Psalms of Solomon

SOLOMON, PSALMS OF. These psalms, 18 in all, en joyed but small consideration in the early Christian Church ; for only six direct references to them are found in early Christian literature, though in the Jewish Church they must have played an important role; for they were used in the worship of the syna gogue. They were not written by Solomon, but were subsequently ascribed to him. The fact that they do not contain a single ref er ence to Solomon is in favour of their having been first published anonymously. On the other hand, their author (or authors) may have placed over them the superscription "Psalms of Solomon" in order to gain currency for this new collection under the shelter of a great name of the past.

Language and Date.-All modern scholars are practically agreed that the Psalms were written in Hebrew. The date can be determined from references to contemporary events. The book opens with the alarms of war (i. 2, viii. I.), in the midst of a period of great prosperity (i. 3, 4, viii. 7), but the prosperity is merely material, for from the king to the vilest of his subjects they are altogether sinful (xvii. 21, 22). The king, moreover, is no descendant of David, but has usurped his throne (xvii. 6-8). But judgment is at hand. "A mighty striker" has come from the ends of the earth (viii. 16), who when the princes of the land greeted him with words of welcome (viii. 18) seized the city (viii. 21), cast down its walls (ii. I), polluted its altar (ii. 2), put its princes and counsellors to the sword (viii. 23), and carried away its sons and daughters captive to the west (viii. 24, xvii. 14). But the dragon who conquered Jerusalem (ii. 29), and thought himself to be more than man (ii. 32, 33), at last meets with shameful death on the shores of Egypt (ii. 3o, 31).

The above allusions are easy to interpret. The usurping kings who are not descended from David are the Maccabeans. The "mighty striker" is Pompey. The princes who welcomed his

approach are Aristobulus II. and Hyrcanus II. Pompey carried off princes and people to the west, and finally perished on the coast of Egypt in 48 B.C. Thus Ps. ii. was written soon after 48 B.c., while Ps. i., xvii. fall between 63 and 48 B.C., for they presuppose Pompey's capture of Jerusalem, but show no knowl edge of his death. Ps. v., vii., ix., xiii., xv. belong apparently to the same period, but iv. and xii. to an earlier one. On the whole Ryle and James are right in assigning 70-40 B.C. as the limits within which the psalms were written.

Authorship.-The

authors were Pharisees. They divide their countrymen into two classes-"the righteous" (ii. 38-39, iii. 3-5, 7, 8) and "the sinners" (ii. 38, iii. 13, iv. 9) ; "the saints" (iii. 1o) and "the transgressors" (iv. II). The former are the Phari sees; the latter the Sadducees. The authors protest against the Asmonaeans (i.e. the Maccabees) for usurping the thrones of David and laying violent hands on the high priesthood (xvii. 5, 6, 8), and proclaim the coming of the Messiah, the true son of David (xvii. 23-25), who is to set all things right and establish the supremacy of Israel. The Messiah is to be pure from sin (xvii. 41), purge Jerusalem from the defilement of sinners and of the Gentiles (xvii. 29, 3o, 36), destroy the hostile nations and extend His righteous rule over all the remaining peoples of the earth (xvii. 27, 31, 32, 34, 38). Ps. xvii., xviii. and i.-xvi. can hardly be assigned to the same authors. The hopes of the Mes siah are confined to the former, and a somewhat different eschat ology underlies the two works (see Charles, Eschatology: Hebrew, Jewish and Christian, pp. 220-225).

BLBLIOGRAPHY.-Ryle

and James, Psalms of the Pharisees (1891) ; G. B. Gray, in Charles, Apoc. and Pseudepig, vol. ii. (1913).

(R.

H. Ca.)