(35) If he called them gods.--The argument is another example of Hillel's famous First Canon of Interpretation--that the greater may be inferred from the less. The pronoun "he" (He) refers probably to God (see Note on John 10:34), or the rendering may be "it," as referring to "law"--i.e., the Psalm.
Unto whom the word of God came--i.e., the word declaring "Ye are gods," and pointing back to the time indicated by "I said," when each one was set apart to be a representative of God, and in that he had His authority to bear also His name.
The scripture cannot be broken.--More literally, cannot be loosened. Comp. Notes on Matthew 5:18-19, and for the word rendered "broken" see also in this Gospel John 5:18; John 7:23.
Verse 35. - If he (the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Lawgiver, the subject is left indefinite) called them gods (elohim), to whom the Word of God came - the personal "Word" need not be excluded here; the "Word of God" was the Divine agency by which prophets spoke and psalmists sang - andthe Scripture (γραφή is singular, and has reference, not to all the γραφαί, but to this one word) cannot he broken; loosed, destroyed. A fine testimony to the confidence which our Lord exercised in the Holy Scripture. He was accustomed to educe principles of life from its inward structure, from its concealed framework, from its underlying verities. The very method adopted by Jesus on this occasion revealed the fact that both he and his biographer were born Jews. These tyrannical judges were "to die like men," yet, since "the Word of God came to them," there was a sense in which even they, without blasphemous assumptions, might receive the title of elohim.
10:31-38 Christ's works of power and mercy proclaim him to be over all, God blessed for evermore, that all may know and believe He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. Whom the Father sends, he sanctifies. The holy God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he makes holy. The Father was in the Son, so that by Divine power he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father, that he knew the whole of His mind. This we cannot by searching find out to perfection, but we may know and believe these declarations of Christ.
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came,.... The Syriac version reads, "because the word of God came to them"; either the divine "Logos", the essential word, the Son of God, who appeared to Moses, and made him a God to Pharaoh, and who appointed rulers and magistrates among the Jews; and who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, from whom all receive their power and dominion: this sense is favoured by the Ethiopic version, which renders it, "if he called them gods to whom God appeared, the word of God was with them": or else the commission from God, authorizing them to act in the capacity of rulers and governors, is here meant; or rather the word of God, which, in the passage of Scripture cited, calls them so, as it certainly does:
and the Scripture cannot be broken; or be made null and void; whatever that says is true, there is no contradicting it, or objecting to it: it is a Jewish way of speaking, much used in the Talmud (y); when one doctor has produced an argument, or instance, in any point of debate, another says, , "it may be broken"; or objected to, in such and such a manner, and be refuted: but the Scripture cannot be broken, that is not to be objected to, there can be no confutation of that.
Unto whom the word of God came--i.e., the word declaring "Ye are gods," and pointing back to the time indicated by "I said," when each one was set apart to be a representative of God, and in that he had His authority to bear also His name.
The scripture cannot be broken.--More literally, cannot be loosened. Comp. Notes on Matthew 5:18-19, and for the word rendered "broken" see also in this Gospel John 5:18; John 7:23.
and the Scripture cannot be broken; or be made null and void; whatever that says is true, there is no contradicting it, or objecting to it: it is a Jewish way of speaking, much used in the Talmud (y); when one doctor has produced an argument, or instance, in any point of debate, another says, , "it may be broken"; or objected to, in such and such a manner, and be refuted: but the Scripture cannot be broken, that is not to be objected to, there can be no confutation of that.
(y) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 4. 1. & Becorot, fol. 32. 1. & passim.