Mid-1st-century BC Jewish poems lamenting Roman conquest and longing for the righteous Son of David
Eighteen non-canonical psalms composed in Jerusalem following Pompey the Great's sacrilegious capture of the Temple in 63 BC, containing the clearest and most detailed pre-Christian Jewish portrait of the expected Davidic King Messiah.
Rigorous 4-part empirical analysis separating ancient text from bias and consensus
Psalm 17:21–26 pleads: 'Behold, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time which you chose, O God, to rule over your servant Israel! Gird him with strength to shatter unrighteous rulers... to purge Jerusalem from gentiles who trample her down to destruction... He will gather a holy people whom he will lead in righteousness.'
Provides the immediate historical and ideological context for the popular Jewish Messianic expectations that met Jesus: why crowds hailed him as 'Son of David' (`MAT.21:9`) and expected him to overthrow the Roman legions and restore the Davidic kingdom (`ACT.1:6`).
Scholars emphasize that the Messiah of Psalm 17 relies not on military weapons, but 'strikes the earth with the word of his mouth', directly anticipating 2 Thessalonians 2:8 and Revelation 19:15.
Pious Pharisaic devotional literature condemning both the corrupt Hasmonean monarchy and the brutal Roman conquerors.