¹ See the discussion in Childs, Brevard, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979) 504–25Google Scholar ; and Kugel, James L., “Topics in the History of the Spirituality of the Psalms,” in Green, Arthur, ed., Jewish Spirituality, vol. 1: From the Bible through the Middle Ages (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986) 113–44Google Scholar.

² At the head of this past century's form-critical studies of the Psalms stands the foundational work by Gunkel, Hermann and Begrich, Joachim, Einleitung in die Psalmen: Die Gattungen der religiosen Lyrik Israels (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1933)Google Scholar . For an overview of the form-critical study of the Psalms, see Gerstenberger, Erhard, “Psalms,” in Hayes, John H., ed., Old Testament Form Criticism (San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 1977) 179–223Google Scholar.

³ See below for further discussion of the historical superscriptions and their significance.

⁴ Smend's, R. important article, “Uber das Ich der Psalmen” (ZAW 8 [1888] 49–147Google Scholar ) stands at the head of a long discussion in modern scholarship concerning the identity of the individual in the psalms.

⁵ An extreme example of the attempt to assimilate the human addresses to God found in the Book of Psalms to the rest of scripture is that undertaken by Saadiah Gaon, who maintained that the Psalter was a kind of second Torah comprising the divine words revealed to David through prophecy, just as the first five books of the Bible had been revealed to Moses. See Simon, Uriel, Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms: From Saadiah Gaon to Abraham Ibn Ezra (trans. Schramm, Lenn J.; New York: SUNY Press, 1991) 1–57Google Scholar.

⁶ , Kugel (“Topics,” 136Google Scholar ) suggests that the appearance of the Davidic superscriptions con-signs the Psalms to the realm of scripture and opens the way for the composition of new prayers for common usage.

⁷ For an illuminating discussion of the ongoing dynamic between“explanation,” the sense of a text's objective and persistent features, and“understanding,” the sense of its bearing on the present moment in and through the interpretative act, see Ricoeur, Paul, “What Is a Text? Explanation and Understanding,” in Valdez, Mario J., ed., A Ricceur Reader: Reflection and Imagination (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) 43–64Google Scholar.

⁸ Psalm 22 appears in a list of “Individual Lament Songs” (“Die Klagelieder des Einzelnen”) in , Gunkel, Einleilung, 172Google Scholar.

⁹ For a discussion of the constitutive elements of the individual lament, see Westermann, Claus, Praise and Lament in the Psalms (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981) 64–71Google Scholar.

¹⁰ The compositional history of Psalm 22 may have been even more complicated than this description allows. For example, the lengthy complaint in Ps 22:11-19 may be a secondary accretion; see the discussion of this possibility in Gerstenberger, Erhard S., Psalms: Part 1 with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry (Forms of the Old Testament Literature 14; Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1988) 111Google Scholar . Other scholars suggest that the final eschatological verses were added during the exile when Psalm 22 was applied to the suffering of all Israel, perceived as accomplishing a mediating role between God and the nations. See Becker, J., Israel deutet seine Psalmen: Urform undNeuinterpretation in den Psalmen (SBS 18; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1966) 39, 49–53Google Scholar ; Briggs, Charles Augustus and Briggs, Emilie Grace, The Book of Psalms (ICC; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1906) 1. 191–92Google Scholar ; Gese, Hartmut, “Psalm 22 und das Neue Testament: Der alteste Bericht vom Tode Jesus und die Entstehung des Herrenmahles,” ZThK 65 (1968) 1–22Google Scholar ; Keel-Leu, O., “Nochmals Ps 22:28-32,” Bib 50 (1969) 389–92Google Scholar.

¹¹ For a discussion of the concluding elements of individual laments, see , Gunkel, Einleitung, 243–50Google Scholar , and , Westermann, Praise and Lament, 64–71Google Scholar.

¹² The powerful terminology used to describe prayer in Psalm 22 reflects the urgent nature of this question. Prayer is the groaning rage (vs 2) that one calls out day and night (vs 3), one's crying out (vs 6) and shouting (vs 25) to God for deliverance.

¹³ See the opening repetition of this appellation in the first line of the psalm, “My God, my God!” in vs 2; the additional employment of this same address in vs 11; the slight variant, “my God” in vs 3; and the consonantally similar vocative “my Strength” in vs 20. The address, “My God,” is not an especially common one in the Bible, occurring only fourteen times, all of them in the Psalms except for two occurrences in Exod 15:2 and Isa 44:17.

¹⁴ Forms of predication based on the verbal root “to be distant” are applied to God three times in Psalm 22, each appearance in close proximity to one of the familiar addresses of God, including the first person possessive suffix listed in the previous note. The opening double appeal to “My God, my God!” leads to an accusation of divine distance (vs 2); the additional addresses of“my God” and “my Strength” are placed near petitions that God be not distant (vss 12, 20).

¹⁵ Ps 22:4-6, 10-11.

¹⁶ Ps 22:25. Other overarching themes uniting the two sections include the role of human praise in supporting God's kingship; the orienting potential of cultural and personal memories of divine presence; the transcendence of even death and birth in God's relationship with humanity; and the psalmist's teeming, noisy world, which is transformed from one inhabited by taunting, bestial enemies to one encompassing ever-widening circles of praising, fellow worshippers.

¹⁷ This view corresponds with a romantic view of poetry, expressed clearly by Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Book of Psalms (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902) xGoogle Scholar : “The Psalter, then, is a collection of religious lyrics. Lyric poetry is defined as ‘that which directly expresses the emotions of the poet’; and religious lyric poetry is the expression of those emotions and feelings as they are stirred by the thought of God and directed God-wards. This is the common characteristic of the Psalms in all their manifold variety.” Gunkel similarly contends that the display of personal feelings and spiritual experiences in certain psalms signals their independence from ritual cult (Einleitung, 28-31, 261-65, 277-80).

¹⁸ For example, occasions indicated in the superscriptions of certain psalms include the dedication of a temple (Psalm 30), the memorial offering (Psalms 38, 70), the Sabbath day (Psalm 92), and the thanksgiving offering (Psalm 100). For a discussion of another possible example, see MacKenzie, R. A. F., “Ps 148:14bc: Conclusion or Title?” Bib 51 (1970) 221–24Google Scholar . Curiously, the superscription of the Targum to Psalm 22 claims that this is a psalm “concerning the virtue of the Continual Morning Sacrifice.”

¹⁹ See Ps 22:23-24, 26-27. Other evidence for the communal performance of the psalms includes Pss 26:12; 30:5; 32:11; 34:7, 10-11; 35:18; 40:10-11; 66:16; 68:26; 69:33; 107:32; 109:30; 118:15; 119:18; 149:1.

²⁰ The allusions to feasting in vss 27 and 30 suggest the context of a thanksgiving sacrifice. Other Psalms referring to votive thank offerings include: Pss 26:6; 40:6-10; 50:14, 23; 56:12; 61:5, 8; 65:1; 66:13, 16-19; 69:30-33; 100:1 (superscription); 107:32; 116:14, 18-19; 118:15. Personal thank-offerings are also featured in Job 33:26-28; Lev 7:12, 16; 1 Sam 16:2-3; 2 Sam 15:7-12; Prov 7:14; Deut 12:7. See also the rabbinic evidence for this practice: in. Halla 1.6; in. Pesah 1.5; 2.5; m. Sebu 2.2; in. Zebah 5.6; m. Menah 2.3; compare Sir 51:1-12. Further discussion of the issue may be found in Criisemann, Frank, Studien zur Formgeschichte von Hymnus und Danklied in Israel (Wmant 32; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1969) 267–84Google Scholar.

²¹ Inscriptional evidence suggests that this might have been the case, according to Miller, Patrick D., “Psalms and Inscriptions,” in Emerton, J. A., ed., Congress Volume, Vienna 1980 (Leiden: Brill, 1981) 311–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar . While some scholars identify the actual song of thanksgiving in Ps 22:24-32, Gerstenberger (Psalms, 112) notes that this passage lacks a description of the affliction from which the psalmist has recovered and therefore cannot stand by itself as an independent thanksgiving psalm; instead, these verses praise God in anticipation of healing.

²² Greenberg, M., “On the Refinement of the Conception of Prayer in the Hebrew Scriptures,” AJS Review 1 (1979) 59.Google Scholar

²³ , Gerstenberger, Psalms, 112–13Google Scholar . Mowinckel, Sigmund (The Psalms in Israel's Worship, [2 vols.; Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962] 2. 2, 8, 31Google Scholar ) also considers Psalm 22 to be an individual lament during illness, although he proposes that the individual might have been a king.

²⁴ As a third alternative, Psalm 22 may represent a fusing of the language and style of cultic praise with a tradition of personal, spontaneous prayer, resulting in a richly layered psalmody meant for recitation outside of ritual contexts. The placement within biblical narratives of psalm-like compositions as the personal prayers of individuals, with no indication of cultic settings (such as Hannah's prayer in 1 Sam 2:1-11 and Jonah's prayer in Jonah 2:2-9), supports this understanding of the Psalms. See Greenberg, M., Biblical Prose Prayer as a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient Israel (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983)Google Scholar ; , Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2. 109Google Scholar ; and Talmon, S., “The Emergence of Institutionalized Prayer in Israel in Light of the Qumran Literature,” in Delcor, M., ed., Qumran: Sa piete, sa theologie et son milieu (Paris: Duculot, 1978) 265–84Google Scholar.

²⁵ See Miller, Patrick D. Jr, “Trouble and Woe: Interpreting the Biblical Laments,” Interpretation 37 (1983) 34Google Scholar ; and Tigay, J. H., “On Some Aspects of Prayer in the Bible,” AJS Review 1 (1979) 363–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁶ This interpretation stresses the detailed descriptions of physical symptoms in vss 15-18.

²⁷ This theory takes into account the common ancient Near Eastern practice of referring to demonic forces in terms of animal imagery. See Keel, Othmar, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (trans. Hallett, Timothy J.; New York: Seabury, 1978) 85–88Google Scholar.

²⁸ This view is based on the repeated references to the threatening behavior of the enemies in vss 7-9, 13-14, 17-19, 21-22. The interpretation of the animals described in Psalm 22 as human enemies is incorporated into some of the early translations of Psalm 22. For example, Aquila and Theodotion interpret the “dogs” of Ps 22:17 as “hunters” by assuming a different vocalization of the Hebrew word than indicated in the MT. Similarly, the Psalms Targum indicates in an explanatory gloss that the “wild oxen” of Ps 22:22 are to be understood as “powerful and exalted men,” which accords with the Ugaritic usage of the same word in UT 49:vi: 18-19, according to Dahood, Mitchell, Psalms, 1. 1-50 (AB 17; Garden City: Doubleday, 1966) 142Google Scholar . Similar glosses defining the metaphorical descriptions of the enemies appear in Tg. Pss. 22.13, 21, 22.

²⁹ This view is based on the depiction of the taunting and jeering of the enemies and the sense of utter isolation expressed in the psalm.

³⁰ Individual laments in general were understood to be widely applicable to the situations of any number of anonymous sufferers, as the superscription describing Psalm 102 as “a prayer for the afflicted when he is faint and pours out his meditation before the Lord” confirms.

³¹ At the same time, there is a certain vivid, concrete quality to some of the descriptions found in Psalm 22. The milling, encircling movement of the psalmist's attackers, their division of his clothing by lot (apparently in keeping with common practice in the ancient Near East, judging from a Middle Assyrian law, ANET, 183, par. 40), the dry cleaving of his tongue to his jaw–details such as these persist in the memory. This specificity, combined with the more flexible and encompassing figurative imagery discussed previously, most certainly facilitated the linkage of Psalm 22 to the distinctively detailed stories of particular individuals including Esther and Jesus, as will become apparent later in the discussion.

³² Kraus, Hans-Joachim, Psalms 1-59: A Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993) 293–94Google Scholar . The Psalms as formal compositions designed for public performance apparently did not abolish the need for individual confessions of a more personal and individual nature, as the absence of specific words of confession required by sin offering rituals (Lev 5:1-5; Num 5:7; compare Lev 16:21) indicates. See , Greenberg, Biblical Prose Prayer, 9–30Google Scholar ; Milgrom, J., Cult and Conscience: The Asham and the Priestly Doctrine of Repentance (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 18; Leiden: Brill, 1976) 108Google Scholar.

³³ Some of the other factors to which scholars point include the exaggerated statements of grief and descriptions of the enemy threat, the special relationship of the individual with God suggested by Ps 22:9-11, and the public and cosmic nature of the grandiose celebration envisioned after the prayer is heard. See , Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2. 1-2, 8Google Scholar . For the foundational discussion of the first-person voice in the Psalms, see , Smend, “Uber das Ich,” 49–147Google Scholar . The identification of the individual featured in certain psalms as a royal figure has been advanced by, among others , Bentzen, A., King and Messiah (Oxford: Blackwell, 1970)Google Scholar ; Birkeland, H., The Evildoers in the Book of Psalms (Oslo: Komisjon Hos Jacob Dybwad, 1955)Google Scholar (compare Anderson's, G. W. critique “Enemies and Evildoers in the Psalms,” BJRL 48 [1965-1966] 18–29Google Scholar ); Croft, Steven J. L., The Identity of the Individual in the Psalms (JSOT Suppl. 44; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987) 121–32Google Scholar ; Eaton, J. H., Kingship and the Psalms (London: SCM, 1976)Google Scholar ; Ringgren, H., Israelite Religion (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1966) 182Google Scholar , 234-38 ; Soggin, J. A., “Notes for Christian Exegesis of the First Part of Ps 22,” BO 29 (1975) 152–65Google Scholar ; and Widengren, G., The Accadian and Hebrew Psalms of Lamentations as Religious Documents (Stockholm: Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksells, 1937)Google Scholar.

³⁴ This line of scholarship, which maintains that the individual of Psalm 22 is actually a royal figure, parallels traditional Jewish and Christian interpretations that associate the psalm with King David, Moses (the first and greatest leader of the people, although not strictly speaking a king), King Hezekiah, Queen Esther, and Jesus (whom the gospel writers present as “son of David” and “Messiah”).

³⁵ See Gennep, Arnold L. van, The Rites of Passage (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960)Google Scholar , and Turner, Victor, “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage,” in the Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society, Symposium on New Approaches to the Study of Religion, 1964, 4–20Google Scholar . Levine, Herbert J. (Sing unto God a New Song: A Contemporary Reading of the Psalms [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995] 76–78Google Scholar ) discusses the Psalms in terms of van Gennep's tripartite structure of rites of passage (separation, liminality, and reincorporation). This resemblance is far from perfect, however. An obvious difference is that the separation and liminality experienced by the psalmist most likely has some tragic physical, mental, or social cause, whereas the separation and liminality of the initiate described by van Gennep typically stem from conventions associated with transitions in social status.

³⁶ Units that may have been collected relatively early include the fifteen songs of ascents (Psalms 120-34) and the Korah and Asaph psalms. Similarly, the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-18) and the Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-50) are distinctive groups of psalms that may have once existed independently. There is another stage of editing indicated by the distinctive “Elohistic” characteristics of Psalms 42-83. For the history of the editing of the Psalms, see , Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2. 193–201Google Scholar ; Gese, H., “Die Entstehung der Buchereinteilung des Psalters,” in Vom Sinai zum Zion (Munich: Kaiser, 1974) 159–67Google Scholar ; Wilson, G. H., The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985)Google Scholar.

³⁷ Whereas Brevard Childs (Introduction, 511) maintains that the David psalms in Psalms 3-41 comprise one of the earliest collections, Gerstenberger (Psalms, 28) thinks this collection is Exilic.

³⁸ , Gerstenberger, Psalms, 27–29.Google Scholar

³⁹ Almost all of the psalms found in Psalms 3-41 were intended for small group rituals, including incubation rites, prayers for rain, exorcising of demons, and rituals associated with the personal well-being of individuals, according to Gerstenberger (Psalms, 37).

⁴⁰ The significant variants in contents and order in the Qumran Psalms Scroll dating from as late as the first century CE complicate conclusions concerning the emergence of the Psalter's final form. From this evidence , Sanders, James (“Variorum in the Psalms Scroll [llQPs^a],” HTR 59 [1966] 83–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar ) concludes that the first part of the Psalter was edited relatively early, and that later parts were added to this initial core. Flint, Peter W. (The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms [Leiden: Brill, 1997) 135–71Google Scholar , 238-39) concurs with Sanders that the variants in contents and order in some of the Qumran Psalms Scrolls point to more than one version of the Psalter well into the first century of the common era, although their conclusions have been challenged by other scholars.

⁴¹ Gese, H., “Wisdom Literature in the Persian Period,” in Davies, W. D. and Finkelstein, Louis, eds., Cambridge History of Judaism (3 vols.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) 1. 189–218CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Murphy, R. E., “A Consideration of the Classification ‘Wisdom Psalms,’” in Congress Volume: Bonn, 1962 (VTSup 9; Leiden: Brill, 1963) 156–67CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; , Mowinckel, Psalms in Israel's Worship, 2. 109Google Scholar.

⁴² For a discussion of the Book of Psalms as the “songbook of the Second Temple,” see , Mowinckel, Psalmenstudien (1921; reprinted, 6 vols.; Amsterdam: P. Schippers, 1966) 6. 27–36Google Scholar . Alternatively , , Gerstenberger (Psalms, 28Google Scholar ) suggests that the Psalter arose as a hymnbook for use in the synagogues of the Diaspora without immediate access to the Temple in Jerusalem. One can certainly appreciate that, after the destruction of the first and the second Temples and the corresponding cessation of the rituals and performance of psalms by temple musicians, there would have been great shifts in the interpretation and employment of the Psalms. For the reinterpretation of cultic psalms already in preexilic and exilic times, see Holm-Nielsen, S., “The Importance of Late Jewish Psalmody for the Understanding of the Psalmodic Tradition,” StTh 14 (1960) 1–53Google Scholar ; and , Becker, Israel deutet seine Psalmen, 41–90Google Scholar . Perhaps an obvious point should be stressed: interpretation of the Psalms as Scripture did not eliminate various liturgical uses of the Psalms within the context of Jewish and Christian worship services.

⁴³ See Ps 1:2, which says that the righteous' “delight is in the Torah of the LORD, and on his Torah they meditate day and night.” Becker (Israel deutet seine Psalmen, 31) understands the Psalter as a creation of sages for the purpose of study within wisdom circles . Mowinckel, Sigmund (“Psalms and Wisdom,” in Noth, M. and Thomas, D. Winton, eds., Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup 3; Leiden: Brill, 1955] 205–24)Google Scholar similarly points to a transformation of the Sitz im Leben of thanksgiving psalms, from actual sacrifices of thanksgiving to educational settings associated with sages, teachers, and wise men. The strategic placement of Wisdom Psalms in the Psalter, including the extended acrostic on Torah study in Psalm 119 (which may have been the conclusion to the Psalter at one stage of its development) similarly stresses the final editors' view of the book of Psalms. For a discussion of the phenomenon of the Wisdom Psalm, see DeMeyer, F., “La Sagesse psalmique et le Ps 94,” Bijdragen 42 (1981) 22–45Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ See, for example, Luke 24:44. The Psalms similarly comprise the core of the LXX'S collection of poetical compositions.

⁴⁵ Examples of this include private reading of and meditation on the Psalms, study of the Psalms in educational settings, and various types of performances of the Psalms in worship services, such as recitation of the whole Psalter consecutively according to a fixed schedule as an epitome of human prayer and praise.

⁴⁶ It might be more accurate to describe this development in a different way: Reflection on the Psalms in light of other traditional, religious texts may have contributed to their inclusion as part of Israel's sacred scripture, in that this type of intertextual interpretation secured for these ancient liturgical compositions a new literary context that eventually replaced their original ritual contexts.

⁴⁷ , Childs, Introduction, 511.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Many of these suggestive connections are indeed developed in Midrash Tehillim.

⁴⁹ The insertion of a version of Psalm 18 as David's final victory song in the appendix to the Deuteronomistic Historian's account of his life in 2 Samuel 22 similarly forges a connection between the Psalms and David's biography.

⁵⁰ In addition to Psalms 3 and 51 mentioned in the introduction, these include Psalms 7, 18, 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, and 142.

⁵¹ ln the LXX, Psalms 64, 92, 95, 96, and 142 (=MT Psalms 65, 93, 96, 143), as well as the additional Psalm 151, have secondary historical superscriptions marked by lexical items not consistent with the language usage of the Old Greek Psalter, according to Pietersma, Albert, “David in the Greek Psalms,” VT 30 (1980) 221Google Scholar . In HQPs', Psalm 15IB opens with a superscription refering to David's anointing by God's prophet . Childs, Brevard (“Psalm Titles and Midrashic Exegesis,” JSS 16 [1971] 137–50Google Scholar ) stresses that these connections between psalm and narrative event are based on sensitive readings that detect common themes and even verbal expressions. Interestingly, not all of the events listed may be easily correlated with specific biblical narratives. For a discussion of these superscriptions' lack of historical value, se Cooper, Alan, “The Life and Times of King David according to the Book of Psalms,” in Friedman, R. E., ed., The Poet and the Historian: Essays in Literary and Historical Biblical Criticism (HSS 26; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983) 117–32Google Scholar.

⁵² In the MT, 73 of the 150 Psalms are introduced with some form of Davidic superscription. Other psalms contain the names of other biblical characters in their headings, including Korah and Asaph (12 each), Solomon (2), and Moses (1).

⁵³ This understanding would echo the view of David as royal sponsor of liturgical music in 1 Chronicles, forging an alternative connection between the David of the biblical narratives and the David of the Psalms. For a specific example, see 1 Chronicles 16, in which David commissions the Levites to perform a composite hymn consisting of passages from Psalms 96, 105, and 106 after the ark was successfully brought into Jerusalem.

⁵⁴ Apparently, this colophon marked the conclusion of the Book of Psalms at an early stage in its history. Additional psalms of David are subsequently included in the later portions of the Book of Psalms.

⁵⁵ Even most of the 13 additional David titles found in the LXX but not in the MT contain the reading τω αανισ. In the process of textual transmission, however, a number of LXX manu-scripts came to include occasional, secondary translations of the Hebrew phrase as to τον αανισ (“David's”), attesting to a gradual shift towards the understanding of David as author of many of the Psalms. Pietersman (“David in the Greek Psalms,” 213-26) arrives at these conclusions after critically examining all of the David titles in the LXX.

⁵⁶ Strugnell, John, “More Psalms of ‘David,’” CBQ 27 [1965] 207–16.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ The prose passage in llQPs^a called “David's Compositions” (Sanders, James, The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11 [llQPs^a], [DJD 4; Oxford: Clarendon, 1965], 48, 91–93Google Scholar ) credits David with 3,600 psalms and 450 songs; see also the suggestive treatment of David as an exemplar of thanksgiving and devotional singing in Ben Sira's praise of famous men (Sir 47:8-10).

⁵⁸ The rabbinic position on the issue is not monolithic, however, and includes statements both to the effect that David wrote all the Psalms and to the effect that he was the most prominent of the ten authors who contributed to the collection.

⁵⁹ A similar phenomenon may be seen in the setting of anonymous, psalm-like compositions within biblical narratives as the prayers and praises of particular individuals. See Cabrol, F., “Cantiques,” in Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne etde liturgie (15 vols.; Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1910) 2Google Scholar . 1975-94 ; Gerstenberger, E., Der Bittende Mensch (Wmant 51; NeukirchenVluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1980) 17–63Google Scholar ; Greenberg, M., Biblical Prose Prayer, and “The Patterns of Prayers of Petition in the Bible,” Eretz-lsrael 16 (1982Google Scholar ) [Hebrew Section] 47-55 ; Schneider, H., “Die biblischen Oden im christlichen Altertum,” Bib 30 (1949) 28–65Google Scholar , 239-72, 433-52, 479-500 ; Weitzman, Seven, Song and Story in Biblical Narrative: The History of a Literary Convention in Ancient Israel (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977)Google Scholar ; and Watts, James, Psalm and Story: Inset Hymns in Hebrew Narrative (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992)Google Scholar . During a later period in the history of Psalms interpretation, the Qumran community similarly applied the language of individual laments to the specific figure of the Teacher of Righteousness; see below, n. 113.

⁶⁰ The relation between the author and the subject of the psalm is also altered in the interpretations of Psalm 22 as David's prophetic composition concerning Esther's or Jesus' story.

⁶¹ In this collection, all but Psalms 10 and 33 contain some form of a Davidic superscription.

⁶² David's authorship of Psalm 22 is explicitly discussed twice in the commentary on Psalm 22 in Midr. Teh. 22.7 and 22.14, and is implied once more in Midr. Teh. 22.22.

⁶³ Nor are there any other indications of the interpretation of Psalm 22 within the Hebrew Bible itself. The technical notations in the superscription, including “According to the ‘Hind of Dawn,’” encouraged later interpretation, however. In the Targum, for example, Psalm 22 is designated rather surprisingly as a composition “Concerning the Virtue of the Continual Morning Sacrifice.” Additional interpretations of the phrase “Hind of Dawn” will be discussed below in connection with Psalm 22 as Esther's prayer.

⁶⁴ The date of the compilation of Midrash Tehillim is debated by scholars. Much of the material in the first (and earliest) part of the collection (on Psalms 1-119) stems from the amoraic period (third to fifth centuries CE). William G. Braude (The Midrash on Psalms [2 vols.; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959] 1. xxvii–xxxiGoogle Scholar ) discusses the virtues of various proposals concerning the work's final editing and suggests a gradual process of compilation stretching from the third to the thirteenth centuries. No exhaustive critical edition of Midrash Tehillim is yet available, in part because of the wide variation among manuscripts. The edition consulted for this paper is Solomon Buber, ed., Midrash Tehillim (1891; reprinted Jerusalem, 1966), which is the base text for Braude's translation.

⁶⁵ Although the “gazelle” C-U) described in this tradition differs from the “hind” mentioned in the superscription of Psalm 22, it may be that God's deliverance of David through the sending of a gazelle transforms what appears to be a musical notation in the heading of the Psalm 22, “According to ‘The Hind of the Dawn,’” into a summary of the subject of the psalm, “Concerning the Hind of the Dawn.”

⁶⁶ For general biblical depictions of David as shepherd, see 1 Sam 16:11, 19; 17:15, 28; Ps 78:70–71. Particularly relevant for this discussion is David's description of how God delivered him from wild animals, including the lion, when he was a shepherd in 1 Sam 17:34-37.

⁶⁷ Midr. Teh. 22.1; Midr. Teh. 22.20 similarly recalls all Israel at the Sea. In Esther's prayers presented in Midr. Teh. 22. 6, 16, and 18, the queen alludes to the exodus event as the prime example of divine intervention in Israel's history. This association links the psalm directly to the central narrative in the Torah, celebrated yearly at Passover.

⁶⁸ Midr. Teh. 22.2.

⁶⁹ See, for example, the lists of the four periods of exile and deliverance in Midr. Teh. 22.5, of the four hostile kingdoms and those who bring relief in each age in Midr. Teh. 22.9, and of the reversals of fortune experienced by four of Israel's enemies in Midr. Teh. 22.15. Focusing more on the fate of individual biblical characters are the lists of those who suffered for three days and then were rescued in Midr. Teh. 22.5 and of those righteous men who were exalted after their debasement in Midr. Teh. 22.7.

⁷⁰ Safrai, Hanna (“Psalm of Esther and Psalm of Redemption: Midrash to Psalm 22,” in Poorhuis, Marcel, ed., Mijn god, mijn god, waarom hebt gij mij verlaten: Een interdisciplinaire bundel over psalm 22 [Ten Have: Baarn, 1997] 81–93Google Scholar [Dutch]) makes the same point. I thank the author for giving me a Hebrew translation of this article.

⁷¹ , Becker (Israel deutet seine Psalmen, 39, 49–58Google Scholar ) suggests, however, that already in the Exilic period Psalm 22 was transformed into a prayer of the people, represented by the suffering individual, through the addition of vss 28-32. In this same vein, the eleventh-century commentator Rashi identifies the subject of Psalm 22 as the fate of the entire Jewish people in exile and their redemption in the messianic age.

⁷² The exact nature of the tannaitic dispute recorded in the Mishnah about whether or not the Megilla defiles the hands (m. Yad. 3.5; b. Meg. 7a) is not entirely clear, but in any event it seems that the scroll of Esther was included in the sacred writings at a relatively late period, perhaps in response to the popularity of Purim. See Zeitlin, Solomon, “An Historical Study of the Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures,” PAARJ 3 (1931) 132–34Google Scholar , 141.

⁷³ Indeed, Psalm 22 is not quoted extensively in tannaitic literature. The reason for this suppression is unclear, although Safrai (“Psalm of Esther”) suggests that reaction against Christian employment of the psalm in connection with the passion of Jesus may have been at the root of this silence.

⁷⁴ The material found in Midrash Tehillim is the primary focus of this discussion, since it constitutes the most fully-developed interpretation of Psalm 22 as Esther's prayer, although there are also other sources that explicitly make the connection, including b. Meg. 15a-b, Panim Aherim 71, b. Yoma 29a, and Yalqut Sim 'oni on Esther. The Second Targum of Esther appears to be dependent on this connection between Esther and Psalm 22, although the allusions are less specific. The persistence of this interpretation may be seen from the fact that Abraham Saba ben Jacob (1450-1508 CE), a Kabbalist active in the Iberian Peninsula at the time of the expulsion, similarly employs exegesis of Psalm 22 in his discussion of Esther in the Persian court. See his Eshkol ha-kofer 'al Megillat 'Ester (ed. Segal, Eliezer; 1903; reprinted, Jerusalem: Keter, 1980-1981) 15–17Google Scholar [Hebrew]. See also Walfish, Barry Dov, Esther in Medieval Garb: Jewish Interpretation of the Book of Esther in the Middle Ages (New York: SUNY Press, 1993)Google Scholar . There may be indications of the influence of Psalm 22 on Esther's prayers in other early interpretive works, as well. For example, in the LXX version of her prayer before approaching the king, Esther confides in God that she is alone and has no helper besides him although danger is near (Add Esth C 14; compare Ps 22:2, 20, and especially 12); confirms that from her youth she has heard that God fulfilled his promises to the ancestors (Add Esth C 16; compare Ps 22:5-6, 10-11); complains that the Jews' enemies seek to stop their mouths from praising God (Add Esth C 19; compare Ps 22:3); asks God not to let the nations laugh at the Jews' downfall (Add Esth C 22; compare Ps 22:7-9, 18); requests an eloquent mouth before the “lion” that she must approach (Add Esth C 24; compare Ps 22:14, 22); and repeats her petition that God save the Jews and herself, since she is alone and has no other helper (Add Esth C 25; compare Ps 22:20), before concluding her prayer with references to the details of her particular situation as queen in the foreign court. The evidence in the First Targum of Esther is similarly suggestive, even if ultimately inconclusive. In this source (Tg. Esth. II 5:1), Esther lets out a loud cry (compare Ps 22:2-3); she refers to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as of her ancestor Benjamin, and presents a list of her forefathers who have been delivered (compare Ps 22:5); she asks God who will offer praises, saying “Holy, holy, holy,” if Israel is exterminated (compare Ps 22:4); and she has a dry throat due to the fast (compare Ps 22:16).

⁷⁵ Mordecai's warning to Esther that, if she fails to act, “relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place” (Esth 4:14) suggests that history is controlled by divine power.

⁷⁶ Mordecai's refusal to bow down to Haman, explained by the fact that he is Jewish (Esth 3:2-5), his tearing of his clothes and lamenting in sackcloth and ashes upon learning of the decree against the Jews (Esth 4:1-2), the Jews' widespread fasting, weeping, and lamenting in sackcloth and ashes in response to the decree (Esth 4:3), and the three-day general fast requested by Esther in anticipation of her unsummoned audience before the king (Esth 4:15-16) are possible exceptions to the general rule that specifically Jewish practices are absent from the Esther scroll.

⁷⁷ The two Targums of Esther similarly include additional material, recreating the narrative as a chapter in Israel's religious history.

⁷⁸ The extended concentration on a woman's prayer in Midrash Tehillim is anomalous in this source, although in the wider sphere of rabbinic Judaism women's prayer was recognized as efficacious. See Baskin, Judith R., “Rabbinic Reflections on the Barren Wife,” HTR 82 (1989) 101–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷⁹ The variations in form amongst the proems in this commentary suggest that some might actually be literary compositions that formally imitate the introductory homily of the synagogue service.

⁸⁰ There are also proems that close with the superscription or first verse (Midr. Teh. 22A, 5, 7, 14, 17), suggesting that Psalm 22 itself was read liturgically. Safrai ("Psalm of Esther") proposes that the great number oipetihtot included in the commentary on Psalm 22 (more than included in connection with any other psalm in Midrash Tehillim) also indicates that this psalm was read in the synagogue.

⁸¹ Although limitations of space prevent detailed exploration of this issue, one striking aspect of the commentary in Midrash Tehillim that reinforces the impression that Psalm 22 is principally about Esther is the interjection of long passages commenting on events in the scroll of Esther that have little or no actual bearing on the interpretation of Psalm 22. See for example Midr. Teh. 22.2-3, 13.

⁸² Midr. Teh. 22.1. Similarly, Midr. Teh. 22.14 compares Esther to the horn of the hind that was thought to drive out poisonous snakes, since she defeats Haman. In b. Yoma 29a, Esther is also compared to a hind, but for the reason that they both share an especially desirable anatomical feature. In a more literal vein, another tradition in Midr. Teh. 22.14 asserts that David dedicated Psalm 22 to the “Hind of the Dawn” after he learned that the hind is the most righteous of all the animals, whose prayers for water on behalf of her children are mercifully heeded (compare b. Yoma 29a). Midr. Teh. 42/43.1 compares Esther to the righteous hind who prays to God.

⁸³ Midr. Teh. 22.5. Traditions in Midr. Teh. 22.10 and 13 also compare Esther to the dawn, in that she brings deliverance for the Jews. In Midr. Teh. 22.15, the dawn is compared to a different figure in the book of Esther, namely Mordecai. Esther is also compared to the dawn in b. Yoma 29a.

⁸⁴ The consonants of the words “hind” in vs 1 and “my Strength” in vs 20 are similar in Hebrew. The reading of the word in the superscription as “strength” rather than “hind” is an ancient one, apparently lying behind the translation provided by the LXX, “Concerning Help at Dawn.” The Psalms Targum, Symmachus, and the Vg similarly omit animal imagery in their various translations of the word.

⁸⁵ Midr. Teh. 22.1. The superscription of Psalm 22 is also understood to contain a reference to God as Israel's “Strength” at the Sea in Midr. Teh. 22.1. (In Midr. Teh. 22.8, however, “Concerning the Strength of the Dawn” refers to the force of David's commitment to arise early each morning to praise God and study Torah.) By contrast, Midr. Teh. 22.27 develops a different significance for the similar words in vss 1 and 20, and reports that Esther calls God “my Hind,” since he was as swift as a hind to aid Israel at the sea. God is also portrayed as the “Hind” that brings the dawn of salvation to Israel in Midr. Teh. 22.4 and 5.

⁸⁶ Midrash Tehillim preserves two versions of a prayer at this point of the narrative. See Midr. Teh. 22.6 and 18-19. Elsewhere, in Midr. Teh. 22.17, Psalm 22 is presented as the prayer of all Israel in response to Hainan's decrees. These prayers illustrate the point of the interpretation of Ps 22:7, “But I am a worm, and not a man,” in Midr. Teh. 22.20: “Like a worm, who has only its mouth, so the children of Israel have only the prayer of their mouths. Like a worm, which roots out a tree with its mouth, so the children of Israel with the prayers of their mouths root out evil decrees which the nations of the earth devise against them.”

⁸⁷ The common association of these two practices is emphasized in Targum Esther I, which transforms the report in Esth 9:32 that Esther and Mordecai enjoined upon the Jews regulations concerning “their fasting and cries of distress” into a report that they enjoined regulations concerning “their fasting and prayers.”

⁸⁸ The earliest example of a prayer interpolated at this point may be found in the LXX. Each version of Esther's prayer in the various sources is slightly different, and the contents tend to reflect the larger themes of the interpretive work within which it is located. In some other sources, Esther's prayer is marked by the language of other psalms and biblical passages. For example, in Tg. Esth. II 8.15 Mordecai and Esther offer thanks and praise to God using phrases from Ps 124:6-8.

⁸⁹ Midr. Teh. 22.6.

⁹⁰ This opening section of Esther's prayer based on Ps 22:2 appears to be secondarily conjoined to the following unit commenting on Ps 22:3-6 in Midr. Teh. 22.6. Not only does its conclusion, that her prayer was answered, contrast with the theme of unanswered prayer in the subsequent section, but another version of the second part of the prayer based on Ps 22:3-6, which contrasts the crises under Pharaoh and under Haman in different terms, appears independently in Midr. Teh. 22.18.

⁹¹ No doubt this contrast was suggested to early interpreters by a verse in the scroll of Esther itself (Esth 7:4), which portrays the queen insisting to King Ahasuerus that if her people were only to be sold into slavery (recalling the Egyptian experience) she would have held her peace, but since they are to be totally annihilated, she seeks to secure their lives.

⁹² This list of the actions of Esther's generation conflates the behaviors listed in the book of Esther (fasting for three days in Esth 4:16 and crying out in Esth 4:1) and in Psalm 22 (crying out in vs 6 and calling in vs 3), and adds to this list prayer, a behavior of special interest in the context of this development of Esther as a woman of prayer. The result is still no answer, as in Ps 22:3.

⁹³ In light of the comparisons between the severity of the situations in Egypt and in Persia, in this passage, and in light of the other version of Esther's prayer during the fast in Midr. Teh. 22.18–19, two other passages based on Ps 22:3-6 in Midrash Tehillim deserve note. The first, found in Midr. Teh. 22.21, relates the verses of Ps 22:3-6 exclusively to the fathers in Egypt, and the second, found in Midr. Teh. 22.22, relates the same verses exclusively to Israel's more recent ancestors, Mordecai and Esther. These correlations of the same verses in Psalm 22 to the Egyptian and Persian experiences may have facilitated the comparisons found in the versions of Esther's prayer during the fast. See a similar comparison in b. Meg. 14a.

⁹⁴ Other sources also make reference to the ancestors: in Tg. Esth. 7/5.1, Esther prays to the “God of my ancestors,” specifically the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the God of her own ancestor Benjamin, and presents a list of her forefathers who had been saved (compare Ps 22:5); in Tg. Esth. II 4.13, Mordecai rebukes Esther for her refusal to pray for the house of Israel, as Moses and others prayed in regards to lesser kings than Xerxes (Ahasuerus).

⁹⁵ Midr. Teh. 22.16.

⁹⁶ The motif of Esther as a victim of rape reappears later in this commentary, in Midr. Teh. 22.25. See also Tg. Esth. I 2.8, in which Esther is forcibly taken to the king's palace, and LXX Add Esth C 26, in which she confides her abhorrence of the uncircumcised alien's bed. The Babylonian Talmud (b. Meg. 13a) intensifies the pathos of Esther's situation by presenting her as Mordecai's faithful wife, who after forced intercourse with Ahasuerus, washes herself in preparation for marital relations with her true husband. When she voluntarily approaches the gentile king to plead for her people, however, she becomes a consenting party to their relations and can no longer return to Mordecai (b. Meg. 15a; compare Tg. Esth. 14.16).

⁹⁷ Other sources do incorporate the theme of rape directly into Esther's prayer during the fast, however. In the LXX (Add Esth C 26), for example, Esther claims to abhor the bed of the uncircumcised. Rape arises as an issue in her prayer during the fast also in Tg. Esth. I 2:8, and Agg. Esth. 2.8. A different context for Esther's prayer concerning her unwanted relations with the king is given in Targum Esther II, where Esther responds to Mordecai's command that she go before the king by explaining that she has been praying for the last thirty days that the king wouldn't ask for her and cause her to sin (Tg. Esth II 4:11). This placement suggests an appropriate context for Esther's second prayer in Midrash Tehillim.

⁹⁸ Midr. Teh. 22.23 interprets another general statement of confidence referring to one's mother, “You kept me safe when I was upon my mother's breast” (Ps 22:10), in terms of the specific details of Esther's life, when she recalls how as an orphan God placed her in the care of Mordecai and his wife, who offered Esther her breasts to suck in place of her mother's.

⁹⁹ The third occurrence of the phrase “my God” in a verse referring to a mother's womb (Ps 22:11) perhaps facilitated the emergence of the issue of how a woman expresses her personal commitment to the deity.

¹⁰⁰ Also in the LXX version of her prayer (Add Esth C 28), Esther portrays herself as piously abstaining from the royal table and from the wine of libations; this prayer itself dramatizes that she is a woman of piety. Similarly, b. Meg. 13a-15b; Tg. Esth. 7 2:20; and Esth. Rab. 6.8 portray Esther as an observant Jewish woman. A contrasting tradition is preserved in Midr. Teh. 22.25, which states that Ahasuerus compelled her to renounce both the written and oral Torahs. See below n. 106.

¹⁰¹ Both vss 12 and 20 contain the negative imperative, “do not be far!” and some kind of reference to help ("there is no one to help []” in vs 12 and “hasten to my assistance []” in vs 20), and therefore provide a thematically matched introduction and conclusion to the passage identified as Esther's prayer in Midrash Tehillim. The LXX (Add Esth C 14, 25) similarly seems to draw on the thematic repetition of these verses to frame the opening half of Esther's prayer.

¹⁰² This prayer and its interpretation may be found in Midr. Teh. 22.24-27.

¹⁰³ Midr. Teh. 22.24. In Midrash Tehillim, this prayer does not include the first verse of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The much shorter version of her prayer at this point in the narrative in b. Meg. 15b, however, introduces this verse as her opening address, evoked by the departure of the divine presence as she passes Ahasuerus' idols. (The holy spirit had earlier clothed her as she prepared to approach the king in b. Meg. 14b and 15b; compare Tg. Esth. 15.1) Other than the first line of Psalm 22, Esther's prayer in b. Meg. 15b incorporates only two phrases from the psalm, when she asks God's forgiveness for calling Ahasuerus a dog (“Deliver my life from the sword, my soul from the hand of the dog,” Ps 22:21) and rephrases her petition in more respectful terms (“Save me from the mouth of the lion,” Ps 22:22).

¹⁰⁴ Midr. Teh. 22.7 likewise depicts Esther immediately taking the initiative of calling a three-day fast in preparation for her approach of Ahasuerus after learning of Hainan's plot. See also Midr. Teh. 22.21, which celebrates Esther's resolve to supplicate the king. Her initial hesitancy in the Bible appears nowhere in the commentary on Psalm 22 in Midrash Tehillim, although Mordecai's urgent second appeal that she approach the king appears in Midr. Teh. 22.5. Compare Esth. Rab. 8.4, which depicts Esther's immediate awareness of the severity of the Jews' situation.

¹⁰⁵ Although Ps 22:8, with its description of jeering enemies, appears before the passage interpreted here as Esther's prayer, in Midr. Teh. 22.21 these enemies are identified as Haman's sons, who mock the Jews, saying, “Tomorrow these will be killed or hanged.”

¹⁰⁶ The commentary in Midr. Teh. 22.25 on the list of physical symptoms in Ps 22:15-16 consists primarily of explanations of obscure terminology, probably since it would be difficult to connect all the ailments mentioned with Esther's situation. There is, however, an additional narrative detail connected to Ps 22:16 that portrays Ahasuerus' thwarting of Esther's religious impulse. Reading Ps 22:16 as “My tongue was restrained from my doubled doctrine” (related to the phrase “good doctrine"[] in Prov 4:2) rather than as “My tongue cleaves to my jaws” , this tradition interprets the verse as an indication that Ahasuerus forced Esther to renounce both the written and oral Torah.

¹⁰⁷ I do not fully understand how the commentators derived from the statement “You have set me into the dust of death” (Ps 22:16) the explanation, “What do I resemble? A camp stove that is set at a crossroads, upon which all those coming and going set their pots.” I also am unable to connect the sense of being used and abandoned expressed by this comparison with other passages concerning Esther in Midrash Tehillim. It makes more sense in the context of the version of the story in b. Meg. 13b–15b, in which Esther is raped nightly by Ahasuerus and then purifies herself so that she can have relations with her husband, Mordecai, especially because the stove mentioned apparently had two holes for pots. Similarly, a tradition in Esth. Rab. 6.10 portrays competitive bidding for Esther as she is taken to the king's palace.

¹⁰⁸ The motif of Haman's sorcery also appears in Esth. Rab. 6.8, in which Mordecai walks before the women's court every day (compare Esth 2.2) in order to make sure that no witch-craft is practiced against Esther. An alternate interpretation in Midr. Teh. 22.26 of the cryptic statement concerning the psalmist's hands and feet in Ps 22:17 maintains that the work of Esther's hands brought blessing upon Ahasuerus, when, after their marriage, she restored to his control all of the provinces that had rebelled upon Vashti's execution.

¹⁰⁹ This midrash takes the two parallel half-verses of Ps 22:19 literally, considering them as two consecutive actions involving first many garments and then a single cloak, in keeping with the curious change from a plural to a singular noun referring to the clothing in the second part of the verse. There is a second version of this tradition in Midr. Teh. 22.1, which states that when the people of the palace learned of Esther's decision to appear before the king, they began to discuss the distribution of her clothing amongst themselves, since they anticipated that the king would execute her.

¹¹⁰ The version in h. Meg. 15b portrays three ministering angels rushing to assist Esther in various capacities at this point.

¹¹¹ Midr. Teh. 22.10 claims that with Esther, all miracles ceased. But even the miracles included in Esther's story, such as the healing of her hands and feet and the extension and retraction of the king's scepter, are themselves post-biblical interpolations into a biblical narrative that remains uniformly devoid of the supernatural.

¹¹² Examples of this type of movement from darkness to light in the proems of the commentary on Psalm 22 may be found in Midr. Teh. 22.5, 13, and 15. This contrast fits well with the summary statement in Esth 8:16 that “for the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor.”

¹¹³ Ps 22:26, 30; Esth 9:17-19, 22.

¹¹⁴ Ps 22:27-30; Esth 8:9-14, 17; 9:20, 28, 30; 10:1.

¹¹⁵ Ps 22:24, 31-32; Esth 9:27-28, 31.

¹¹⁶ This correlation between Psalm 22 and the Esther story in Midrash Tehillim makes use of what may have been the final verse of the psalm at some point in its history, according to some commentators, including Briggs and Briggs, Book of Psalms, 188. There is no commentary in Midrash Tehillim on the theme of all nations acknowledging God's sovereignty in Ps 22:28-30, which does not correspond with the specific emphasis on the survival of the Jewish people under a capricious foreign government in the Esther story. In Tg. Esth. I 5.3, 6-7, the motif of the Temple appears in Ahasuerus's qualification of his offer to grant Esther's request up to half his kingdom (compare Esth 5:3, 6; 7:2), to exclude the possibility of rebuilding of the holy Temple on the border of his kingdom.

¹¹⁷ See Juel, Don, Messianic Exegesis: Chrislological Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988) 89–117.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ Allusions to Psalm 22 also appear in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, which may have been written as early as the latter part of the second-century CE.

¹¹⁹ While the direction of any possible influence between these two interpretations of Psalm 22 is an interesting, if elusive, issue, it will not be explored in this paper. Safrai (“Psalm of Esther”) argues that the Jewish interpretation of the psalm in terms of Esther is a polemic reaction to Christian interpretation of the psalm. Other scholars have viewed the application to Jesus as dependent on earlier Jewish practice. For example Simonsen, D. (“Le Psaume XXII et la Passion de Jesus,” REJ 22 [1891] 283–85)Google Scholar , contends that the “Esther Psalm” was recited in the Temple and synagogue on Nisan 14, the original fast of Esther, and that the early Christians continued this liturgical practice, simply substituting the passion of Jesus, which took place on the same day.

¹²⁰ The depiction of Jesus interpreting the scriptures for the two men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 27:25--27', and for the eleven disciples and their companions in Luke 24:45-47, narratively portrays the importance of christological interpretation of the Jewish scriptures for the formation of the early church.

¹²¹ It has been suggested that the original context for the interpretation of Psalm 22 in light of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection may have been the reading of this psalm at a gathering of members of the early community for a thanksgiving service related to the Eucharist. See Begrich, Joachim, “Das priesterliche Heilsorakel,” ZAW 52 (1934) 81–122Google Scholar ; Collins, Adela Yarbro, “The Appropriation of the Psalms of Individual Lament,” in Tuckett, C. M., ed., The Scriptures in the Gospels (Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1997) 223–41Google Scholar ; and , Gese, “Psalm 22 und das Neue Testament,” 17–22Google Scholar.

¹²² It is striking that individual laments, including most prominently Psalms 22, 31, and 69, are highlighted in the New Testament depictions of the crucifixion, whereas other texts that subsequently came to the fore in Christian explanations of the passion, including Isaiah 50, 52, and 53 with their descriptions of a “suffering servant,” exert relatively little influence in the gospels. Basing his arguments partly on this employment of individual laments in the gospels, Nickelsburg, George W. E. (“The Genre and Function of the Markan Passion Narrative,” HTR 73 [1980] 153–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar ) maintains that the pre-Markan passion narrative employs the genre of the story of the righteous one in its account of the death and exaltation of Pesch, Jesus. R. (Das Markusevangelium [HThKNT 2/2; Freiberg: Herder, 1977] 2. 1–27Google Scholar ) presents possible allusions and references to the pre-Markan history of the Passion. Evidence from Qumran, including the pesher commentary on Psalm 37 (4Q171 [4QpPs^a], i-iv, in Allegro, John M., Qumran Cave 4, I [4Q158-4Q186], DJD 5; Oxford: Clarendon, 1968] 42–50)Google Scholar , illustrates how this early Jewish community interpreted the psalms in terms of the suffering of its unjustly persecuted leader, the “Teacher of Righteousness,” who was expected to receive future vindication. Allusions to individual laments from the Bible in the post-biblical Hodaydt collection (including to Ps 41:10 in QH 5:5-19) similarly apply phrases from these ancient compositions to the Teacher of Righteousness. SeeHorgan, M. P., Pesharim: Qumran Interpretations of Biblical Books (CBQMS 8; Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1979) 693Google Scholar ; and Jeremias, Gert, Der Lehrer der Gerechtigkeit (SUNT 2; Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963) 171Google Scholar . There is also suggestive evidence in Jewish literature (Pesiqta Rabbati 34-37; Yalqut. Sim 'oni on Ps 60:1) that Psalm 22 was applied to a suffering (possibly messianic) figure, although the late date of these passages is problematic for conclusions concerning direction of possible influence. In any event, the LXX'S translation of the phrase in the superscription, “For the Director” , as “To the End,” ed. Eliezer Segal (τω νικοποποιω) and Aquila's translation of this same phrase as “For the Maker of Victory” (τω νικοποποιω, victori) suggest that from an early date Psalm 22 may have been understood as having an eschatological significance.

¹²³ Likewise, the western Church Fathers also found aspects of the application of Psalm 22 to Jesus problematic in light of later christological developments, such as the doctrine of the trinity, which would seem to preclude Christ's sense of separation from God, since he is the second person of the godhead. See, for example, Augustine's “Second Discourse on Psalm 21” (preached to the people of Hippo on Mar. 23, 395), in Scholastica Hebgin and Felicitas Corrigan, trans., St. Augustine on the Psalms: Psalms 1-29 (2 vols.; New York: Newman, 1960) 1. 210Google Scholar (compare 214). Similarly, the psalmist's claim in the LXX and Vg versions of Ps 22:2b that God is “far away from the words of my sins” created a dissonance with the understanding of Jesus as the sinless Christ. See again Augustine “Second Discourse on Psalm 21” 210–11. The Church Fathers nevertheless viewed the entire psalm as referring directly to the Passion, although at certain points they found it necessary to clarify that Jesus was praying from the cross not only for himself, but for all of humanity.

¹²⁴ John 19:24 cites Ps 22:19 as scripture that is fulfilled through the details of Jesus' crucifixion.

¹²⁵ Mark 15:34 and Matt 27:46 quote Ps 22:2; Matt 27:43 quotes Ps 22:9; Mark 15:24, Matt 27:35, and Luke 23:34 quote Ps 22:19; and Heb 2:12 quotes Ps 22:23.

¹²⁶ For example, in all of the gospels there is reference to the mocking of the enemies, and sometimes the language of the New Testament corresponds to the LXX of Psalm 21 (MT Psalm 22), although at other times the correspondence is less exact. ‘“Tertullian Marc. 4.13 presents an interesting variation on the setting of Jesus' appeal to God, perhaps suggested by the reference to crying out at night in Ps 22:3: the garden of Gethsemane (compare Justin Dial. 103, where the symptoms in Ps 22:15 are understood as a description of Jesus' physical suffering, including his sweat falling like drops of blood, on the Mount of Gethsemane before his arrest). In this essay, the discussion of Psalm 22 as Jesus' prayer will be briefer than the earlier discussion of the psalm as Esther's prayers, since the narrative setting of Psalm 22 in the New Testament is basically confined to the single event of the crucifixion and since the psalm verses involved are relatively few. Psalm 22 as Jesus’ prayer from the cross has moreover been the subject of much previous scholarship. See the bibliography in , Childs, Introduction, 523–25Google Scholar , and , Gerstenberger, Psalms, 113Google Scholar.

¹²⁸ A version of this first line as the last words of Jesus appears also in Gos. Pet. 5.19, where Jesus calls out, “My power, my power, why did you forsake me?” See also Heb 5:7–10, which speaks of Jesus' loud, anguished prayer to be saved from death, recalling both Gethsemene and the cross (although perhaps the passage in Hebrews draws primarily on Ps 116:1-4). Luke substitutes a verse from a different lament psalm as Jesus' last words (Ps 31:6), to which he prefixes Jesus' customary address of God as his “Father” (Luke 23:46; compare, Luke 23:34, in some manuscripts). John also presents a very different concluding utterance, and, as noted previously, directly refutes the implications of Ps 22:2 that Jesus felt abandoned by God (John 16:32).

¹²⁹ There are two versions of the Semitic citation, the one in Matthew conforming Jesus' words, and especially the divine address, more closely to the Hebrew version. The LXX translation differs from the Greek translation in the two gospels, and clearly was not the source of the citation: “God, oh my God, heed me! Why have you forsaken me?” The fifth century Psalms Targum contains a version similar to the one found in Matthew, although it contains an interrogative particle from a later period. For a detailed comparison of Jesus' words in Mark and Matthew, see Brown, Raymond E., The Death of the Messiah from Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels (New York: Doubleday, 1994) 2. 1051–54Google Scholar.

¹³⁰ Bultmann, R. (Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition [4th ed.; Göttingen: Vanderhoeck und Ruprecht, 1958] 295Google Scholar ) argues that the quotation of Ps 22:1 is in the realm of legend and not history, in that it constitutes a secondary interpretation of Jesus' loud cry. The motif of Jesus' loud cry in the gospels has a thematic parallel in Psalm 22, which emphasizes the motif of crying out to God (Ps 22:2, 3, 6, 25).

¹³¹ For evidence of this practice in the Bible and in the broader ancient Near East, see Albright, W. F., “A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems (Psalm LXVIII),” HUCA 23 (1950-1951) 1–39.Google Scholar

¹³² Especially influential in making this argument was Dibelius, Martin (From Tradition to Gospel [1934; reprinted London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1965] 49)Google Scholar.

¹³³ , JustinDial. 108Google Scholar cites Psalm 22 almost in its entirety (omitting the final verses in Ps 22:25-32) and comments on its consecutive parts in terms of Jesus' death and resurrection. Tertullian Marc. 3.19.5 refers to “the twenty-first [MT twenty-second] psalm, containing the whole of Christ's passion.” A notable exception to the general rule is Theodore of Mopsuestia, who refutes the idea that the Psalm is a prophecy of Christ's passion. His view was disap-proved of by the Second (Fifth Ecumenical) Council of Constantinople, and condemned by Pope Vigilis in 553 CE. See Basset, J. C., “Le Psaume 22 (LXX 21) et la croix chezles peres,” RHPR 54 (1974) 383–89Google Scholar.

¹³⁴ Although in the LXX the psalm under discussion is actually numbered Psalm 21, all references in this section will be according to the Masoretic divisions to minimize confusion.

¹³⁵ There is a similar description in Gos. Pet. 4.12. ‘“The identification of two different methods of dividing Jesus’ clothes also responds to the shift in both the Hebrew and the Greek versions of Ps 22:19 from a plural “clothes” in the first half-verse, “They divided my clothes ( τα ιüατια üον) amongst themselves” to a singular “clothing” in the second half-verse, “and for my clothing ( τον ιüατιοüον üον) they cast lots.” Sensitivity to this grammatical peculiarity also underlies the interpretation of the verse in terms of the dividing of Esther's clothes and the casting of lots for her royal cloak in Midr. Teh. 22.27, as noted above n. 109.

¹³⁷ The emphasis on the fulfillment of scripture through Jesus' passion in the Gospel of John is also evident in John 19:28, 36-37.

¹³⁸ Clement, writing in the latter half of the first century CE, similarly emphasizes the theme of humiliation expressed in Ps 22:7-9, in the First Epistle of Clement, 16.

¹³⁹ Mark 14:65; 15:31-32; Matt 26:67; 27:41-43; Luke 22:63; 23:35.

¹⁴⁰ Mark 15:16-20; Matt 27:27-31; John 19:2-3; Luke 23:36-37. Jesus is also taunted by the soldiers in Gos. Pet. 3.6-9.

¹⁴¹ A verbal form of the noun from Ps 22:7 is also used in Mark 9:12, where Jesus says, “How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt (εΕονσενøν)?”

¹⁴² Even in the Hebrew version, Ps 22:9 presents the taunting words of the enemies who surround the psalmist. Matthew simply identifies the enemies within the context of Jesus' crucifixion. The continuation of the mockers' derision in Matt 27:43 apparently draws on Wis 2:18. The particle “if (EI) in the paraphrased version of the verse in Matt 27:43 may be a translation of the particle from the Hebrew original of Ps 22:9, which has a range of meanings including both “because” and “if.”

¹⁴³ Mark 15:29-30, 31-32; Matt 27:39-40, 41-42; Luke 23:35, 36-37, 39; compare Ps 22:2, 6, 9, 22. Forms of the same verb “to save” are used in Mark 5:23 and Luke 8:50 to describe Jesus' delivery of Jairus' daughter from death. Heb 5:7 claims that God, who was able to “save” Jesus from death, heard his prayers because of his obedience, and in turn made Jesus the source of “salvation” for all who obey him.

¹⁴⁴ The Psalms Targum adds a verb appropriate to a lion, in order to derive some sense from the clause: “Like a lion they bite my hands and my feet.”

¹⁴⁵ According to this evidence, the disputed Hebrew word may have been or and although these verbal forms are themselves obscure, later Hebrew usage as well as the LXX, Syriac, and Vg translations suggest the meaning “to dig” or “to perforate.” Aquila and Symmachus, however, translate the verb as “they bound.”

¹⁴⁶ Cyprian Treatises 12.2.20; Justin Apol. 1.35.5-7; Dial. 97.3-4; Tertullian Jud. 8; 10; 13.10-11 (compare Gos. Pet. 4:13-14). See Hewitt, J. W., “The Use of Nails in the Crucifixion,” HTR 25 (1932) 29–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar . Other potential points of connection include the accusation in Ps 22:16, “You throw me into the dust of death,” and the contrasting references to life in Ps 22:30 (although the sense of the MT is somewhat obscure).

¹⁴⁷ , Augustine (“Second Discourse on Psalm 21,” 222–28Google Scholar ) emphasizes the universal vision of the last verses of the psalm to counter the exclusive claims of the Donatists. Concerning another possible connection between Psalm 22 and the synoptic gospels, perhaps the under-standing of the superscription recorded in the LXX, “Concerning Help at Dawn,” lies behind the references to the early morning setting of the women's discovery of Jesus' resurrection in the synoptic gospels (Mark 16:2; Matt 28:1; Luke 24:1). John, by contrast, depicts Mary Magdalene approaching the tomb while it is still dark.

¹⁴⁸ , Childs (Introduction, 520–22Google Scholar ) suggests that the David of the historical superscriptions in the Psalter becomes a kind of representative figure, who typifies the range of common emotions and responses to life's difficulties, but this description does not seem to do full justice to the applications of Psalm 22 to Esther and Jesus.

¹⁴⁹ Midr. Teh. 22.7. See also Midr. Teh. 22.24, where David composes another psalm (Ps 148) on account of Esther's experience in Ahasuerus's inner court.

¹⁵⁰ Another passage in John's Passion narrative (John 19:28) similarly presents a Davidic psalm (Ps 69:21) as scripture that is fulfilled by Jesus' crucifixion. See also Matt 22:43, which claims that David spoke “through the spirit” in Psalm 110, and especially Acts 2:30-31, which alludes to Pss 16:8-11; 110:1; and 132:11 as the words of David, explicitly described as a “prophet,” concerning the resurrection of his descendant the Messiah. Other early evidence for the view that David authored the Psalms through prophetic inspiration may be found in “David's Compositions” from the Cave 11 Qumran Psalms Scroll (llQPsa xxvii 2-11, in , Sanders, Psalms Scroll, 48)Google Scholar , as well as in Josephus Ant. 6.8.2.166. Gunkel and most commentators after him reject the idea that Psalm 22 constitutes a messianic prophecy, however, creating a great gulf between modern critical scholars and ancient Christian exegetes on the genre and purpose of the psalm. For the development of the motif of David's prophecy, see James Kugel, “David the Prophet,” in idem, ed. , Poetry and Prophecy: The Beginnings of a Literary Tradition (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990) 45–55Google Scholar.

¹⁵¹ For example, within Christianity, the motif of David's prophetic foresight of Jesus' passion in Psalm 22 appears prominently in anti-Jewish polemics, that charge the Jews with failing to recognize the significance of their own scriptures. Within Judaism, a major issue, at least in the inception of this motif, concerns the status of the Psalms within the canon. The model of prophetic revelation to which David's authorship becomes assimilated suggests that the Psalms should be considered as holy scripture.

¹⁵² Within Judaism, this view does not preclude interpretations of Psalm 22 in terms of other biblical figures besides Esther, however, as the collection of a variety of different traditions into the single work Midrash Tehillim shows.

¹⁵³ An exception to this claim is of course the inclusion of Psalm 22 as part of consecutive readings of the entire book of Psalms according to fixed schedules in both religious traditions.

¹⁵⁴ , Briggs and , Briggs, Book of Psalms, 191.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁵ See , Augustine “Second Discourse on Psalm 21,” 207, 209, 222–24Google Scholar . Similarly, Egeria, a fourth-century pilgrim to Jerusalem notes that on Good Friday “whichever Psalms speak of the Passion are read.” Egeria: Diary of a Pilgrimmage (trans. Gingras, George E.; New York: Newman Press, 1970) 112Google Scholar.

¹⁵⁶ For a list of these sources, see Segal, Eliezer, The Babylonian Esther Midrash, A Critical Commentary (3 vols.; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994) 3. 4Google Scholar n. 10. Discussions of the liturgical reading of Psalm 22 on Purim appear in Elbogen, Ismar, Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1993) 110Google Scholar ; and Idelsohn, A. Z., Jewish Liturgy and Its Development (New York: Henry Holt, 1932)Google Scholar . Another natural setting for Psalm 22 would have been on the day before Purim (Adar 13), when the minor “Fast of Esther” was observed–although this fast would not have been observed as long as the Day of Nicanor was celebrated (Megillat Ta'anit 12). Soferim 21.1 (compare 17.4) reports that in Palestine the “Fast of Esther and Mordecai” was observed for three days, on the first and second Mondays and the first Thursday after Purim, but all of the other sources know only of the “Fast of Esther” on Adar 13. This date conflicts, however, with the rather surprising placement of Esther's fast during Passover in the sources listed in Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, vol. 6 ; Notes to Vols. 3 and 4: From Moses in the Wilderness to Esther (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1968) 471 n. 142Google Scholar , including among others b. Meg. 15a; Tg. Esth. I 4.17; 5.1; Tg. Esth. II 6.1; Esth. Rab. 8.6; Pirqe R. El. 50; and Agg. Esth. 4.16. The presence of petihtot in Midrash Tehillim connecting Psalm 22 to the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 (Midr. Teh. 22.1, 11) suggests the liturgical context of Passover. Having said all of this, I must repeat that there is no explicit written statement that Psalm 22 was read at any other time besides Purim itself.

¹⁵⁷ See Midr. Teh. 22.1, 5, 10, 13, 15, and 17 for petihtot ending with a reference to the scroll of Esther. See Midr. Teh. 22.1, 5, 7, 14, and 17 for petihtot returning to the first or second verse of Psalm 22 itself.

¹⁵⁸ Soferim 18.2.

¹⁵⁹ , Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy, 110.Google Scholar

¹⁶⁰ Idelsohn, A. Z., Jewish Liturgy and Its Development (New York: Henry Holt, 1932) 164.Google Scholar

¹⁶¹ Hanna Safrai, oral communication. There are also liturgical poems (piyyutim) composed for Purim, and in the Ashkenazic ritual, there is a piyyut in an acrostic form describing the events commemorated. See the citation of an excerpt from one of these poems p. xx.

¹⁶² This theme of community deliverance is also emphasized in the written interpretations of Psalm 22, found in Midrash Tehillim and in the gospels, through references to the archetypal story of Israel's deliverance at the Sea celebrated during Passover. In Midr. Teh. 22.6 (compare 22.8), Esther's prayer during the three day fast refers to Israel's deliverance at the Sea, and in other sources, including b. Meg. 15a, this fast is actually set during the time of the Passover feast. Esther refers to the Exodus again in her second prayer in Midr. Teh. 22.16. The Passion of Jesus is set during the Passover season in all four gospels (on the day after the Passover seder in the synoptic gospels and on the day before Passover in John).

¹⁶³ Safrai (“Psalm of Esther”) claims that Psalm 22 is included in lists of biblical passages associated with “redemption,” and speculates that this conception of the psalm arose through the influence of Christian association of the psalm with redemption.

¹⁶⁴ Esther's case involves the Jewish queen's risk of her life for the sake of the Jewish community living under Persian rule, whereas Jesus' case involves the actual death of a messianic figure for the sake of a community of believers; his identity emerges most fully only after his followers' experience of the resurrection. Purim is a minor festival, originating outside of the land of Israel, although certainly the survival of the Jewish people is a central issue in the history of Judaism; Holy Week by contrast, including Good Friday and Easter, is the centrally defining festival of the Christian year, celebrating events without which there would be no Christianity.

¹⁶⁵ See, for example, Midr. Teh. 22.6, 22.

¹⁶⁶ See Mahzor Vitry, 214, and the English translation in Milgrom, Abraham, Jewish Wor-ship (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1971) 274Google Scholar . Compare b. Meg. 7b, which includes the phrases “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai.”

¹⁶⁷ The psychological identification with the emotions and predicament expressed through the psalm is but one of many possible forms of identification. In Judaism, this identification is expressed concretely through the dressing of little girls as Esther on Purim, and perhaps through the custom of sending around portions. In Christianity, it can be expressed by fasting, and thereby suffering with Christ on Good Friday.