Texts in Conversation
The Psalms of Solomon echoes Ezekiel, drawing on imagery of corpses thrown in front of idols as a sign of shame and judgment. In Ezekiel, this condemns idolatry through a vision of desecration, while the Psalm uses it in petitions against criminals.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Ezekiel 6:5
Hebrew Bible
3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 5 I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. 7 The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Psalms of Solomon 4:19
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
17 Let him come home empty-handed to his house, and may his house lack everything he could use to satisfy his appetite. 18 (Let) his old age (be spent) in childless loneliness until he is taken away (by death). 19 Let the flesh of those who seek human approval be torn apart by wild beasts, and (let) the bones of the lawless (lie) dishonored in the sight of the sun. 20 Let ravens peck out the eyes of the hypocrites. For they have shamefully destroyed many people’s houses and scattered (them) in (their) lust; 21 And they have not remembered God, or feared God in all these things; But they have provoked God's anger and upset Him.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... The opening chapters of 1 Enoch also contain the language of blessing for the righteous and cursing for all those who have rebelled against God (e.g., 1 Enoch 1:8; 5:5–9). The statements in the Psalms of Solomon that most closely resemble the blessing and curse form use the optative mode. General petitions in the Psalms of Solomon, like other prayers, are formed with the imperative. Psalms of Solomon 4 contains several of these curse-like lines in the optative as the author rails against hypocrites who sit in the council ... More curse-like lines continue in verses 14–22 ..."
Rodney A. Werline, “The Formation of the Pious Person in the Psalms of Solomon,” in The Psalms of Solomon: Language, History, Theology, ed. Eberhard Bons and Patrick Pouchelle, EJL 40 (Atlanta: SBL, 2015), 133–154.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,