DATES AND PROVENANCE OF PSALMS OF SOLOMON

The Dates and Provenance of the Psalms of Solomon

There is both internal evidence and external evidence that allows for a reasonable confidence in placing the date of writing near the middle of the first century B.C. The internal evidence leads one to conclude that the collection was written while the Temple was still standing but was under the control of usurpers who desecrated it seemingly without compunction (cf. PssSol 1:8; 2:2-3). This would suggest a reference to the invasion of Pompey at the end of the Hasmonean rule.¹ The external evidence can be seen by comparing a passage in the Psalms of Solomon with a passage in 1 Baruch. Below is a chart comparing these two parallel passages (PssSol 11:2-5, and 1 Baruch 5:5-8, respectively).

It can easily be seen that there is dependence of the one upon the other. Lattke suggests that Psalms of Solomon is dependent upon 1 Baruch. Most scholars would date 1 Baruch from as early as 150 B.C. to as late as 60 B.C.² Others suggest the very opposite because the verses in Psalms of Solomon are "more cohesive and tightly arranged."³ A decision is not necessary in order to arrive at an approximate date for the collection of psalms. Perhaps VanderKam is correct to say that both are simply borrowing from a common tradition.⁵ Taking these two observations together then leads to a conclusion that this collection of Psalms was probably written about the middle of the first century B.C., probably just after the Pompey intervention in 63 B.C.⁵ Yet, as Falk cautions, "It is unlikely that all of the content belongs to the same circumstances as the allusions to Pompey's invasion. The collection as a whole must have been completed after 48 B.C. and Wellhausen's range of 80-40 B.C. for the psalms is useful as a general estimate."⁶

Since the content of these psalms focus on Jerusalem and its invaders and the desecration of the Temple, it is very probable that its provenance is the same. Wright highlights the pertinent details: "The city is given unusual prominence. It is the locale of many events, and the descriptions are detailed. Jerusalem is addressed (PssSol 11) and speaks (PssSol 1). It is the seat of the Sanhedrin (4:1)." ⁷

Notes

¹R. B. Wright, "Psalms of Solomon," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, Vol. 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1985): 641.

² Herbert G. May, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version (New York: University Press, 1977): Ap. 198.

³ James C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001): 129.

⁴Ibid.

⁵Recently, J. Tromp and K. Atkinson have proposed a date of 37-30 B.C. for the date of PssSol 17. This would move the historical events from the time of the Hasmoneans and Antiochus Epiphanes to the Herodian era. The argument is that PssSol 17 is a description of the siege of Jerusalem under the Roman general Sosius in 73 B.C. (cf. Lattke, p. 855).

⁶Daniel Falk, "Psalms and Prayers," in Justification and Variegated Nomism: The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism, eds. D. A. Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001): 36.

⁷R. B. Wright, "Psalms of Solomon," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth, Vol. 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1985): 641.

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