What is the meaning of peoples being divided up "according to the number of the gods" in Deuteronomy 32? Deuteronomy 32:8–9 (NRSV), part of Moses' song, reads:


  When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the LORD's own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.


Can someone tell me what this means?  God is one of many gods and he got Israel?  God divided the earth among his angels?  Or is he talking about idolatry?
The word, "'elohiym" in Hebrew can properly be seen as meaning, "God", "gods", "divine beings". So, you might say that the meaning was that he was keeping house of Jacob apart from the rest of the world and marking it as, "his" in the chosen sense of the word.

This reinforces the idea that being "holy", in Hebrew, really means being separate, set apart (see Strong's).