The Divine Council of 70 gods in the Bible

Did God preside over an assembly of gods?

Ugarit was an ancient city located near Israel. The ancient writings that were discovered there are similar to the ancient Hebrew language and culture and have been helpful for Biblical studies in terms of providing cultural and textual context. The Ugaritic ancient texts speak of a Divine Council that was led by El - the same name used for God in the Bible. This is not to imply that the Ugaritic understanding of El was the same as the Israelite understanding of El. "The Baal Cycle" is an Ugaritic text and talks about the assembly of the gods, here is one instance (read the full text here):

Then They set face
Toward the Mountain of Night,
Toward the Convocation of the Assembly.
The Gods had not even sat down,
The Deities to dine,
When Baal stood up by El.

The Bible also speaks of an assembly of gods:

God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.
- Psalm 82:1

These "gods" are also referred to as "sons of God" and we see them assembled in Job as well:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
- Job 1:6

How many gods were in the Divine Council? The Baal Cycle put them at seventy:

Kothar-u-Kasis goes to the Lady Asherah of the Sea, Mother of the Seventy Gods.

The Bible doesn't say directly how many gods are in the Divine Council, BUT in Genesis 10 and 11, it lists all the nations. How many nations? 70. Who were those nations given to? The gods.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.
- Deuteronomy 32:8-9

The Book of Ecclesiasticus echoes this:

For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord's portion
-Ecclesiasticus 17:17

And the Book of Jubilees:

And He sanctified it, and gathered it from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are His, and over all hath He placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from Him. But over Israel He did not appoint any angel or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will preserve them and require them at the hand of His angels and His spirits, and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be His and He may be theirs from henceforth for ever.
- Book of Jubilees 35:21-32 ("Lead them astray from Him" describes the result, not the original purpose of their appointment)

I think this concept makes more sense of the passages in Daniel that talk about the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece:

The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,
- Daniel 10:13

Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come.
- Daniel 10:20

The concept of a Divine Council is probably new to many of you and raises a lot of questions, such as: What other Scripture provides evidence? Doesn't this make the Israelite religion polytheistic? Doesn't the Bible say there is only one God? and where did the Divine Council meet?

These are all good questions and I will point you to the work of Michael Heiser. He has produced a lot of material regarding the Divine Council. Check out here and here.