Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs:

The Master Musician’s Melodies

Bereans Sunday School
Placerita Baptist Church
2006

by
William D. Barrick, Th.D.
Professor of OT, The Master’s Seminary
Psalm 71 — A Refuge in Old Age

1.0 Introducing Psalm 71

y Some commentators believe Psalms 70 and 71 should be one psalm. See notes
on Psalm 70 for more information.
y Psalm 71 echoes a number of Davidic psalms:
9 Verses 1-3 parallel 31:1-3.
9 Verses 9-12 have similarities with 38:21-22.
9 Psalm 35 has a number of parallels (35:2 with 71:12; 35:26 with
71:13; 35:10 with 71:19; 35:28 with 71:22-24).
y Some (e.g., Perowne) believe Jeremiah composed this psalm.

2.0 Reading Psalm 71 (NAU)

71:1 In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
71:2 In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
Incline Your ear to me and save me.
71:3 Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come;
You have given commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
71:4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,
71:5 For You are my hope; O Lord GOD,
You are my confidence from my youth.
71:6 By You I have been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother's womb;
My praise is continually of You.
71:7 I have become a marvel to many,
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Barrick, Placerita Baptist Church 2006

For You are my strong refuge.

71:8 My mouth is filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all day long.
71:9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
71:10 For my enemies have spoken against me;
And those who watch for my life have consulted together,
71:11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and seize him, for there is no one to deliver.”
71:12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, hasten to my help!
71:13 Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me.
71:14 But as for me, I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
71:15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And of Your salvation all day long;
For I do not know the sum of them.
71:16 I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.
71:17 O God, You have taught me from my youth,
And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
71:18 And even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
71:19 For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
71:20 You who have shown me many troubles and distresses
Will revive me again,
And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
71:21 May You increase my greatness
And turn to comfort me.
71:22 I will also praise You with a harp,
Even Your truth, O my God;
To You I will sing praises with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
71:23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You;
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
71:24 My tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;
For they are ashamed,
for they are humiliated who seek my hurt.
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Barrick, Placerita Baptist Church 2006

3.0 Understanding Psalm 71

3.1 Outline
I. A Prayer of Confidence (vv. 1-8)
II. A Prayer of Contrition (vv. 9-13)
III. A Prayer of Commitment (vv. 14-21)
IV. A Prayer of Celebration (vv. 22-24)
— Steven J. Lawson, Psalms 1–75, Holman Old Testament Commentary
(Nashville, Tenn.: Holman Reference, 2003), 356-57

3.2 Notes
y vv. 1-3
„ Compare Psalm 31:1-3.

y v. 2 “In Your righteousness”

„ The psalmist does not associate deliverance or salvation with God’s
mercy, but with His righteousness.
„ God’s right conduct, His justice, provides the psalmist with
confidence.
„ See verses 15, 16, 19, and 24.

y v. 2 “deliver me and rescue me . . . and save me”

„ Three different Hebrew words are used in this verse to express
salvation:
9 “Deliver” (natsal) depicts snatching away from danger our out of
the jaws of a wild beast.
9 “Rescue” (palat) refers to bringing to safety.
9 “Save” (yasha‘, the same root as for “Joshua” or “Jesus”) generally
looks at the result—a complete salvation.

y v. 3 “You have given commandment”

„ To whom did God give the commandment to save the psalmist?

y v. 5 “my hope”
„ God alone is the psalmist’s hope. Compare 1 Timothy 1:1.
„ The noun used here (tiqwah) is the same as the title of the national
anthem of the modern nation of Israel (Hattiqvah).
„ A different Hebrew word for “hope” (yachal) is used in verse 14.

y v. 7 “a marvel to many”
„ Becoming a “marvel” is the idea of becoming a “sign” or “portent”
representing judgment.
„ Those observing the psalmist’s suffering interpret it as proof of his
unrighteousness or wickedness.
„ See Deuteronomy 28:46.
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Barrick, Placerita Baptist Church 2006

y v. 9 “in the time of old age”

„ “The unique voice heard in this psalm that sets it apart from the
laments in general is the voice of age and diminished capacity
expressed by the psalmist. . . . I think there is a danger of so
generalizing interpretation so that it is applicable to everyone that the
distinctive message of the passage is lost.” — Gerald H. Wilson,
Psalms Volume 1, NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Zondervan, 2002), 975.
„ See verse 18; compare Isaiah 46:4.
„ Turmoil of aging:
9 Fear of death (vv. 10-11, 20).
9 Loss of honor and dignity (vv. 1, 21).
9 Loss of strength (v. 9).
9 Sense of vulnerability (vv. 4, 11, 18).
9 Forced dependence (need for “refuge,” vv. 6, 9, 18).
9 Fear one’s life will be devalued (vv. 7, 11).

y v. 14 “praise You yet more and more”

„ In spite of the unjust attacks of his enemies, the psalmist dedicates
himself to testifying about the righteousness and mighty deeds of the
Lord.
9 “My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And of Your salvation”
(v. 15).
9 “I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD” (v. 16a).
9 “I will make mention of Your righteousness” (v. 16b).
9 “I still declare Your wondrous deeds” (v. 17).
9 “I declare Your strength . . . Your power” (v. 18).
9 “I will also praise You with a harp” (v. 22a).
9 “To You I will sing praises with the lyre” (v. 22c).
9 “My lips will shout for joy” (v. 23).
9 “My tongue also will utter Your righteousness” (v. 24).

y v. 22 “Holy One of Israel”

„ This divine title occurs primarily in Isaiah (25x). It is used only three
times in Psalms (71:22; 78:41; 89:18) and only another three times
elsewhere in the Old Testament (1 Kings 19:22; Jeremiah 50:29; 51:5).

y v. 23 “which You have redeemed”

„ Deuteronomy 9:26 is the first occurrence. It speaks of “Lord Yahweh”
(cp. Psalm 71:5, 16; 2 Samuel 7:22) delivering Israel out of Egypt.
„ This phrase occurs in the Hebrew only six times in the Old Testament.
9 Deuteronomy 21:8 (not about deliverance from Egypt)
9 2 Samuel 7:23 = 1 Chronicles 17:21
9 Nehemiah 1:10
9 Psalm 71:23
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Barrick, Placerita Baptist Church 2006

4.0 Singing Psalm 71

Fill Thou My Life
(Tune: “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”)

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, Praise in the common words I speak,
In every part with praise, Life’s common looks and tones,
That my whole being may proclaim In fellowship in hearth and board
Thy being and Thy ways. With my belovèd ones;
Not for the lip of praise alone, Not in the temple crowd alone
Nor e’en the praising heart Where holy voices chime,
I ask, but for a life made up But in the silent paths of earth,
Of praise in every part! The quiet rooms of time.
Fill every part of me with praise; So shall each fear, each fret, each care
Let all my being speak Be turned into a song,
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord, And every winding of the way
Poor though I be, and weak. The echo shall prolong;
So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, e’en me, So shall no part of day or night
Receive the glory due; From sacredness be free;
And so shall I begin on earth But all my life, in every step
The song forever new. Be fellowship with Thee.
— Words: Horatius Bonar (1866)
Music (adapted): William H. Monk (1868)

5.0 Praying Psalm 71

y Be my rock and my fortress. [v. 3]
y Lord, help me trust You from my youth onward. [v. 5]
y O God, fill my mouth with Your praise and Your glory. [v. 8]
y Father, continue to be with me even in my old age. [v. 9]
y Lord, give me continual hope all my days. [v. 14]

6.0 Applying Psalm 71

y All of our lives God, and God alone, must be our hope.
y Throughout our lives we should develop a pattern of praise.
y In old age we produce praise prepared in our prior years.
y “The spirit can be young when the bones are old.”—W. Graham Scroggie,
The Psalms (reprint; Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1973), 2:126.

God’s great acts in the past are meant to benefit the people of the future. The notion
that the mere passage of time renders Bible truth obsolete is one of the more idiotic of
modern ideas. There is nothing more old-fashioned than yesterday’s new thinking,
and today’s, if we had the nous to realize it, is about to go the same way. There is
nothing more relevant to all who are to come (v. 18) than the vital proclamation of
what God did in Bible times, and of the truth that that embodies.
— Michael Wilcock, The Message of Psalms 1–72, The Bible Speaks Today
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 248