ThePsalms of Solomon is a group of eighteenpsalms, religious songs or poems, written in the first or second century BC. They are classed asBiblical apocrypha or as Old Testamentpseudepigrapha; they appear in various copies of theSeptuagint and thePeshitta, but were not admitted into later scripturalBiblical canons or generally included in printed Bibles after the arrival of the printing press.[1]
The 17th of the 18 psalms is similar toPsalm 72 which has traditionally been attributed toSolomon, and hence may be the reason that the Psalms of Solomon have their name. An alternate theory is that the psalms were so highly regarded that Solomon's name was attached to them to keep them from being ignored or forgotten.[citation needed]
The Psalms of Solomon were referred to inearly Christian writings, but lost to later generations until aGreek manuscript was rediscovered in the 17th century. There are currently eleven known 11th- to 16th-century manuscripts of a Greek translation[2] from a lostHebrew orAramaic original, probably dating from the 1st or 2nd centuryBC. However, though now a collection, they were originally separate, written by different people in different periods.[citation needed]
There exist also fourSyriac manuscripts.[2] The earliest historical evidence of "Eighteen Psalms of Solomon" is in the list at the beginning of theCodex Alexandrinus (fifth century).[2] According toJames H. Charlesworth, "it has been calculated that the Psalms of Solomon would have fit into the twelve missing pages of theCodex Sinaiticus.[2]
Politically, the Psalms of Solomon are anti-Hasmonean, and some psalms in the collection show an awareness of theRomanconquest of Jerusalem underPompey in 63 BC, metaphorically treating him as adragon who had been sent by God to punish the Hasmoneans.[3] Some of the psalms are messianic, inthe Jewish sense (referring to a mortal that seems to be divinely assisted, much likeMoses), but the majority are concerned less with the world at large, and more with individual behavior, expressing a belief that repentance for unintendedsins will return them to God's favor.
There have been attempts to link the text both to theEssenes ofQumran, who separated themselves from what they saw as a wicked world, and alternatively to thePharisees in opposition to theSadducees who generally supported the Maccabees.[citation needed]
