For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods.
//Yesterday, I introduced the council of gods in heaven. The Hebrew God, Yahweh, was apparently believed to be the head of the council:
Psalms 82:1, God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.
Yahweh apparently became the big cheese because of his might:
Psalms 89:6, For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?
This "council of gods" in heaven was a common Mediterranean belief where Israel settled, and each community held loyal to their own chosen local representative on the council. Israel's chosen god was particularly jealous, requiring strict devotion to him alone:
Exodus 34:14, For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God
In fact, he didn't even want his humans talking about other gods:
Exodus 23:13, "And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth."
In time, of course, Judaism evolved away from the idea of multiple gods. Instead, they began to claim that all the other gods were either make-believe or were demons. We’ve come full circle back to yesterday’s verse and Paul’s claim in the New Testament:
1 Corinthians 8:4, ... there is no other God but one.
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