Endnote 2 – Is Psalm 45 an Erotic Poem?

The vowel points were added to the text in the late first millennium C.E. When confronting a difficult passage, modern scholars often reject this received vocalization and focus on the consonants alone, which are of greater antiquity. A major exponent of this approach to the Psalter was Mitchell Dahood, whose controversial commentary on Psalm 45 has influenced my own readings and reconstructions (Psalms 1:1-50, Anchor Bible 16 [Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965], pp. 269–276).