Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

The Lord Will Cleanse the Devout – Psalm of Solomon 3

This psalm reflects a “two ways” ethic found in Second Temple wisdom literature. Building on the covenant renewal in Deuteronomy 30:11-20, there are only two ways the people can go, either toward life or toward death. If Israel follows the Law, they will be blessed and have peace and material prosperity. However, if they do not follow the Law, they will be cursed and not experience peace and prosperity. Psalm 1 contrasts two kinds of people, the righteous person and the sinner. The righteous is like a tree planted beside water (prosperous and bearing fruit), but the sinner is like a bush growing in the desert, barely surviving and never bearing fruit.

The Psalmist contrasts the righteous (3.3-8) with the sinner (3.9-12). The righteous man has confidence in God and constantly searches his house to remove unintentional sin. He atones for ignorant sin by fasting and humbling his soul.

Psalms of Solomon 3.5-8  The righteous stumbles and proves the Lord right; he falls and watches for what God will do about him; he looks to where his salvation comes from. 6 The confidence of the righteous (comes) from God their savior; sin after sin does not visit the house of the righteous. 7 The righteous constantly searches his house, to remove his unintentional sins. 8 He atones for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and humbling his soul, and the Lord will cleanse every devout person and his house.

In verse 8, the Lord cleanses “every devout person” (ὅσιος). R. B. Wright comments this noun is related to the Hasidim (οἱ Ασιδαῖοι), the righteous ones who supported the Maccabean revolt (1 Macc 2:24, 7:13) but broke with the Hasmoneans and likely developed into the Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes. Perhaps this is a hint of the origin of the Psalm. Early studies of the Psalms of Solomon identified the author(s) as either Pharisees or Essene and Wright’s introduction in OTP leans that direction.

But Charlesworth adds a paragraph to the introduction warning against labeling the Psalms as either Pharisaic or Essene because so little is known about the Pharisees prior to A.D. 70 (OTP 2:642, see note 8). Since some scholars have claimed the Psalms of Solomon were written by Pharisees, a paragraph like PsSol 3.5-8 is used to develop the views of the Pharisees. But as Charlesworth comments, this is a kind of circular reasoning. Neither Anthony J. J. Saldarini (Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society, Eerdmans 2001) and the collection of essays edited by Jacob Neusner  Bruce D. Chilton (In Quest of the Historical Pharisees, Baker, 2007) make little or no reference to the Psalms of Solomon.

the tax collector and the pharisee, Greek iconBut the description of the devout in this section does resonate with the New Testament. The author of this Psalm says the righteous person (δίκαιος) is not sinless. They stumble, but they know their salvation comes from the Lord. They are constantly looking for unintentional sins and fast in order to “atone for sins of ignorance.” Here the verb ἐξιλάσκομαι is used.

The word does not appear in the New Testament, but the cognate ἱλάσκομαι is used in Jesus’s parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The tax collector is devastated by his own guilt and cries out to the Lord, “have mercy (ἱλάσκομαι) on me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). In the Parable, the Pharisee boasts in his fasting and careful tithing, but the tax collector “having been made righteous” (a participle from δικαιόω). Someone who had Psalm of Solomon 3:5-8 in mind would have expected the Pharisee to have received mercy since he was carefully examining his life in order to “remove unintentional sins.” Yet Jesus reverses that expectation and the sinner receives mercy and went away from the Temple having been made righteous (δεδικαιωμένος).

Although it is impossible to state dogmatically this Psalm reflects the attitude of the Pharisee in the early first century, it does resonate with the Pharisee of Luke 18.

The Death of a Tyrant – Psalms of Solomon 2

Psalm of Solomon 2 is a lament for Jerusalem after Pompey captured the city in 63 B.C. Although his name is not specifically mentioned, the author of the psalm clearly has Pompey in mind. He is called an “arrogant sinner” who brought battering rams against the walls of the Temple (2:1). According to Josephus, the city surrendered to the Romans but the Temple itself was captured. Pompey therefore brought “mechanical engines, and battering-rams from Tyre” (Antiq. 14.4.2).

Pompey, Roman statueOnce inside the Temple, “They trampled it down (καταπατέω) with their shoes in arrogance” (PsSol 2:2). This description is a possible allusion to 1 Maccabees 3:51, “Your sanctuary is trampled down (καταπατέω) and profaned, and your priests mourn in humiliation” (RSV). In verse 19, the arrogant Gentiles dragged the beauty of the Temple “down from the throne of glory.” According to Josephus, Pompey entered the Temple and “saw all that which it was unlawful for any other men to see, but only for the high priests” (Antiq. 14.4.2).

PsSol 2:20-21 alludes to Isaiah 3:24 by personifying Jerusalem as a beautiful woman who has gone into mourning: “She put on sackcloth instead of beautiful clothes, a rope around her head instead of a crown. She took off the wreath of glory which God had put on her; in dishonor her beauty was thrown to the ground.” Since Isaiah was looking forward to the fall of Jerusalem Babylon is the “arrogant sinner” who desecrated the Temple. The writer of this psalm once again sees the Jerusalem of his day as a ravished, enslaved woman driven into exile.

Like 1 Maccabees, the author of this psalm blames the disaster on the “sons of Jerusalem” who have profaned (μιαίνω, 1 Macc 1:46, 63) and defiled (βεβηλόω, 1 Macc 1:43) the holy place with lawless acts. Although this lawlessness is not defined, verses 11-13 describe the sons and daughters of Jerusalem as prostitutes, a common metaphor for idolatry in the Old Testament. Psalm of Solomon 8 has an extended condemnation of the priesthood in control of the Temple, “plundered the sanctuary of God” (Ps.Sol 8:12).

Based on these observations, it is not difficult to see why some scholars thought this description referred to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the “arrogant sinner” who profaned the Temple. His audacity is well-known from Daniel 11 and it led to the Maccabean Revolt. In this view, sons of Jerusalem who were established by the gentiles (2:11-14) are the Hasmoneans. Even if the arrogant sinner is Pompey, then the sons of Jerusalem are still the last of the Hasmoneans, perhaps even Herod the Great (who certainly can be described as committing lawlessness). It is also possible Herod the Great is the psalmist’s target, if the desecration of the Temple is Herod’s extensive expansion of the Temple courts. However, the judgment on the arrogant sinner in verses 26-27 does not resonate with Herod’s death.

Considering the reference to the death of Pompey in 2:26-7, it seems more likely the author of PsSol 2 intentionally calls to mind the devastating loss of the Temple in 586 B.C. as well as the arrogance of Antiochus to describe a more recent desecration of the Temple, that of the Romans in 63 B.C. Biblical texts often look back to the events of the past to describe the realities of the present, so it is no surprise this anonymous author builds his psalm on the same model.

Like a biblical psalm, the author addresses God and calls on him to exact vengeance on the arrogant sinner who trampled the sanctuary. God ought to act quickly to repay their arrogance.

Psalm of Solomon 2:25-27 And I did not wait long until God showed me his insolence pierced on the mountains of Egypt, more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea. 27 His body was carried about on the waves in much shame, and there was no one to bury (him), for he (God) had despised him with contempt.

The dishonorable death of the arrogant sinner seems to be a clear allusion to the assassination of Pompey in 45 B.C.

Cassius Dio, Roman History 42: Although he had subdued the entire Roman sea, he perished on it; and although he had once been, as the saying is, “master of a thousand ships” he was destroyed in a tiny boat near Egypt and in a sense by Ptolemy, whose father he had once restored from exile to that land and to his kingdom… Thus Pompey, who previously had been considered the most powerful of the Romans, so that he even received the nickname of Agamemnon, was now butchered like one of the lowest of the Egyptians themselves.

The final verses of the psalm are a confession of faith in the Lord (2:33-37). The Lord has mercy on those who fear him. The Lord will distinguish “between the righteous and the sinner” and “repay sinners forever according to their actions.” Knowing God had brought Pompey to a dishonorable end would be of great comfort to the readers of this psalm. If God has acted in history to bring down a tyrant like Pompey, then he will again bring down the present tyrant.

 

What are the Psalms of Solomon?

The collection known as the Psalms of Solomon are among the more important pieces of literature in the expansions collection since they are the reflections of “devout Jews to the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans in the first century B.C” (OTP 2:640). The eighteen psalms are preserved in both Greek and Syriac manuscripts dating as early as the tenth century A.D. The eighteen Psalms of Solomon are mentioned in canon a list the fifth century A.D. Codex Alexandrinus, although the text of the Psalms are missing from that codex. The psalms seem to have been used by the author of 2 Baruch, implying they were written before the end of the first century. The psalms refer to an invasion of the land, so they may be dated as early as Antiochus IV Epiphanies, but Pompey (in 63 B.C.) and Titus (in A.D. 70) are also possibilities. Herod the Great is also a possibility although he was not exactly an invader from a foreign land when he took Palestine by force in the mid-30s B.C.

The consensus view, however, is that the invader in the Psalms of Solomon is Pompey. This implies a date after 48 B.C. since PsSol. 2.26-27 alludes to the assassination of Pompey. While on board a ship near Egypt, he was beheaded and his body thrown overboard.

PsSol 2.26-27 And I did not wait long until God showed me his insolence pierced on the mountains of Egypt, more despised than the smallest thing on earth and sea. 27 His body was carried about on the waves in much shame, and there was no one to bury (him), for he (God) had despised him with contempt.

R. B. Wright therefore suggests a range of dates from 45 to 70 B.C. for the datable Psalms. Since some do not allude events which can be dated, they may come from another period and were added to the collection when it reached its final form.

The Psalms of Solomon refer to people who call themselves “the pious” or “the righteous” who have fled to the desert. The temptation to identify the group as Essene ought to be resisted since the desert is often a place of refuge in the biblical material. If Roman invasion is the occasion of the Psalms, the invasion is blamed on the rivalries of the Hasmonean priests (Hyrcanus II, Aristobulus II, and Antigonus). They are blamed for defiling the sacrifices (2:1-3) and laying waste to the throne of David (17:6). The Hasmoneans are therefore corrupt and illegal kings.

The Wisdom of Solomon, two prostitutesThe usual polemic accusations are made (immorality, breach of purity, theft, etc.)  The righteous have suffered, but they have not been destroyed. They are waiting for God’s judgment which will vindicate their suffering, although it may not be in this life. E. P. Sanders considered this as a rather vague belief in an afterlife (Sanders, Judaism, 454). In PsSol. 3:11 “The destruction of the dead is forever and he will not be remembered when God visits the righteous. This is the share of the sinners forever, but those who fear the Lord shall rise up to eternal life and there life shall be in the Lord’s light, and it shall never end.” Notice the righteous will rise to an eternal life of some sort. (John Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, 143 also lists 13:11, 14:3, 15:13 and 16:1-3 as implying an afterlife.)

What is unique in the Psalms of Solomon is a much more robust view of the Messiah. In Psalm 17 the messiah is described as a new Davidic king who “will destroy the lawless nations.” The twelve tribes of Israel will be restored to the land and the Gentiles will come from the ends of the earth to see the glory of the messiah.

Psalm 17 is the most important for New Testament context since it serves as an indication of messianic expectations which were current only shortly before the time of Jesus. Rome is viewed as a foreign invader who will be removed when the messiah comes. If these sorts of messianic expectations were popular in Galilee in the 20’s A.D. then we have good reason to read Jesus’ teaching as intentionally messianic and we are able to understand some of the confusion and disappointment among the Jews who heard him teach. One might speculate as to the motives of Judas for betraying Jesus. If Judas was thinking something like what we read in PsSol. 17 then it is possible he was trying to “force Messiah’s hand” into striking out against Rome and the Temple establishment. Jesus seemed to be claiming to be the Messiah, but he did not seem to be the Davidic messiah expected in Psalm 17.

From an ethical perspective, the Psalms have a very high view of proper behavior and morality, despite only mentioning the Law in 4:8 and 14:1-3. One must live a life pleasing to God. This requires confession of sin and humble acceptance of God’s discipline (3:4; 10:2; 14:1; OTP 2:645). This is similar to Hebrews 12, which describes God’s discipline as that of a good, heavenly father.

The Prayer of Manasseh

This prayer of repentance is attributed to Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah who is credited with the wickedest reign in the history of Judah (687-642 B.C.) According to 2 Chronicles 33:1-20, late in Manasseh’s reign the king was taken captive by the Assyrians. While in captivity, he remembered his God and prayed to him. No prayer is recorded, but we are told the Lord listened to him and restored him to his kingdom.

There are no Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts of the prayer, leading most scholars to assume the Prayer was written originally in Greek. David Flusser is the exception to this, as Charlesworth comments in his introduction to the prayer (OTP 2:626, note 17). Flusser argues the Psalm was written in Hebrew and the Greek is a “loose translation.” There are a number of Syriac manuscripts with a number of differences to the Greek version.

Since the Prayer is based on Chronicles, it must be dated after the fourth century B.C., but it seems unlikely to have been the product of Christian writers. There are several scholars who think the book was written by the author of the Apostolic Constitution (OTP 2:627), making the date prior to the fourth century A.D. But as Charlesworth says the author “was obviously a Jew.”

The earliest reference to the Prayer is in the third century A.D. Didaskalia, a Christian retelling of 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33. Although this prayer was never part of the Septuagint nor did it appear in it does not appear in Vaticanus or Sinaiticus, it is often included in introductions to the Apocrypha.. The origin of the Prayer is almost impossible to determine in such a short book with no cultural or historical references.

Since the work is based on 2 Chronicles 33 and the psalms of repentance like Psalm 51, the value for New Testament studies is limited. Perhaps a “theology of repentance” could be developed based on this Prayer, Psalm 51 and other Pseudepigrapha books such as Joseph and Aseneth which might illustrate the New Testament idea of repentance and highlight difference between the Jewish idea and the developing Christian view of repentance (if any).

The book is very vivid in its description of repentance. The writer says that he will “bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness” (vs. 11).  The Prayer of Manasseh was collected by Christians along with a number of other biblical prayers and odes. This prayer collection is found in Codex Alexandrinus (fifth century) and Codex Turicensis (seventh century).

Because you are the Lord, long-suffering, merciful, and greatly compassionate; and you feel sorry over the evils of men. You, O Lord, according to your gentle grace, promised forgiveness to those who repent of their sins, and in your manifold mercies appointed repentance for sinners as the (way to) salvation.

You, therefore, O Lord, God of the righteous, did not appoint grace for the righteous, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, those who did not sin against you; but you appointed grace for me, (I) who am a sinner. (translation Charlesworth).

Aquinas used the Prayer of Manasseh to argue the sacrament of Penanceis is a necessary condition for all who are in sin (Summa Theologiae, 3a.84.5). Martin Luther told the Duke of Braunschweig he should “in all sincerity genuinely repent,” using “words such as those that appear in the Prayer of Manasseh” (OTP 2:632).

 

 

More Psalms of David

Introduction: This collection of non-canonical psalms is not a single book. These psalms appear in the DSS and claim to be “Psalms of David.” One manuscript concludes the collection of psalms with the words ““So ends, by the assistance of our Lord, the writing of the Psalms of the blessed David, the prophet and king, with the five psalms which are not among the Greek or Hebrew numbering. However, as they are said (and) preserved in Syriac so we have copied them for him who desires (a copy)” (OTP 2:624, note v).

Psalm 151

I am using the psalms as they appear in Charlesworth (OTP 2:609-24). Four additional psalms were discovered in the Cairo Genizah and appear in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scripture edited by Bauckham, Davila and Panayotov (Eerdmans, 2013). David deSilva has a short chapter on Psalm 151 in his Introducing the Apocrypha (Baker, 2002). All the sample texts below are from Charlesworth.

The various forms of Psalm 151 and 152 are most interesting because they are early and represent the earliest non-canonical Jewish psalms. The Syriac psalms are found in a twelfth century Nestorian manuscript of the Psalter and the Book of Discipline by a Syrian Bishop Elijah (first half of the tenth century; see Stanley C. Pigué, “Psalms, Syriac (Apocryphal)” in ABD 5:536-7).

Psalm 151. This psalm is found in the LXX, in both Hebrew and Syriac, and in the DSS (11QPsa 151).  The psalm is often included in the Apocrypha (deSilva, 301-3). The psalm is a brief reflection on God establishing David’s kingdom. Like the canonical Davidic psalms this psalm describes the king as a shepherd over the flocks of God. David is contrasted with Saul and his brothers (verses 5-6); they were tall and handsome while David was small and the youngest of the brothers.

Psalm 151:7 But he sent and took me from behind the flock, and he anointed me with holy oil, and he made me leader for his people, and ruler over the sons of his covenant.

The Syriac version (5ApocSyrPs 1a) has enough similarities to 11QPsa that it is clear they are related, but it is much shorter, as if it is a summary form of the Hebrew version. Of note is the description of Samuel as “an angel,” although it is possible this is a metaphoric use of the term, as in a messenger. As in Hebrew and Greek, the idea of messenger and angel may very well be the same word in Syriac. A second fragment of the Syriac psalm appears in OTP containing only two short lines describing the victory over Goliath. These two lines appear in the LXX version (not included in OTP since it is in the apocrypha). See this post by Peter Flint at Bible Odyssey for the full text of Psalm 151 and here for Psalm 151 in the Latin Vulgate.

Psalm 152. This psalm is only known in Syriac (5ApocSyrPs 4). The psalm is David’s prayer to God when he and his flock were attacked by a lion and wolf, although it is possible the attack is a metaphor. David may be referring to those who have rebelled against him later in his career. On the other hand, it may simply be created to fill in the details of David’s boast that he has already killed a lion and bear in 1 Samuel 17:34-36.

Psalm 152:4-5 Spare, O Lord, your elect one; and deliver your holy one from destruction; so that he may continue praising you in all his times, and may praise your magnificent name. 5 When you have saved him from the hands of destroying death, and when you have rescued my captivity from the mouths of beasts.

David describes his situation as being desperate: he is on his way to Sheol by the mouth of a lion and asks the Lord to send a redeemer to lift him up from the gaping abyss.

Psalm 153. This short psalm is only known in Syriac (5ApocSyrPs 5) and appears to be another version of the Hebrew Psalm 151 or perhaps a sequel or second stanza. In this case David praises the Lord because he has been saved from the hand of the lion and wolf – the Lord sent his angel to close their gaping mouths (cf. Dan. 6).

Psalm 154. Of this collection of psalms, this psalm “most closely aligns with the thoughts of the Dead Sea Scrolls” (OTP 2:617). 11QPsa 154 (Hebrew) and 5ApocSyrPs 2 (Syriac) generally parallel with the Hebrew being the original. The psalm is not Davidic but claims to be a prayer of Hezekiah when the Assyrians had surrounded Jerusalem. The Psalm title is late and confused since it also says Hezekiah is entreating the Lord to make Cyrus allow the people to return home, an anachronism of several hundred years. Of interest in this psalm is the call to live a separate life (associate yourself only with the good, verse 3).

Psalm 154:12-15 From the openings of the righteous ones is heard her voice; and from the congregation of the pious ones her song. 13 When they eat with satiety she is cited; and when they drink in association together. 14 Their meditation is on the Law of the Most High; their words to announce his power. 15 How far from the wicked ones (is) her word; from all haughty ones to know her.

While this idea is Pauline (1 Cor. 5:10, for example), it is also very much like the Qumran community. The righteous eat together in association (verse 13). The assembly is to announce to the simple the Lord’s salvation, power of the Lord, to recount his many deeds.

Psalm 155. This psalm also appears to have been a Hebrew original (11QPSa 155) translated into Syriac (5ApocSyrPs 3). The Syriac header from a late manuscript associates the psalm with Hezekiah’s prayers during the Assyrian invasion (2 Kings 19:14-19), but other than the request for the Lord to listen to the prayer, there is very little in Psalm 155 which alludes to 2 Kings. The Psalm shares a similar style with Psalm 154 (short lines with less elegant poetry). The final line in the Syriac form of the Psalm calls on the Lord to “save Israel, your elect one; and those of the house of Jacob, your chosen one,” reflecting a theology of Israel’s election in the Second Temple period.