Psalms 71 - Introduction

Though this Psalm, like Psalms 86, is little more than a mosaic of fragments and reminiscences of other Psalms, especially 22, 31, 35, 40, it possesses a singular beauty and tenderness of its own. It is the utterance of a faith which has proved the goodness of God in a life of many trials, and trusts to experience it to the end. It is fitly chosen for use in the Order for the Visitation of the Sick.

Some commentators regard it as a -national" Psalm, taking the plural -us" in Psalms 71:20 (R.V.) as the key to its interpretation, and supposing the speaker to be not an individual, but suffering Israel. The language of Psalms 71:5; Psalms 71:9; Psalms 71:17, is not a fatal objection to this theory; for many passages speak of the birth and youth and old age of Israel (Psalms 129:1; Hosea 7:9; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 2:2; Isaiah 46:3-4). But the transition from the singular to the plural in Psalms 71:20 is no proof that the Psalm as a whole is the utterance of the nation. It was most natural that the Psalmist should pass from the thought of his own needs to the thought of the needs of the nation, in whose calamity he was involved. Doubtless the language of the Psalm is such as could be adopted by others, or even by the godly nucleus of Israel as a whole; but it bears in the main the stamp of a personal and individual meditation.

As to authorship and date, all that can be said is that apparently the Psalmist was an old man (Psalms 71:9; Psalms 71:18), and that Israel was in exile (Psalms 71:20). The latter part of the LXX title, -[A Psalm] of the sons of Jonadab and those who were first carried captive," may preserve an authentic tradition of its use in the exile. It has been attributed to Jeremiah on the grounds (1) that the free use of earlier Psalms is entirely in his style; (2) that Psalms 71:5 refer to his call (Jeremiah 1:5) and Psalms 71:21 to the dignity of his office, and that the general situation of the Psalmist corresponds to that of the persecuted prophet; (3) that his authorship would account for the use of this Psalm by the Rechabites, with whom he had been brought into such close connexion (Jeremiah 35). If it was composed by Jeremiah, it must have been in the latest period of his life, when he had been carried down into Egypt after the Fall of Jerusalem; when the stress and strain of his life was over, and yet he was by no means free from hostility and danger (Jeremiah 44). But the grounds for attributing it to him are quite inconclusive.

One thought grows out of another, and there is no marked division into stanzas: but in the first half of the Psalm (Psalms 71:1-13) prayer, in the second half (Psalms 71:14-24) praise, predominates.