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I. THEIR OFFICIAL GREATNESS.

1. They are here called gods. "Ye are gods." In what sense are they gods?

(1) Not in the sense of mental superiority. There are some men, it is true, so far superior in mind to the average of their kind, that they move about like divinities. But human rulers are seldom found of that lofty type.

(2) Not in the sense of moral superiority. The highest greatness is moral. In every age men have appeared amongst their fellows as moral divinities, they have reflected the rays of Divine purity and beneficence. But human rulers have seldom been of this class.

(3) Not in the sense of their own estimation. It is very true that many worldly rulers have esteemed themselves as gods, and, like Herod of old, demanded the worship of their fellow-men. But in none of these senses does the psalmist say they are "gods." His sense is an official sense. "The powers that be are ordained of God."

2. They are here called, "children of the Most High." The kingly office is a Divine creation. He is the "minister of God," says Paul.

II. Their MORTAL DOOM. "Ye shall die like men."(1) The most illustrious must meet with a common event. They "die like men." He who is chief in the most elevated ranks of life must die as the obscurest in life's lowest grades. "He bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." Death mingles sceptres with spades.

(2) The most illustrious will meet with this common end in a way peculiar to themselves. "Fall like one of the princes." There are feelings which a prince must have in dying, utterly unknown to the dying man in humbler life — feelings, methinks, that add agony and horror to the hour. Other things being equal, death would be easier in a hovel than in a palace.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

WEB: I said, "You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.