Salmi of Solomon
Apocryphal work comprising a group of 18 short religious compositions, inserted among the "Solomonic" books in some manuscripts of the Greek translation of the Bible. In content and literary form they closely resemble the *Psalms*, which explains their title.
Like the Davidic *Psalter*, this small collection treats various subjects from a religious perspective; alongside praise of God there is a didactic element. The vivid description of the severe humiliation suffered by the Holy City and the people is matched by the expectation of a very different future, when the Messiah—presented in a particular way as the king of Israel (16:1ff.)—will inaugurate a new historical period. The specific circumstances highlight the problem, addressed repeatedly in Old Testament texts, of the just man persecuted and oppressed, and the arrogant security of sinners. In these 18 poems almost all the literary genres found in the Davidic *Psalter* can be identified.
The similarities increase when one compares the phraseology and external form of the various compositions. Except for the first, all the psalms have a title in which the famous King of Israel is always named, while different terms are used to indicate the literary genre, such as "psalm" (2; 3; 5; 13; 15; 17; 18), "hymn" (10; 14; 16), "invective against flatterers" (διάλυγή; 4), or "psalm with ode" (15; 17). Often there is also a specification regarding the particular subject, such as "concerning Jerusalem" (2), "concerning the just" (3), etc. In 18:9 the term δαΰαλάμα appears, which in the Greek translation of the Davidic *Psalter* corresponds to the enigmatic Hebrew *selah*.
All acknowledge the unity of authorship. There is no external document regarding the identity of the author, but internal examination easily reveals him to be a pious Israelite, deeply attached to the Law and religion, sustained in adversity by a profound and tenacious messianic hope of a nationalistic character. The numerous references to "the humiliation of Jerusalem and the profanation of the Sanctuary" (especially 17:11ff.) suggest the period immediately following the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey the Great, when, in 63 B.C., he put an end to the endless civil strife of the last Hasmoneans.