The Psalms of Solomon and the New Testament: Intertextuality and the Need for a Re-evaluation

The Jewish Pseudepigraphic work Psalms of Solomon (Pss. Sol.), which contains one of the first examples of the phrase 'Lord's Anointed' outside the New Testament, is commonly used in christological discussions centering on Christ's self-perception. Often Pss. Sol.'s 'Christology' is misinterpreted by New Testament scholarship, which anachronistically colors the messianic motif in Pss. Sol. with New Testament categories. Pseudepigrapha specialists, moreover, contribute to the problem by suggesting that the document is something of an ad hoc composition. As a result, the messianic motif in the document is detached from the rest of the document. This article argues that, in fact, the document presents a cohesive thesis, and that the messianic motif functions in a particular role within that thesis. As such, it is suggested that the messianic motif in Pss. Sol. is comprehensible only within the purview of this central thesis.