I. Name

The noun sôd is found 23 times in the Hebrew Bible: twice in personal names, otherwise in poetry (though Ezek. 13.9 may be termed high prose). Its semantic range includes ‘council, assembly; counsel, deliberation, plan(s), will; company, fellowship, friendship’—each of which may be applied to both the human and divine spheres. It refers specifically to the divine court in four passages, implies its existence in two others, and could possibly refer to it in an additional two. Sôd is probably a prima…