Texts in conversation

Compare Psalms of Solomon 1:5 and Matthew 11:23

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry · New Testament

Summary

Psalms of Solomon shows leaders rising like stars and assuming they cannot fall, but their hidden sin brings them down. Matthew echoes this when Jesus describes a city lifted to heaven and falling to Hades, both based on Isaiah’s picture of human pride.

Passages

Psalms of Solomon 1:5

Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry

3 I thought to myself that I was completely righteous, because I had prospered and had many children. 4 Their wealth spread to the whole earth, and their glory to the end of the earth. 5 They were lifted up to the stars; they said they would never fall. 6 But they grew arrogant as they prospered, and [they lacked understanding]. 7 Their sins were secret, and even I knew nothing (of them).

65–30 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Psalms of Solomon

Matthew 11:23

New Testament

21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. 24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to little children.

70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Along with those previously listed, [this list] shows that New Testament authors were often familiar with some disputed apocryphal or pseudepigraphal texts circulating in Palestine. These parallels suggest that either the writings, or their oral traditions, were familiar to Jesus and those who followed him. Stuhlmacher suggests several other possibilities such as those parallels between Matthew 11:25–28 and an apocryphal Psalm in 11QPs 154–11Q5 XVIII, 3–6. While the previously noted parallels or allusions do not necessarily show New Testament authors’ direct dependence on the later called non-canonical writings, they do suggest familiarity with their themes, words, and phrases that were likely circulating among Jews in the first century CE and at the least reflect the New Testament writers’ familiarity with the oral traditions circulating about those texts in the time of Jesus and also a broader and more fluid Scripture collection in the first century CE. For example, Jesus’ comment about “when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory” (Matthew 19:28 and 25:31) has parallels in 1 Enoch 61:8 and 62:2–5. That may simply be due to the popularity of the oral tradition about 1 Enoch circulating in Galilee in Jesus’ formative years or of familiarity with the text itself. The parallels do not prove that Jesus read 1 Enoch, but he appears to have known several reflections in it when he described his own identity and mission as Son of Man ..."

Lee Martin McDonald, “A Canonical History of the Old Testament Apocrypha,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha, ed. Gerbern S. Oegema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 24–51.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Jerusalem’s Pride and Hidden Sins

Psalms of Solomon18 psalms

Compare Psalms of Solomon 1:5 and Matthew 11:23

Summary

Passages

Psalms of Solomon 1:5

Matthew 11:23

References

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