The Divine Council Worldview (DCW)

Michael Heiser
Written By Anthony Delgado

The Divine Council Worldview (DCW) posits that a heavenly assembly of spiritual beings exists under the authority of the supreme God, both ordering the cosmos and human destiny. Its origins are seen in ancient Near Eastern religions such as Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hittite traditions, which depicted divine assemblies governing the world. The Bible engages with this worldview, describing God’s appointment of the nations to spiritual rulers, their subsequent rebellion, and God’s ultimate judgment over them. Key themes include the reality of lesser elohim, the hierarchy of heavenly beings, and the compatibility of the DCW with biblical monotheism. Ultimately, the Scriptures use divine council language to demonstrate Yahweh’s unrivaled supremacy over all spiritual powers.

The Divine Council

Three words comprise the phrase ‘Divine Council Worldview’ (DCW). Divine refers to beings of non-human spiritual, divine, or angelic origin. These beings, it is argued, make up a council in the heavens which operates under the authority of a supreme deity. A worldview is a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world that an individual holds. To say there is a Divine Council Worldview is to say that the presence of a Divine Council governs how we think about the world, mainly how it affects one’s personal life and philosophy. 

Religious beliefs, further, govern much of society and morality in both the ancient and modern worlds. The Ancient Near Eastern concept of a Divine Council typically sees various lesser deities governing various aspects of human social life, rather than being under the influence or control of a single supreme deity. In that way, an individual’s life decisions are highly influenced by his or her view of the gods and their ordering and responsibility within the Divine Council. 

1. Historical context: Origins of the DCW in ancient Near Eastern religious beliefs.

The Divine Council Worldview (DCW) is not unique to the Hebrew Bible. Similar divine assemblies appear across the ancient Near East, where gods and goddesses were believed to form councils that governed the cosmos, made decisions, and shaped human destiny.

  1. Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Canaanite Councils
    In Mesopotamian religion, deities such as Anu, Enlil, and Enki formed a council with Anu at its head. Babylonian mythology elevated Marduk as chief god, a role described vividly in the Enuma Elish. In Egypt, a divine assembly included Osiris, Isis, Horus, and others, with Ra at its center, shaping both life and the afterlife as seen in the Book of the Dead. Canaanite religion, particularly in Ugarit, described El as the head of the council, with Baal playing a major role in conflicts and decisions recorded in the Ugaritic texts.

  2. Hittite Myths of Struggle and Succession
    Hittite mythology also depicted divine councils. Anu, Kumarbi, and Teshub featured prominently, with narratives focusing on struggles for supremacy. Kumarbi’s rebellion against Anu, and Teshub’s eventual rise, highlight recurring themes of power contests within the divine assembly. Such myths reveal how councils were imagined as dynamic arenas of conflict rather than stable hierarchies.

  3. A Common Religious Pattern Across Cultures
    From Mesopotamia to Egypt, Canaan, and Anatolia, these cultures shared a worldview in which the universe was governed by a heavenly assembly of gods. Each deity exercised authority in a specific domain—fertility, weather, sun, or judgment—reflecting how the ancients explained the natural order, human fate, and divine governance. The widespread presence of these myths shows the pervasiveness of the divine council motif in the ancient imagination.

The existence of divine council imagery in the ancient Near East does not imply that all these religions carried equal truth or should be blended into a universal synthesis. Such a conclusion would undermine biblical revelation. Instead, these parallels help Christians see how the Scriptures respond to and correct the surrounding mythologies. The Bible’s use of divine council language functions polemically, demonstrating that Yahweh alone is supreme over every other power in heaven and on earth.

2. Overview of key scholars associated with the Divine Council

  • Dr. Michael S. Heiser (DrMSH) has written extensively on the Divine Council, most notably in his book The Unseen Realm. He also contributed the article “Divine Council” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets and wrote the entry on the subject in The Lexham Bible Dictionary. These works are highly recommended, and Heiser is widely regarded as the leading scholar on the Divine Council worldview (DCW) today.

That is not to say that other authors have not written on the subject. For further study, the following articles are helpful:

  • P. K. McCarter Jr., “Sons of God (OT)” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988) – A concise overview of the Old Testament references to the “sons of God.”

  • Leland Ryken, Jim Wilhoit, Tremper Longman, Colin Duriez, Douglas Penney, and Daniel G. Reid, “Assembly, Divine” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (InterVarsity Press, 2000) – Explores the imagery of the divine assembly in biblical literature.

  • Carol A. Newsom, “Angels: Old Testament” in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (edited by David Noel Freedman, Doubleday, 1992) – A scholarly treatment of angelic figures in the Old Testament, with connections to the divine council.

  • Matthew J. M. Coomber, “Reading the Old Testament in Ancient and Contemporary Contexts” in The Old Testament and Apocrypha (edited by Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page Jr., and Matthew J. M. Coomber, Fortress Commentary on the Bible, Fortress Press, 2014) – Discusses interpretive approaches that touch on the divine council within broader Old Testament study.

The following books also include sections on the Divine Council worldview from contemporary scholars:

  • Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Fortress Press, 2005), p. 628 – Connects Israel’s testimony about God with the contested claims of surrounding nations, offering insight into the cosmic courtroom imagery tied to the divine council.

  • David Francis Hinson, Theology of the Old Testament (SPCK International Study Guide, vol. 15, SPCK, 2001), p. 65 – Provides an accessible treatment of Old Testament theology, including references to God’s relationship with heavenly beings within the divine assembly.

  • Stephen De Young, The Religion of the Apostles: Orthodox Christianity in the First Century (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2021), p. 63 – Explains how the earliest Christians inherited and reinterpreted the Jewish understanding of the divine council in light of Christ and the apostles.

  • Daniel I. Block, The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology (3rd ed., Wipf & Stock, 2013) – Examines Israel’s God in contrast to the gods of the nations, illuminating the biblical framework of Yahweh’s supremacy over the divine council.

3. Core Tenets of the Divine Council Worldview

The Divine Council Worldview (DCW) describes a heavenly assembly of spiritual beings who participate in God’s governance of creation. This biblical theme is rooted in passages from Genesis, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Job, and the New Testament, which together portray both the structure and the rebellion of this council.

  1. The Divine Council as an Assembly of Gods
    Scripture reveals that when God divided the nations at Babel (Genesis 11:1–9), he appointed them under the oversight of the “sons of God” (Deuteronomy 32:8). These beings formed a heavenly council tasked with ruling justly over the nations (Psalm 82). Instead, they rebelled, receiving the worship of people and ruling with injustice, prompting God’s judgment upon them (Psalm 82:6–8). The biblical witness affirms that these so-called gods were real spiritual beings, not human inventions, and their corruption became a defining feature of the fallen world.

  2. The Hierarchy of Heavenly Beings
    Episodes like Job 1:6–7 illustrate how the council operated: “One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them” (CSB). Within this scene, a clear hierarchy emerges. At the highest level stands Yahweh, the Almighty, supreme over all. Beneath him are the “sons of God,” heavenly rulers or judges. Alongside them appears Satan, functioning like a prosecuting attorney, accusing humankind. These roles display the council as a courtroom where God is the final judge, the sons of God act as rulers, and adversarial figures like Satan serve in subordinate, though antagonistic, roles.

  3. Monotheism and the Existence of Other Elohim
    The DCW does not contradict biblical monotheism. While “elohim” is a term used for the God of Israel, it also applies more broadly to other spiritual beings. These beings are “gods” in the sense of being divine, but not in the sense of being ultimate, eternal, or uncreated. The Apostle Paul acknowledges these figures when he writes, “there are many so-called gods” (1 Corinthians 8:5), but clarifies that none is comparable to Yahweh. The DCW affirms one supreme God while recognizing that other lesser beings inhabit the heavenly realm under his sovereignty.

The key tenets of the DCW highlight that the Bible presents a divine assembly, a structured hierarchy, and a theology of monotheism that accommodates lesser spiritual beings without diminishing the uniqueness of Yahweh. Far from endorsing polytheism, the Scriptures portray Yahweh as the unrivaled King over all creation, with every other power—whether loyal or rebellious—subject to his ultimate authority.

More DCW Content:

Anthony Delgado https://anthonydelgado.net
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