I understand why Mark says that looking at non-Israellite ancient Near Eastern psalmody didn’t enrich the messianic verses for him. However, I think that looking at those other psalms can create the same kind of surprise that I had when I saw it speculated that Psalm 45 was originally a song for Ahab and Jezebel’s wedding. What a great example of the way in which what is profance can be made sacred.

I wouldn’t recommend that everyone run out and start looking at Ugaritic and other psalms. But for those who want to puruse the Psalms in more depth, reading about some of the parallels has helped me understand the Psalms better, including their messianic imagery. And, as I suggested, sometimes seeing what the Hebrew writers avoided helps me appreciate the context in which they found themselves and understand better what they are saying.

I don’t know what scholars think of them, but reading the three-volume Anchor Bible commentary by M. Dahood was very helpful to me and interesting.

I glanced at some extra biblical and other near eastern psalmady the Jews had at the time but found nothing that enriched any of the prophetitic messianic verses. The Book of Mormon is a poweful source for this since you can indirectly link Psalms 22 and other references to Isaiah messianic prophesies, which link to Nephi’s commentary.

I’m not sure if it’s what you had in mind, but when I think of OT scriptures that prophesy of Christ’s mortal life, I think of two books: Isaiah and Psalms. (Psalms 22 is a good example.)

There is considerable overlap between the Psalms and other ancient Near Eastern psalmody, so it might be even more interesting to see what theological ideas the Psalms don’t include that those other psalms do.

I saw that in a recent post you recommended Robert Alter’s, “The Art of Biblical Narrative” (which I agree is a really wonderful book). Would you also recommend “The Art of Biblical Poetry?”