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SOLOMON, PSALMS OF

The most important noncanonical psalter. Reflecting the turmoil of political and religious events in the immediate pre-Christian century when Roman armies first occupied Palestine, it provides the most detailed expectation of the Jewish messiah before the NT.

The period between 65 and 30 b.c.e. is the most likely time of its original composition in Hebrew. A translation into Greek followed, perhaps in Egypt about the turn of the era, and a later translation appeared in Syriac, apparently based on both the Hebrew and Greek texts. Psalms of Solomon survives in 11 Greek and four fragmentary Syriac manuscripts, from the 10th to the 16th centuries. No known Hebrew text exists. It appears in several canon lists of Scripture, including the 5th-century catalogue in the Codex Alexandrinus, and in canon lists from the early 6th to the 10th century. More than 30 editions and translations have been published from 1626 to the present.

Several psalms (1, 2, 8, 15) are vivid, apparently eyewitness, reactions to the events in the decades surrounding the Roman occupation of Palestine from the invasion of Pompey in 63 b.c.e. to the rule of Herod the Great in 37 b.c.e. Other psalms are more generic, with themes much like the biblical Psalter. Pss. Sol. 17 is an extended messianic hymn describing the anticipated victory and reign of the expected redeeming king, the anointed Son of David. This “Lord Messiah” is to lead the pious in a rebellion against the occupying forces, expulsion of foreign influences, and displacement of the corrupt administrations of state and temple. He is to establish an independent and holy Jewish state to which foreign nations would pay allegiance. Most seditious writings, such as Daniel and Revelation, are veiled in cryptic vocabulary innocuous to the eyes of outsiders. However, Psalms of Solomon is an open call for rebellion against both foreign domination and internal corruption, albeit with divine intervention. Unless the Psalms were assured of a strictly controlled circulation, the community was either reckless or emboldened by their belief in an imminent divine intervention.

By superscriptions and tradition, the psalter is ascribed or dedicated to Solomon, although no references to him appear within the poems themselves. The similarity between the most prominent psalm (Pss. Sol. 17) and the canonical Ps. 72, , already known as a “Psalm of Solomon,” may have prompted the editorial ascription to the one who, next to David, enjoyed a reputation as a poet (1 Kgs. 4:32-34[MT 5:12-14]). Like most late Hebrew poetry, the psalms are of mixed types. Because of the unusual prominence of Jerusalem in Psalms of Solomon, there is little doubt of its provenance. Several authors and an editor/collator appear to have been involved in the composition.

The Pharisees have been most often linked with the psalter, but that identification must now be abandoned. Other scholars have linked it to the Hasidim, Sadducees, Essenes, or even Christians. While few have suggested Qumran itself as a venue for the psalter, many have pointed to similarities to several of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Within the complex of religious coalitions active during this period, the most precision we can have is to say that a separatist group of Jewish messianic protesters in the 1st century b.c.e. is responsible for the psalter.

There are some indications of a synagogue venue for the Psalms of Solomon. The community apparently worshipped apart from the corrupt temple, and abstained from the despoiled sacrifices. Piety had become a substitute for sacrifice, so that sins were now cleansed through confession and penance in the “synagogues of the pious” (17:16; 10:7), where they gave thanks to God (10:6).

As in the biblical prophets and Qumran, the psalter sees God as using foreign powers to discipline Israel. There is a tension between God’s sovereignty and human choice: humans can do nothing outside the scope of God’s control, but themselves have the power to choose right over wrong.

Composed within a century of the beginnings of Christianity, Psalms of Solomon illuminates the background setting of the Gospels. Especially in Pss. Sol. 17, 18 these poems show how disillusionment with state and temple has increased and hopes for divine intervention have risen. The term “messiah,” often used for past and present individuals, now is to be specifically a descendant of David (a rebuke to the Hasmonean rulers), a future ideal king who will restore Israel to a glorious future.

This Lord Messiah is not a supernatural being. However, he will be sinless and have a “holy people” whom he will “lead in righteousness.” Using what may have been increasingly common terminology of the time, the righteous person is a “beloved offspring” (13:9) and a “firstborn child” (18:4). These holy ones are “innocent lambs” (8:23), among sinners. The Messiah will bring the “salvation of the Lord” upon Israel forever (12:6).

With the title Lord Messiah, these psalms link for the first time the concepts of “Messiah” and “Lordship” into a new construct available in the contemporary religious environment for Luke to use as a title for Jesus (Luke 2:11), and which the NT develops into the image of “Christ the Lord,” a theme central in the development of NT Christology.

Bibliography. K. Atkinson, “Herod the Great, Sosius, and the Siege of Jerusalem (37 b.c.e.) in Psalm of Solomon 17,” NovT 38 (1996): 313-22; G. Ward, A Philological Analysis of the Greek and the Syriac Texts of the Psalms of Solomon (diss., Temple University, 1996); R. B. Wright, “The Psalms of Solomon,” OTP 2:639-70; The Psalms of Solomon: A Critical Edition of the Greek Text (forthcoming); “The Psalms of Solomon, the Pharisees and the Essenes,” 1972 Proceedings, ed. R. A. Kraft. SBLSCS 2 (Missoula, 1972): 136-54.

Robert B. Wright

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SOLOMON, PSALMS OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)