How can Psalm 71 help us face the challenges of aging?
How is God our rock and fortress?
Why does the psalmist worry that he will be cast off in the time of his old age?
Why don’t we live for hundreds of years, like the ancient patriarchs?
The YouTube video for this blog is: https://youtu.be/NrzVItznE1E
For book links, see our book reviews of the commentaries on the Psalms:
My Favorite Commentaries on the Psalms
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/my-favorite-commentaries-on-the-psalms/
https://youtu.be/kyJRf_JoGsI
INTRODUCTION
In a prior reflection, the evangelical George Sweeting asks: How does the Bible help us to confront the challenges of aging? Unfortunately, although we can be inspired by the lives of many patriarchs who lived very long lives, the Bible has scant advice for the elderly. However, there is one psalm, Psalm 71, where the psalmist seeks comfort in his old age.
Joys of Successful Aging, by Evangelical George Sweeting, Moody Bible Institute
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/joys-of-successful-aging-by-evangelical-george-sweeting-moody-bible-institute/
https://youtu.be/ngh_uIZ6r2o
The Hebrew manuscripts have headings for most psalms, but Psalm 71 has no headings, so many scholars append it to Psalm 70. Chapter and verse divisions are recent: the Bible has been divided into chapters since the early 13th century, while the modern chapter and verse divisions date back to the mid-16th century.[1]
Psalm 70 repeats Psalm 40:13-17. In the Bible, verses are often repeated for emphasis. So, we will first reflect on Psalm 40, as Christians of any age will be comforted by its plea to God for delivery from suffering and trials.
We previously reflected on Psalms 40 and 70, which encourage young and old alike in their sufferings.
Psalms 40 and 70: Deliver Both Young and Old from Suffering and Trials
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/psalms-40-and-70-deliver-both-young-and-old-from-suffering-and-trials/
https://youtu.be/JbKQd6vP5qo
PSALM 71 ENCOURAGES US IN OUR OLD AGE
Charles Spurgeon teaches us: “We have here the prayer of the aged believer who, in holy confidence of faith, strengthened by a long and remarkable experience, pleads against his enemies and asks further blessings for himself.”[2]
The Presbyterian preacher James Boice explains that this psalm reflects on:
- “Old age and its problems.
- How the past looks from the perspective of old age.
- The future in terms of what is yet to be done.
- Praise from one who has lived long enough to have observed God’s faithful ways.”[3]
Martin Luther notes: “The easier and more suited this psalm is to the intellect, the more fruitful and rich it is for the heart. All the psalms of praise and entreaty are of the highest feeling and adapted to the very seraphim. For to praise God and to pray are the ultimate and highest perfection, which requires that vices are conquered and virtues are celebrated. For the impure cannot praise, because praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner.”[4]
John Calvin speculates that David composed Psalm 71 after experiencing the trauma of losing the life of his son Absalom during his rebellion against him, which was sparked by the favoritism Davis showed towards his newly resented wife, Bathsheba. “The particular reference which David makes to his old age renders this conjecture not improbable.”[5]
If so, this psalm should be a comfort to those who old age is lonelier due to mistakes, miscalculations or misfortunes occurring many years earlier.
Psalm 71[6]
Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help
1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
St Augustine compares this to Romans 4, which he quotes in his prayerful commentary: “By righteousness given to me by Thee I shall be righteous;” “given to me by Thee. For I believe on Him who justifies an ungodly man, so that my faith is counted for righteousness.”[7]
71:3 Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
We remembered in our reflection on Psalm 40 the verse in the Sermon on the Mount, where the righteous man builds his house upon the rock rather than on sand.
Charles Spurgeon prays: “Incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Stoop to my feebleness, and hear my faint whispers; be gracious to my infirmities, and smile upon me: I ask salvation; listen to my petitions, and save me. Like one wounded and left for dead by mine enemies, I need that thou bend over me and bind up my wounds. These mercies are asked on the plea of faith, and they cannot, therefore, be denied.[8]
71:4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
St Augustine’s antiquated translation is:
“Thou are my patience,
O Lord, my hope from my youth.”
Hope is patient, and patience furthers hope. Later in Romans 8:
“Hope which is seen is not hope.
But if hope for what we do not see, through patience we wait for it.”[9]
71:6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
Dr James Boice reminds us that “the difficulties we have faced throughout our lives do not go away but instead remain with us,” and they are increased “because of our diminishing strength and capacity to deal with them.”
“Some people have health problems all their lives. Some struggle with depression. Others labor against class or ethnic prejudice, and the problems do not go away or even grow lighter as they grow older.”[10]
In his commentary on these verses, St Augustine speaks of the sufferings of a martyr, but this can also inspire the elderly facing the challenges of health and old age: “Christians should ask to be rescued from the hands of their enemies; not, certainly, by suffering nothing, but by enduring what they suffer with perfect patience.”[11]
71:7 I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me,
and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person
whom God has forsaken,
for there is no one to deliver.’
The Broadman Commentary notes that the psalmist is “under attack, he is very lonely. His enemies have sought to deny him his one remaining confidence by suggesting that God has abandoned him as worthless. Thus, his prayer is poignant: Do not cast me off in the time of old age.”[12] And indeed, we know that in modern times, criminal prey upon the elderly.
Although the Old Testament reports that many patriarchs live for hundreds of years, particularly in the time of the Great Flood and before, this is one of the few Bible verses that mentions the concerns and insecurities of the elderly. The longest-living patriarch was Methuselah, who was nearly a thousand years-old when he died.[13]
Why do we not live as long as these ancient patriarchs? Would we want to experience what Noah, Methuselah’s grandson, experienced: he was five hundred years old when his sons were born.[14] If we lived to over nine hundred years old, would that mean that we would graduate from college at age two hundred? Worse yet, would we have to wait until we were six or seven hundred years old to qualify for social security?
Perhaps graciously, Genesis now limits man to a life of one hundred and twenty years.[15] Moses lived for only one hundred and twenty years, forty years in Pharaoh’s house, forty years as a shepherd in exile, and forty years leading the Jews in the Exodus, and wandering in the wilderness.[16]
Charles Spurgeon, when pondering on the verse, cast me not off in my time of old age, reflects: “David was not tired of his master, and his only fear was that his Master should be tired of him. The Amalekite” in 1 Samuel 30 “left his Egyptian servant to famish when he grew old and sick, but not so the Lord of Saints; even to hoar hairs he bears and carries us.”[17]
In this Bible story, David and his band discover that the Amalekite warriors had attacked the town of Ziglag and carried off the city’s inhabitants, including women and children, and two of David’s wives. They encounter an Egyptian slave abandoned by his Amalekite master because he was old and useless, he told David he would lead him to their camp if he promised he would not be returned to his former master.
David agreed, slaughtering the Amalekites, since they were carelessly celebrating the plunder they stole. The Scriptures do not say, but the Amalekites likely slaughtered the military age men in the town.[18]
This was the major anxiety of those living in a warrior society. Tales of brave men rescuing their kidnapped loved ones are a staple of the Iliad and the Tales of the Northwest, memorializing the American Indian cultures.
The Warrior Cultures of the Iliad and the American Indian, Bravely Visiting the Enemy Camp
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/iliad-blog-3-visiting-the-enemy-camp-greeks-vs-indians/
https://youtu.be/ynIx-AVI2f8
St Augustine was quoting from an archaic translation, as St Jerome’s Vulgate, an updated Latin translation, was completed during his lifetime. For example, instead of “I have been a portent to many,” in English this was rendered as: “As it were a monster I have become unto many,” which our saint struggles to interpret.[19]
71:12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
let those who seek to hurt me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually,
and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all day long,
though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,
I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
The Broadman commentary celebrates that the psalmist “prays, poignantly, that God not abandon a head hoary in old age and declares his desire to proclaim the divine power and might to a new generation, to all to come, and the divine righteousness to heaven itself.”[20]
The German Reformed Theologian Wolfgang Musculus notes that “daily the wicked hunt for new ways to add to their past sins, in the same way, by contrast, the pious with fervent longing daily hunt for new ways to add to the surplus of God’s praise.”[21]
71:17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and grey hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
to all the generations to come.
19 Your power and your righteousness, O God,
reach the high heavens.
Modern translations use terms similar to “old age and grey hairs,” as does the Jewish translation,[22] but why does the psalmist use two terms? Likewise, St Augustine’s translation corresponds to oldness and old age, or senecta and senium in Latin. But St Augustine says that the Greek Septuagint uses words that distinguish between the gravity from life experience and the aging none of us can control.[23]
How does this distinction matter? Like fine wine, we should improve with age, we should learn from our mistakes, we should strive to learn new truths every day, we should strive every day to be a slightly better person than we were yesterday. When we mature as we age, we will find greater satisfaction in our old age. But if we remain foolish, living only for today, every day, we may find misery in our old age.
Dr James Boice observes: “There are some who, in their old age, only look back to the past” with regrets. “They think of what they have had and lost, or what they wish they could have had and never did. The present does not mean much to them except as a basis for complaining about their multiplying aches and pains, and they are afraid to look forward. They are afraid of dying.”[24]
The psychologist Paul Tournier offers encouragement to those facing old age and retirement, drawing both from Christian tradition and his counseling practice. Jimmy Carter also offers encouragement in his Virtues of Aging. We discuss how you can volunteer, joining Rotary or other organizations to assist your neighbor and make the world a better place.
Besides, even if we have never been successful by the time we retire, we have previously reflected that once we start drawing social security, we are no longer obligated to be success. That is, if we sail into retirement debt free, with our house and our car paid for. If not, we will need to be successful for a few years more.
Playlist on Aging:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJVlY2bjK8lhYGJAe3yctJqdRIWqwjtYm
What does Jesus say is the cornerstone of our faith? That we should Love God with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our strength, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. In an eternal sense, what do we need to do to become a success? Simply be kind to someone today and tomorrow.
Hillel and Jesus, Reflections on Rabbi Telushkin’s Observations
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/hillel-and-jesus-reflections/
Comparing Hillel and Shammai to Jesus
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/comparing-hillel-and-shammai-to-jesus/
More Stories and Sayings of Hillel and Shammai
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/more-stories-and-sayings-of-hillel-and-shammai/
Jesus, Hillel, and Shammai, Loving God and Neighbor
https://youtu.be/ygxn2qqGnOI
Dr James Boice continues: “David not only looked to the past to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness to him over the many years of his life, but he also looked to the future in terms of the work yet remaining to be done. He knew that if God had left him in life and had not yet taken him home to be with him in glory, it was because there was work to do. This work was testifying to the coming generations about God. This led David to exhort:”[25]
71:19 You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my honor,
and comfort me once again.
Even if the troubles and calamities that befall us in our lives are due to our mistakes or carelessness, or selfishness, we can always turn the rest of our lives around, no matter how old we are. We can always be kind to our neighbors tomorrow.
Often, the troubles and calamities are not due to our moral failings, or have nothing to do with our actions at all. Some of us live the life of the innocent patriarch Job, who lost his children, his home, his possessions, and his health in quick succession. Or we can be like the Jewish psychologist Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi Auschwitz Concentration camp. He observed that most of those who survived did not lose hope because their lives had meaning. Either they had family they loved and longed to rejoin, or they looked forward to a career that helped other people.
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning, His Life in a Nazi Concentration Camp in WWII
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning-his-life-in-a-nazi-concentration-camp-in-wwii/
https://youtu.be/O-YtC9qGWPI
John Calvin concludes: Just “as God has promised to love us when we were infants, and embraced us with his favor when we were children, and continued without intermission to do us good throughout the whole course of our life, he cannot but persevere in acting toward us in the same way even to the end.”[26]
71:22 I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have rescued.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
have been put to shame, and disgraced.
Dr James Boice reflects that, “in one sense, the entire psalm has been about God’s faithfulness in the past, and the prayer of the psalmist that God will remain faithful to him in his old age.”[27]
The Broadman Commentary concludes: “The apparent lesson of the old man’s testimony is that age is irrelevant where faith is concerned. But built into that lesson is an even more important one: God is patient and undeterred by our doubts. This is indeed ground for joyful praise!”[28]
DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
We have a separate reflection, My Favorite Commentaries on the Psalms. We used both the Ancient Christian Commentary by the early Church Fathers and the Reformation Commentary, as well as consulting other Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish commentaries.
One of our sources was Wolfgang Musculus. He was a German Reformed pastor and theologian in the early Reformation. He was active in ecumenical discussions between Catholics and Protestants.[29]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible
[2] CH Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol 2a, Psalms 58-97 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968), p. 206, footnote from James Boice’s book.
[3] James Boice, Psalms Volume 2, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), Psalm 71, p. 593.
[4] Martin Luther, First Psalms Lectures, Psalm 71, Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament Volume VII, p. 480.
[5] John Calvin, in Parallel Classic Commentary on the Psalms (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2005), Psalm 71, p. 325.
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2070&version=NRSVCE
[7] St Augustine, “On the Psalms,” In the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, Oxford translation edited by Cleveland Coxe (Boston: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994, first published 1888), Psalm LXXI.4, p. 316.
[8] Charles Spurgeon, in Parallel Classic Commentary on the Psalms (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2005), Psalm 71, p. 324.
[9] St Augustine, “On the Psalms,” In the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, Psalm LXXI.7, p. 318.
[10] James Boice, Psalms Volume 2, Psalm 71, pp. 594-595.
[11] St Augustine, Sermon 277A2, Psalm 71, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament Volume VIII, p. 91.
[12] Broadman Commentary, Volume 4, Esther and Psalms (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), Psalm 71, p. 314.
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah
[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah
[15] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Genesis%206%3A3
[16] https://www.biblestudy.org/beginner/learn-basic-bible-timeline/life-of-moses.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses
[17] Charles Spurgeon, in Parallel Classic Commentary on the Psalms (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2005), Psalm 71, p. 326.
[18] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20samuel%2030&version=NIV
[19] St Augustine, “On the Psalms,” In the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, Psalm LXXI.8, p. 318.
[20] Broadman Commentary, Volume 4, Esther and Psalms, Psalm 71, p. 315.
[21] Wolfgang Musculus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 71, Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament Volume VII, p. 483.
[22] https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16292/showrashi/true/jewish/Chapter-71.htm
[23] St Augustine, “On the Psalms,” In the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, Psalm LXXI.21, p. 323.
[24] James Boice, Psalms Volume 2, Psalm 71, p. 597.
[25] James Boice, Psalms Volume 2, Psalm 71, p. 597.
[26] John Calvin, in Parallel Classic Commentary on the Psalms (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2005), Psalm 71, p. 327.
[27] James Boice, Psalms Volume 2, Psalm 71, p. 598.
[28] Broadman Commentary, Volume 4, Esther and Psalms, Psalm 71, p. 315.
[29] Reformation Commentary on Scripture, Biographical Sketches, p. 526.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks