Hyukjung Kwon

Psalm 118 in the New Testament: Application of a "New Exodus Motif"? Hyukjung Kwon

Psalm 118 is one of the most quoted psalms in the New Testament and perhaps even the most quoted Old Testament chapter. But in the New Testament literature, the same attention was not paid to the occurrence of Psalm 118 in the New Testament. This calls for closer investigation into the use and interpretation of Psalm 118 in early Christianity. As far as the study of the Psalm 118 quotations in the New Testament is concerned, up to date, scholars have mainly concentrated on a single book or, at the most, on a few books in the New Testament. There has been no survey of Psalm 118 citations in the New Testament as a whole, which requires a comprehensive examination of the Psalm 118 quotations and allusions in the New Testament. Since Psalm 118 is referred to in 11 books of the New Testament, it would be not feasable to discuss each occurrence in detail. Thus, this research is intended as a first step to survey Psalm 118 references in the whole of the New Testament. Attention will be focused on an overall picture of the function of Psalm 118 quotations in the New Testament with a view of investigating a possible underlying New Exodus Motif.