Abstract
This book comprises essays given at the First International Meeting on the Psalms of Solomon, held in Strasbourg in 2013. The organizers arranged the conference with a twofold purpose: to reexamine long-held views and to flag up areas for future research. To this end, the conference featured papers from a distinguished group of researchers in early Judaism and cognate fields. Contributors explore issues related to the historical, social, and theological horizons of the text. A few essays treat matters of critical introduction. Benedict Eckhardt deconstructs the use of the Psalms of Solomon as a historical source, arguing that they are of limited value for reconstructing a general Jewish sentiment in the late Hasmonean period. Jan Joosten and Eberhard Bons, working independently, seek to undercut the theory of a Hebrew Vorlage. Addressing the issue of genre, Brad Embry holds that, while the psalms bear the form of the biblical Psalter, they have more in common—in terms of linguistic and thematic content—with biblical prophecy. Kenneth Atkinson, with a view to understanding the author(s) of the text, considers the ways that the psalms depict the Jerusalem Temple and its priests.
The remaining essays explore various prominent themes in the psalms. Sven Behnke writes on sleep imagery while Patrick Pouchelle writes on discipline. Rodney Werline, also interested in discipline, analyzes the psalms through anthropological methods. In the final essay, Joseph Trafton raises questions related to Ps. Sol. 17 and its relevance for the study of early Jewish messianism. A concluding chapter features responses from Kenneth Atkinson.
The volume is dense with fresh historical and exegetical insight, some of which is likely to generate controversy. The essays by Eckhardt and Joosten are arguably the most provocative in the collection. Eckhardt’s undermining the relevance of Diodorus Siculus and Josephus for understanding Ps. Sol. 17:6 will no doubt elicit pushback. The essays by Joosten and Bons, taken together with the response from Atkinson, suggest that further work on the original language of the psalms remains to be done. With this volume, the organizers of the conference undoubtedly accomplished what they set out to do, and more. This collection of essays represents the cutting edge of research on the Psalms of Solomon.