Psalm 22 and the Crucifixion of Jesus

By illuminating the Scriptural context which shaped the interpretations of Psalm 22, surveying its ancient textual transmission and translation, examining how it was used in pre-Christian documents, and studying discussions of it in the writings of the early Church Fathers and in the rabbinic corpus, this study provides the necessary framework for answering the question, "How did the early Christians find Psalm 22 to be meaningful in understanding the crucifixion of Jesus?" Hoffman provides new insights into the New Testament usage of particular details from Psalm 22 and also yields some cautions about how Psalm 22 is not to be interpreted or construed from a New Testament perspective. While providing a valuable survey of "how" Psalm 22 was found useful by early Christians, Hoffman suggests, however, that no unequivocal answer is possible for determining "why" Psalm 22 in particular became so crucial to them. It can be shown, however, that aspects of the psalm which connect it to traditions about a son of God, an heir of David, a servant (of the Lord), a prophet, or a righteous person provided the potential pathways for Psalm 22 to have become significant among early Christians. Psalm 22, therefore, was explored by early Christians in order to claim that this psalm which rightly could be and was read as being a psalm about "a" Davidic heir and "a" son of God was about "the" Son of God, "the" Davidic heir acknowledged to be the Messiah.

• Table of contents
• Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Chapter 2 - A Survey of Modern Scholarship on Psalm 22
• Chapter 3 - The Text and Textual Traditions of Psalm 22 (LXX 21)
• Chapter 4 - The Role and Interpretation of Psalm 22 in the Old Testament and the Intertestamental, Qumranic, Patristic, and Rabbinic Literature
• Chapter 5 - Allusions to Psalm 22 in the New Testament
• Chapter 6 - The Interpretation of Psalm 22 by the New Testament Authors
• Chapter 7 - Conclusions; A Concluding Postscript
• Appendix A - Ancient Versions of Psalm 22 (LXX21)
• Appendix B - Vocabulary Equivalences
• Appendix C - All Versions in Parallel English Translation
• Bibliography