 24).
[14] The ´élöhîm-theos (phanerosis) relation that applied to Moses, a prophet who in time past received and spoke God’s word, is applied to Jesus by way of Ps 45:6 (v. 7 MT) and Heb 1:8. This consistently connects with Jesus’ point in John 10:34-36. Within this same theophanic framework, his own role is determined. He aligns himself (or is in continuity) with human-gods (cf. Ps 82:6) receiving, and being agents for the proclamation of, God’s word. Though, clearly, in him as the Son of God, past proclamatory agents have been surpassed; the Father in the Son has provided this ‘difference’ (e.g., John 1:14; 14:8-9; 2 Cor 5:19). For, this is the fullness of time in God’s scheme for the Jesus-´élöhîm: God has now spoken in a Son (Heb 1:1-2). As Stephen says pointedly in Acts 7:37, Moses prophetically (pre-)describes him: “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall you hear” (the consequence for Stephen’s audience, or the Jews who neglect to hear this unique prophet that even Moses whom they revered spoke of, is spelled out earlier in Acts 3:22-23, but this is one of those instances, as reported, where Stephen leaves the consequence unsaid; at least at this point he does).
[15] In virtue of these Divine ‘extensions’ (angels and human agents who go proxy for the Most High), the plural ´élöhîm used of them, or even of any individual one of them, marks their representational relation (beyond, or through, them) to God/YHWH. Likewise, the use of the plural ´élöhîm where the referent is Yahweh, Himself, suggests we should take this not as a “plural of majesty” (etc.), but a plural whose sense is ‘God-of-manifestation’. This amounts to there being a humanly unquantifiable plurality in YHWH with respect to His being represented, or imaged. The singular ‘God’ terms ´ël and ´élôah cannot convey this theophanic potential.
Unity is preserved in this plurality (or plural extension) of YHWH: ‘Yahweh our ´élöhîm, Yahweh is one’ (Deut. 6:4). This multiple imaging of one God, bearers of His image (Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 11:7; 15:49; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:4; Col 1:15; 3:10), not being Him, but having His likeness, helps us to understand God/´élöhîm saying “Let us [plural] make man in our [plural] image [singular/one image]…. So ´élöhîm created man in his own image, in the image of God/´élöhîm created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:26-27). (Compare the cohortative “Let us” (make)”… + “YHWH ´élöhîm said, Behold, the man is become as one of us” – Gen. 1:26-27; 3:22 – with ‘let us’ + ‘one’ (of many) in Gen. 11:1 – 9. There, these terms figure in Babel builder’s talk, and YHWH’s, resulting in His theophanic accompanied ‘coming down’ to confuse them and disrupt their heavenly aspirations.
Also, man is said to be constituted “lower/lesser than the ´élöhîm” in Ps 8:6. Both Heb 2:9 in quoting this Psalm, and LXX rendering it (whether independently of the NT or not), match Ps 8:6’s ´élöhîm with ‘angels’ (and LXX has aggelous/aggeloi for ´élöhîm elsewhere in the Psalms). Humans, having been made with this same Divine image as angel-´élöhîm, often “entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One