FOR THE DIRECTOR of music. Of David. A petition.
70:1Hasten, O God, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.
2May those who seek my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
3May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
4But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“Let God be exalted!”
5Yet I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay.
71:1In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of evil and cruel men.
5For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.
6From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
7I have become like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.
9Do not cast me away when I am old;
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10For my enemies speak against me;
those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11They say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for no one will rescue him.”
12Be not far from me, O God;
come quickly, O my God, to help me.
13May my accusers perish in shame;
may those who want to harm me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
15My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.
16I will come and proclaim your mighty acts,
O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
17Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
18Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.
19Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?
20Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
21You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.
22I will praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
when I sing praise to you—
I, whom you have redeemed.
24My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion.
Original Meaning
TOWARD THE END of Book 2 of the Psalter, we again discover two consecutive psalms of which the second lacks any heading. Like Psalms 9–10, 32–33, and 42–43 before them, Psalms 70 and 71 are combined in many ancient manuscripts, indicating they were (in some traditions at least) read as a single psalm. A slightly altered form of Psalm 70 occurs earlier as 40:13–17.1 There these verses provide a concluding plea for deliverance following a long rehearsal of past experience of divine deliverance (40:1–4), an avowal of personal faithfulness and witness (40:5–10), and an initial description of the need for divine aid (40:11–12).
Here, however, Psalm 70 serves to introduce the more extensive plea of Psalm 71, and an extensive number of connecting links bind these two psalms together both thematically and verbally. Below is a brief account of the most significant links.
Both psalms are laments or pleas for delivery from trouble and share specific phrases associated with their pleas. The unusual word ḥušah (“hasten, come quickly”) appears twice in Psalm 70 (70:1, 5) and once in Psalm 71 (71:12)—twice with a preceding leʿezrati (lit., “to my aid/help”; 70:1; 71:12). Elsewhere in the psalms we discover only isolated occurrences of the phrase ḥušah li (“Come quickly to me,” 141:1) or leʿezrati ḥušah (“Come quickly to help me,” 22:19; 38:22; 40:13). Outside the psalms ḥušah occurs only twice, once as a personal name (1 Chron. 4:4) and once in a narrative context meaning “Hurry!” (1 Sam. 20:38). The presence of so many occurrences in two consecutive psalms and (as we will see) in significant positions within these psalms suggests more than a coincidental relationship.
The two psalms also share terminology expressing the desire for “shame” and “confusion” to be visited on the enemies of the psalmist. Forms of the word boš (“shame”) referring to the enemies appear in 70:2, 3 and 71:13, 24; “confusion” is found in 70:2 and 71:24. Once again the placement of these shared terms is significant.
Words for deliverance and salvation are also shared between Psalms 70 and 71. The Hebrew nṣl (“snatch away, deliver”) appears in 70:1; 71:2 (“help”), and a negative construction (“no one will rescue him”) is used in 71:11. The cognate nouns for deliverance (yešuʿah and tešuʿah) appear in 70:4 and 71:15 respectively, while synonyms of plṭ occur in 70:5 and 71:2, 4.
Other phrases link these psalms as well. The Hebrew word tamid (“always, continually”) is found in 70:4; 71:3, 6, 14.2 Similar phrases describing the psalmist’s enemies as “those who seek my life” (70:2), “those who want to harm me” (71:13, 24), those “who desire my ruin” (70:2), or “those who accuse my life” (lit., 71:13) are used in significant groupings. All these varied verbal and thematic links strongly suggest these psalms were purposely placed alongside one another and should be read together. In the commentary that follows, I will assume a combined Psalm 70–71, while making a few comments about each viewed separately.
The five verses of Psalm 70 function as an introduction to the combined composition. As brief as it is and considered independently from Psalm 71, these five verses constitute a desperate plea for deliverance from enemies who “seek [the psalmist’s] life” and “desire [his] ruin.” The desire for speedy relief is emphasized four times at beginning and end (70:1, “Hasten . . . come quickly”; 70:5, “Come quickly . . . do not delay”). Despite the difficulty of the circumstances, the psalmist expresses hope in the form of a wish for the faithful to rejoice and praise God (70:4).
In Psalm 71, the structure continues with renewed petitions (71:1–4), the foundation of hope (71:5–9), the primary complaint (71:10–13), and praise and confidence (71:14–24). At the end of the combined psalm, the trouble has been resolved favorably as the concluding statement in the past tense indicates: “For those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.” The fact that these concluding statements respond precisely to the opening petitions expressed in Psalm 70 adds further confirmation to the interpretation as a united composition.
The Heading (70:0)
PSALM 70 IS attributed to David while the performance is referred to “the director of music.”3 The term lehazkir appears for the second (and last) time, having been used in the heading of Psalm 38. The NIV translates this term “A petition” in both cases, although a more direct interpretation would be “to call to remembrance” or perhaps “for a memorial.” Some take this as a reference to the ʾazkarah or “incense offering,” with the suggestion that the two psalms bearing this term in their headings were appropriate examples of psalms to be recited during the presentation of this offering.4
Invocation (70:1–5)
COME QUICKLY. Psalm 70 is framed at the beginning and end by the psalmist’s pleas for speedy assistance. While not identical, these phrases form a sort of a thematic inclusio around the psalm. This repetition emphasizes his sense of desperation and immediate need. Without the addition of Psalm 71, the reason for this sense of urgency remains unclear, since the distress described (70:2–3) centers around those seeking to disgrace and ruin the psalmist, who are publicly wagging their heads in knowing disapproval over a shameful situation. Psalm 71 makes clear that it is the psalmist’s advancing years (71:9, 18) that heighten the need for immediate action lest his tenuous hold on life slip away altogether.5
The opening phrase of verse 1 is somewhat awkward, lacking a verb to entreat God’s action in deliverance. The existing phrase can be translated literally as: “O God, to deliver me!” The parallel in 40:13 supplies the lack with the imperative reṣeh (“Be pleased”). Some commentators insert the imperative in 70:1, while others resist the emendation and assume that the ḥušah (“come quickly”) at the end of the second phrase governs the whole verse. The sense is the same regardless of the textual decision made.6
Shame and confusion . . . disgrace. Verse 2 introduces the theme of shame, confusion, and disgrace, which returns as a major motif in the combined Psalm 70–71. In the independent Psalm 70, the psalmist offers contrasting hopes for the enemies (70:2–3) and the faithful sufferer (70:4). He feels the enemies not only seek his life but also seek public humiliation—as their cry “Aha! Aha!” in verse 3 suggests. In response he desires God to mete out reciprocal punishment on the opponents. He wants those who desire to shame and humiliate him instead to experience their own shame and humiliation. The term translated “confusion” in the NIV is more usually rendered “be ashamed, abashed, dismayed.”
Let God be exalted! While the psalmist’s enemies respond to his situation with the deprecating expression “Aha! Aha!” (something akin to a rather unsympathetic “Isn’t it just too bad about . . .”), he points the way to exaltation of God even in difficult circumstances. While those around the psalmist seek to put a humiliating “spin” of shame on the circumstances, he turns to God. There is an intentional contrast developed here between “those who seek” his life and ruin (70:2) and “all who seek” God (70:4). The former say “Aha! Aha!” while the latter cry out, “Let God be exalted!” For the former the psalmist desires shame and disgrace (70:2), while the latter will “rejoice and be glad” in God (70:4).
Poor and needy. The psalmist concludes the psalm with an acknowledgment of his state of neediness before God. In this context, these terms are not directed to material or economic want but affirm his spiritual and emotional dependence on God. The “poor” and “needy”7 throughout the psalms are those who are vulnerable to the manipulation and control of others. They have no personal independence of their own and are, therefore, subject to the control of others. Consequently, their only recourse in the face of oppression is to trust in God for deliverance and redress. The psalmist acknowledges his weakness and reliance on God and couples this desperate vulnerability with an expression of confidence (“You are my help and my deliverer”) to heighten the final appeal for God’s immediate response (70:5).
Renewed Petitions (71:1–4)
THE OPENING SECTION of Psalm 71 continues the petitioning of Yahweh begun in Psalm 70 but introduces the new theme of “refuge” that dominates verses 1–8. Concern with Yahweh as refuge begins as early as Psalm 2,8 and because of its appearance in that introductory psalm, this theme plays an important role in the shaping of the whole collection.9 The theme of refuge and related terms appear five times in 71:1–8 (“take refuge,” 71:1; “rock of refuge,” 71:3; “rock and . . . fortress,” 71:3; “hope,” 71:5; “strong refuge,” 71:7).
The theme of shame and disgrace introduced in Psalm 70 reappears in Psalm 71 as well. Here, however, the psalmist hopes to avoid, by God’s help, what had been wished on the enemies in 70:2, “Let me never be put to shame” (71:1). A concern with shame resurfaces twice more in 71:13, 24. The first resumes the desire for shame on the enemies initiated in 70:2, while the second concludes the combined psalm with the assurance that what the psalmist desired has been accomplished, “for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.”
Rescue . . . deliver . . . save. The psalmist uses three different verbs in verse 2 to describe the hoped-for deliverance by God. The first (nṣl) depicts the initial act of “snatching” prey out of the claws or mouth of the foe. The second (plṭ) pictures the liberated prey being “brought safely out” of the environment of danger, while the last verb (yšʿ ) envisions the final product of deliverance: complete salvation. It is interesting that salvation as the psalmist understands and desires it is a function of God’s righteousness, not his mercy alone. This is so because righteousness is a juridical term meaning “performing or upholding right conduct.” It is God’s righteousness that gives the psalmist confidence that his decision will be in the psalmist’s behalf. Therefore, he can anticipate deliverance as well as just punishment for the enemies.
Rock of refuge. In this time of trouble, the righteous God offers a place of refuge for the beleaguered psalmist.10 He uses several terms for this place of safety. The phrase “rock of refuge” is a combination of ṣur (“rock”) and maʿoz (“mountain stronghold”).11 Later in verse 3 we encounter “my rock and my fortress” (salʿi umeṣudati). The term salʿi describes a massive rock formation or cliff, in contrast to ṣur, which refers to a single, large boulder. “Fortress” (meṣudah) is a synonym for maʿoz. In the final reference to “refuge” (71:7) the noun maḥaseh comes from the same root as the verb “take refuge” in 71:1. The variation on this theme involving so many distinct but related terms is not apparent in translation.12 The refuge God provides is always available to those in need to enter (71:3).
Give the command. This statement is unusual and somewhat difficult. Usually the psalmists seek direct action from God himself. It is unclear in the NIV translation just who is to be commanded and how delivery is anticipated. It is better, in my opinion, to take this phrase as referring back to the earlier “rock of refuge” and to render the construction as “[which] you have decreed for my deliverance.”13
From the hand of the wicked. The psalmist piles up negative terms to describe his enemies. They are “wicked,” “evil” (from ʿwl [“act wrongly”]), and “cruel” (from ḥmṣ [“oppress, be ruthless”]). The request to be delivered “from the hand” of these enemies fits well with the progression from “snatch away” through “take to safety” to “save” mentioned in verse 2.
The Foundation of Hope (71:5–9)
THE PSALMIST TURNS to the foundation of hope on which the preceding plea for deliverance is grounded. For the first time it becomes clear that he is speaking from the experience and vulnerability of old age. His sustaining hope is based on a lifetime (“since my youth”; “from birth”) of confident reliance on Yahweh.14
The images used for birth are not clearly rendered in translation. Rather than “from birth,” the psalmist claims to have “leaned on” God for support “from the belly/womb,” so that reliance is perceived as antedating birth. What the NIV renders as “you brought me forth from my mother’s womb” (mimmeʿe ʾimmi ʾattah gozi) more literally means “from the inward parts of my mother you were the one cutting me loose.” God is depicted acting as the midwife at the psalmist’s birth and cutting the umbilical cord. He realizes that dependence on Yahweh predates even birth, to the time when he was being formed in his mother’s womb. This realization causes praise to well up in him: “I will ever praise you”—using the same word tamid (“continually”) as was used in verse 3 to describe God as a refuge who is “always” available.
A portent to many. The psalm explores the tension between public perception and the psalmist’s own understanding of suffering. For “many” the psalmist’s suffering is a “portent” (mopet) or dreadful sign of divine punishment. A similar use of mopet occurs in Deuteronomy 28:46, where the curses that fall on disobedient Israel—bad harvests, locusts, worms, captivity, and oppression—will serve as a mopet to future generations. To understand the psalmist’s suffering this way allows his enemies to assume the worst and justifies their disparaging comments later in verse 11.
Despite negative public opinion and increasing ridicule, the psalmist knows the truth: God has been his “refuge” in the past and will continue to remain an accessible “fortress” in the future (71:3). “But,” says the psalmist, indicating opposition to the opinion of the many, “you are my strong refuge” (71:7). God is not merely a refuge, or even an always accessible fortress; rather, he is a strong refuge—strong enough to counter the attacks of the opponents. These attacks do not undermine his confidence, and praise still springs forth. “My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.”
Do not cast me away. Verse 9 does double duty, providing transition to the following complaint section while concluding the preceding segment. A similar structure shapes 71:14–18, where the segment begins with “hope” (71:14; cf. 71:5), includes a promise to praise the Lord Yahweh (71:15–16), mentions the psalmist’s youth (71:17; cf. 71:5), and concludes with the plea not to be forsaken “when I am old” (71:18; cf. 71:9).
The Complaint (71:10–13)
IN THESE VERSES of complaint, the psalmist makes it clear that the trouble faced—as so often in the lament psalms—is a well-orchestrated conspiracy of verbal attack and false accusation with murderous intent. The enemies’ speech concerning the psalmist (71:10) may refer (as in the NIV) to their general attacks, or it may look ahead to the quotation attributed to them in 71:11: “God has forsaken him . . . no one will rescue him.” The opponents are pictured watching closely for an opportunity to press their attack home.15
This conspiracy is grounded in a perception that the psalmist’s suffering is a dreadful sign or “portent” of divine punishment (71:7). Since God seems to have forsaken him, his enemies feel justified in hounding him and in seeking to harm him (71:11–13). The psalmist, knowing that their perceptions and accusations are false, turns desperately to God for immediate deliverance—“Come quickly, O my God, to help me” (71:12)—and desires the shame and disgrace the enemies seek to pour out on him to return instead on them (71:13).
Praise and Confidence (71:14–24)
DIRECT FROM THE enemies’ attack, the psalmist returns to the theme of “hope,” introduced earlier in 71:5. His present and future hope is based on the hope that has sustained him since his youth. Despite the difficulty of changing circumstance, he expresses a constancy of hope in the “Sovereign LORD.” The psalmist’s praise recounts the character and deeds of Yahweh that serve as the basis of his hope and the reason for his praise. Two elements dominate this expression of praise and confidence: the righteousness of Yahweh and his saving deeds. The former is mentioned three times (71:15, 16, 19) while the latter appears four times (71:15, 16, 17, 19).
Tell . . . proclaim. This section emphasizes the psalmist’s vow to testify to the mighty acts of God. Beginning in verse 14, a series of verbs and expressions for speaking/proclaiming pile up, illustrating his determination to make God’s deeds known; “praise you more and more” (71:14; actually the phrase means something like “I will add to/increase your praise); “tell of your righteousness” (71:15; spr [“recount”]); “proclaim your mighty acts” (71:16; perhaps better, “I will begin with . . .”); “proclaim your righteousness” (71:16; perhaps better, “I will cause to remember”); “declare your marvelous deeds” (71:17); and “declare your power” (71:18). The psalmist’s proclamation is considered constant (71:15, “all day long”) and lifelong (71:17, “since my youth”; 71:18, “even when I am old and gray”).
Do not forsake me. In verse 18 the psalmist pleads to God not to be forsaken in old age so that this lifelong testimony to the praiseworthy acts of Yahweh can be transmitted to a new generation, thereby extending the efficacy of praise and testimony beyond his own lifetime.
Who . . . is like you? In the midst of the psalmist’s repeated promise to proclaim praise to Yahweh, his confidence breaks through in 71:19–21. Once again the foundation of confidence is the awareness of God’s righteousness and mighty acts (71:19). The contemplation of this dual character of Yahweh leads the psalmist to the almost spontaneous ejaculation of praise with which verse 19 ends: “Who, O God, is like you?” The question is, of course, rhetorical—anticipating no answer—as indeed there is no one who can compare to Israel’s Yahweh. (But, in a strange way, as we will see in the following Ps. 72, Israel, their king, and humankind in general are called to be like their God in significant ways.) This expression of God’s incomparability is on the one hand the pinnacle of the psalmist’s praise of Yahweh, while on the other hand it provides the foundation for his confidence expressed in 71:20–21.
Because of who Yahweh has been, is, and will continue to be, the psalmist anticipates deliverance and restoration. The “many and bitter” troubles experienced “from my youth” are no barrier to his faith or the saving work of God. The series of comforting verbs of deliverance pile up much as did the verbs of praise in the preceding verses 14–17: “You will restore”; “you will again bring me up”; “you will increase my honor”; “[you will] comfort me once again.”16
You will restore my life. The picture here is that of the psalmist, on the brink of death, anticipating full restoration to life by the grace of God. While it is unlikely that this represents a full-blown faith in resurrection, this kind of phraseology of hope certainly laid the foundation for the later development of that theology.
From the depths of the earth. Once again this might suggest resurrection from the grave, but it probably indicates the psalmist’s confidence of being delivered from a life-threatening circumstance. Ancient Near Eastern religious narratives inform us of several individuals who descended into the depths of the earth to the abode of the dead—known in Hebrew as Sheol and more generally in the ancient Near East as “the land of no return”; some of these people are described as being restored to the land of the living. In the ancient Akkadian text known as The Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World,17 the Akkadian fertility goddess, Ishtar, is depicted as descending to the Land of No Return through a series of seven gates, at each of which she was stripped of some article of clothing or ornamentation, symbolizing identity and power, until she arrived naked and powerless in the abode of the dead.18
The psalmist may have a similar picture of a subterranean abode of the dead approached through a long descending passageway. A gradual descent with equally gradual loss of power, authority, and identity is an apt parallel to the loss of vital force, energy, and identity through the approach of death. Thus, to be restored to life “from the depths of the earth” probably describes deliverance from a close call rather than a resurrection from an actual death.
I will praise you. The psalmist concludes the psalm with a renewed vow to praise God to the accompaniment of “harp” and “lyre.”19 Once again the reason for praise centers on the dual foundation of God’s righteousness and mighty acts—here collapsed into the single phrase, “your righteous acts” (71:24)—which the psalmist promises to declare “all day long” (cf. 71:15).20
Whom you have redeemed. The use here of the expression translated “whom you have redeemed” (ʾašer padita) is interesting, especially in light of the appearance earlier in this psalm (71:5, 16) of the title “Sovereign LORD.” While “Sovereign LORD” (ʾadonay yhwh) appears frequently throughout the Old Testament (some 288 times in all), ʾašer padita occurs only six times in the whole Old Testament (Deut. 9:26; 21:8; 2 Sam. 7:23 = 1 Chron. 17:21; Ps. 71:23; Neh. 1:10). With one exception,21 all these occurrences are recollections of the “redemption” of Israel from Egypt by God’s “great power” and “mighty hand.” It is especially remembered that it was this deliverance that established Israel as the special people of Yahweh.
In the first of these occurrences (Deut. 9:26)—to which the rest are referring—ʾašer padita is preceded (as in Ps. 71) by the honorific title of God, “O Sovereign LORD.” This may suggest that the psalmist has this Deuteronomy passage in mind. If so, he is taking a largely communal recollection of corporate deliverance and making it serve as a model for individual salvation. It is his nepeš (“life, soul”) that has been redeemed by the righteous acts of God, just as Yahweh redeemed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. As Israel’s deliverance constituted her special status with God, so the psalmist anticipates a similar relationship. This instance of individual salvation serves to remind the whole community of God’s mighty act in her behalf and encourages the people to retain their covenant relationship with God.
Verse 24 returns to the concerns expressed at the beginning of the combined Psalm 70–71. There the psalmist called on Yahweh for speedy deliverance and desired that “those who seek my life be put to shame and confusion” (70:2). In 71:24, he concludes with the answering assurance: “For those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion.” The almost exact correspondence between these verses leaves little doubt (along with the abundant evidence of linkage noted above) that these two psalms are to be read together as a unit.
Bridging Contexts
A MESSAGE FOR the aged. Like most laments, the combined Psalm 70–71 speaks from a context of suffering and oppression. 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. In what I set forth below, I am going to focus on the message of this psalm to those facing the aging process. I do that because I think that is the dominant focus of this psalm and because so little is said on this important issue that when the opportunity arises naturally, it ought not to be missed. Also, 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.
Having said this, however, I hasten to add, as have many other commentators, that there is little in this psalm that is not applicable to a reader of any age. Mays has put it well:
But we must not overlook how plastic the idioms of psalmic language are. The prayers for help use every resource to describe trouble. Old age means declining powers and can be read as a metaphor for neediness. Let the young be reminded that they will be old and in times of weakness are infirm like the old. . . . The psalm has been read corporately by the community of faith aware of its need of regeneration.22
So, young person, read on, and, God willing, you will find much to challenge your youthful life in this psalm.
The psalmist speaks of a lifetime of experience of God’s acts of grace and deliverance, having relied on God “since my youth . . . from birth” (71:5–6, 17). It is the approach of old age (71:9), when he is “old and gray” (71:18), that raises fear of abandonment by God (71:9, 11, 18).
Along with old age comes diminished power and capacity (71:9), with a corresponding sense of vulnerability (70:5; 71:10), shame, and disgrace (71:1). The enemies seize on the psalmist’s growing weakness as an opportunity to press their attacks and intimidation. His preoccupation with the desire to have shame, disgrace, and confusion return on their heads indicates that their attacks were attempts to project the same on the psalmist. His hope for the restoration of honor or dignity (71:21) clearly counters the sense of loss of personal worth induced by their devaluing attacks. The central character of his life is undermined by the external misperception that his suffering is the result of divine judgment (71:7).
Confusion is often a characteristic of advancing age—especially in a rapidly changing world, with the death of friends and loved ones and the loss of the familiar routines of home, family, and work. When one is no longer able to participate in activities that gave one respect, value, and identity, many respond with a growing sense of wrongness that can easily deteriorate into shame. This is especially true with the loss of independence and increased necessity to rely on others.
It is generally true that in the Old Testament world, old age was considered a time of wisdom and experience, so that elders were honored and given deference along with positions of authority. Aging was not entirely a positive experience, however. Ecclesiastes 12:1–7 describes graphically the deterioration of faculties that accompanies the aging process and encourages his reader to “remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’ ” (12:1). In other passages, old age leads to disease (1 Kings 15:23), blindness (Gen. 27:1; 1 Sam. 4:15), loss of mobility (Isa. 46:4; Zech. 8:4), and general deterioration of faculties (2 Sam. 19:35; 1 Kings 1:1).
Most likely, even though the aged were respected and honored, they saw a similar diminishment of capacity, independence, and freedom as the elderly do today. Our psalmist himself anticipates such loss, along with the approach of death (71:20). It is in this light that we must understand his fear of shame and his desire to take refuge in God. Lifelong experience has taught the psalmist that youth or advanced age makes no difference in the need for the faithful to rely entirely on God (71:6) and to proclaim his mighty acts boldly (71:17).
Regardless of any diminished capacity, the psalmist remains able to declare the righteous acts of God to all who will listen. Note especially 71:18: “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” This is a significant shift from “preserve my life” to “allow me to leave a legacy of hope and faithfulness.” While the psalmist cannot stave off death forever, he desires to live long enough to transmit his faithful message to those who come after. The repeated requests for restoration of life (71:20), to be brought up from the depths of the earth (71:20), and to receive increased honor (71:21) are not simply so that the psalmist may receive pleasure and benefit but so that his message of praise will be heard and received with respect.
Contemporary Significance
AGING. AGING HAS become a major concern in our day. Especially as the Baby Boomer generation ripens collectively past middle age into the so-called “golden years,” by their sheer numbers they are creating a shift in the amount of attention, concern, and money applied to the issues surrounding the aging process. Many companies have been commercially successful in selling products that purport to delay, reduce, mask, or ameliorate the effects of aging.
I wish I could report that all this concern is the result of a deep sense of respect and appreciation for the aged in our society. But I am afraid this is generally not so. The commercial products and processes mentioned are our key here. Most of these products make money by helping to “hide” the realities of aging or delaying its most obvious effects as long as possible. Some—such as diet, exercise, methods of relaxation—do offer positive effects on quality of life. Others—such as plastic surgery, hair implants, impotency remedies, chemical and herbal supplements—have little or nothing to do with improved physical health but respond primarily to a pattern in our society that equates “good” and “valued” with “young” and “beautiful.”
As a result, while aging is becoming an increasing concern of society, our concern is not so much to enhance spiritual, emotional, and physical health and satisfaction among the aging population but to delay or eliminate the effects of aging—at all costs. The Star Trek vision of practically immortal humans living youthful lives for centuries on end is the product of our collective fear of aging and our determination to find ways to avoid it. In many ways we have difficulty empathizing with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s wondrous and yet mysterious lines:
Grow old with me, the best is yet to be,
the end of life for which the first began.
For most of us—and I am speaking from the experience of my mid-fifties—aging is a lamentable inevitability that cannot be avoided but is anticipated with anxiety and a great sense of loss.
How we as a society treat our aging population also indicates the fear and dismay aging holds for us. While we give lip service to respect for the elderly, reality demonstrates a frightening disrespect and disregard for our senior citizens. Forcibly retired at sixty-five or seventy, we offer modest discounts on products and services to substitute for significant roles and important work. Rather than incorporating our elders as respected leaders and counselors in our homes and communities, most are shuffled off to nursing homes and retirement centers to create a new subculture of life, where they associate primarily with their peers and pursue endless entertainment, while staying out of the way of those of us who are doing the work of the world.
The situation is certainly complex, but one cannot visit the average nursing home and encounter the inevitable vacant-eyed elderly person sitting unattended in the hallway without coming away with the deep impression of senior adults abandoned to care facilities, where we allow others to care for their needs. Those of us faced with the prospect of dealing with the issues surrounding aging parents know the dilemma that this circumstance presents. The changing of roles when once independent parents must surrender their driving privileges, give up their private dwelling, and depend on others for mobility, security, provision—these are a substantial challenge in a day that values neither old age nor self-sacrificing service.
Our psalm, however, offers a message of hope into our contemporary context. The psalmist—no stranger to the effects of aging—speaks an encouraging word from a lifetime of experience. First, consider a quick list of the turmoil of aging the psalmist mirrors in this psalm:
• the fear of death (70:2; 71:10–11, 20)
• the loss of honor and dignity (70:3; 71:1, 21)
• the loss of strength (71:9)
• a sense of vulnerability 70:2, 5; 71:4, 11, 18)
• forced dependence (the “refuge” theme throughout, esp. in 71:6, 9, 18)
• the fear that one’s life will be misinterpreted and devalued (70:3; 71:7, 11).
While the individual elements of this list may enter human experience at any point of life from cradle to grave, they are particularly prominent and poignant at the end of life, when the shortness of time and the passing of energy leaves little opportunity for change.
The psalmist is no different from any of us. O yes, to be sure he (or she!) lived centuries ago in a less technologically advanced age and in a society that placed a bit more premium on its aged members than we seem to. But his fears, mirrored in this psalm, resonate with ours and reflect fears we face today in spite of the centuries separating us and our different contexts. Consequently, we can be assured that the message of the psalm can offer hopeful instruction to our situation as well. Let’s consider four reasons for hope the psalmist affirms.
(1) Accepting God’s evaluation of our life. It is easy for us to accept the world’s evaluation of our life. Much of what we consider valuable is learned from rubbing shoulders with our contemporary society. And our world tells us that youth is good, high energy is in, busy is better. We are supposed to work long, party hard, live fast, and look good while we do it. Ours is a society that pokes fun at getting older. Hippie kids in the 1960s were fond of saying, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty!” Our own decade holds funerals for those who turn forty. Novelty stores are full of mournful cards and black balloons and jelly beans to “celebrate” the passing of our aged friends. Along with these comic attacks is the less funny reality of “ageism” in the workplace, as anyone who is forced to look for a job in their mid-fifties can attest.
It is especially difficult for many who have retired and are no longer a daily part of the “productive workforce” to feel valued. I heard one such retired computer engineer speaking with an interviewer on public radio. This man had retired only a year earlier and wanted to put his years of experience and skills to work providing consultation. To his dismay, however, he discovered that technology was moving so quickly that his skills were already out of date and no longer of interest to those he approached. He then tried to market the kind of general understanding of computer processes and organizational utilization of them that had made him successful during his career. No one was buying, so he called the radio host for advice how to put his considerable experience and talent to work. Her response? There is little chance—the field and technology has moved so far beyond where the caller had been when he retired as to render his skills obsolete and virtually useless in the marketplace. As far as the working world of computer engineering was concerned, this former top engineer was out of touch and worthless.
The psalmist experiences a similar external evaluation of his life. Those who look on from the outside and see the suffering he is facing consider his life a “portent”—a sign (or admonition) to others of divine punishment. Most of us probably remember our parents admonishing us by using someone else as a particularly visible and memorable example of undesirable consequences. “Don’t drink and drive, or you’ll end up like John X!” “If you sleep around, you may find yourself pregnant like Stephanie X!” And you may have trembled under the fear that you yourself might become such an example—a “portent,” so to speak—to others. Or else you bridled at the very suggestion that your parents could misunderstand you so badly as to think you might participate in the behavior they condemned.
The psalmist found himself in such a position: Misunderstood, attacked falsely, considered abandoned by God, and vulnerable, his whole life devalued as a portent. The psalmist surely was tempted to capitulate to this negative evaluation. But instead we find him recalling a lifetime of faithful reliance on God (71:5–6), faithful teaching by God (71:17), and faithful waiting for God (71:14). This active recall of a life faithfully spent allows him to accept God’s evaluation of a faithful life well spent and to proclaim confidently that, despite the present appearance of “many and bitter” troubles (71:20), God’s evaluation was: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” God will restore the psalmist’s life, God will bring him up from the depths of the earth, God will increase his honor, and God will comfort him once again (71:20–21).
External circumstances or the evaluation of others is no reliable measure of the value of a human life spent faithfully in the service of God. Christ on the cross is, of course, the ultimate example of a life that by all external indications and measurements could only be described as a miserable failure. Yet the “scandal of the gospel”—that the anticipated conquering Messiah could die a disgusting criminal’s death on the cross—became the power of resurrected life for all who believe (1 Cor. 1:18). At any time in our lives, but especially at its end, we need to allow God’s evaluation of our lives to overcome the many voices—both internal or external—that seek to tear us down. “I/you only . . . I/you never . . . Why didn’t I/you . . . ? If only I/you had. . . .” These kinds of destructive evaluations need to be caught up and obliterated in the psalmist’s confident “You will increase my honor and comfort me once again” (71:21).
(2) Taking refuge in God. This is a recurring theme throughout the Psalter (see comments on 2:12; 7:1). Apparently life among the ancient Israelites was such that they frequently felt the need for a place of refuge or for a fortress from which to withstand the attacks of the enemy—not so different, I suggest, from our own time.
But a refuge or fortress must be entered to be effective. In the Old Testament are several narratives in which the enemies of Israel were defeated when they were deceived by a ruse into leaving their walled cities to pursue what they thought was a demoralized and fleeing enemy. Our psalmist demonstrates that the ability to enter into God’s waiting refuge in time of trouble is sometimes a matter of lifelong practice. “From birth I have relied on you” (71:6). There is a certain truth and comfort in the proverbial statement, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6). Patterns engrained in one’s mind, heart, and experience from childhood are often enduring patterns.
The college professor I knew who gradually lost his memory of even his teaching field remained a sweet, gentle spirit, even when all else was gone. I remember another woman who, in advanced Alzheimer’s disease, could remember little else but was still able to sing the great hymns of her faith from childhood through old age. God does stand ready as refuge and protective fortress for those who in old age (or youth or middle age) have lost their ability for independent living and choice, who are increasingly dependent on and vulnerable to the decisions made for them by others.
Each of us needs to begin building that refuge in God now—raising its walls stone by stone, event by event, experience by experience. We must enter the gate frequently to survey its rising defenses prepared for us in times of trouble, admitting a lack of control over our lives and acknowledging our dependence on a God of grace, who stands ready to be Savior and guide.
(3) God’s power in place of my weakness. When did you first come to realize and acknowledge the limits of your human strength? When we are young, many of us have a rather unthinking sense of invulnerable “immortality.” It often takes some event to shake that confidence and establish a more realistic awareness of our limits. Perhaps it was the first time you wrestled with your son and realized he was just “toying” with you—allowing you to win. Or perhaps it was when your body failed you by not recovering quickly from a more minor injury that previously would not have troubled you. Or it may have been the unexpected loss of a friend or significant loved one through death. Or a serious financial reversal—job loss—that undermined your confidence in your ability to take care of yourself and your family. Loss of a marriage through divorce can have this effect as well.
Regardless of the event, most of us have had or will have an experience that will usher in a new and striking awareness of our own inability to control our lives—a sense of our vulnerability to things, people, and events beyond our control that render our own efforts weak and ineffective. Our psalmist certainly understood this sense of powerlessness: “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone” (71:9). Yet his response is instructive. Rather than seek renewed personal strength and control, he acknowledges the need to rely continually on the strength and power of God. This is a potent message for all of us, but particularly for those who in old age see their personal power waning.
Paul subscribes to a powerful understanding of human weakness rightly understood when he speaks in 2 Corinthians about his “thorn in the flesh,” which he sought three times to have God remove—without success. Instead, he heard Jesus say to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). “Therefore,” continues Paul, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Our weakness can become an opportunity through which the power of God can be manifested. As Christ on the cross manifested human weakness vulnerable to the powers of others—even to the power of death—so God was able to demonstrate in that event the power of God to overcome death once and for all. When we are able to meet the increasing powerlessness of our old age with loving grace and acceptance, we become an opportunity for the power of God to speak through us to others and to draw them to himself.
(4) A continued and valued purpose. The final hopeful lesson this psalm offers us is that even at the end of a lifetime, when former positions and jobs are ended, when strength and energy are on the wane, God offers the faithful person who takes refuge in him a continued and valued purpose. Our psalmist pleads in verse 18 that God not forsake him in old age, “till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” The golden opportunity of our golden years, according to the psalmist, is to transmit to our children (whether real or spiritual) and our children’s children God’s power and might.
As age takes its toll on our strength and energy, as we are forced to withdraw from many activities and pursuits that society considers meaningful and valuable, age becomes the natural opportunity to testify to the strength of God. With the obvious evidence of decreasing strength, old age need not decrease our ability to declare the strength and power of God. “Since my youth . . . you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray . . .” (71:17–18).
Having followed two children born eight years apart through their rather separate experiences of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood on public television, I am now, after a number of years (the youngest of those two children is now in college), left with some enduring impressions of the show and its characters. One of the most memorable is Mr. McFeeley, the Postman, who was always hustling about on his rounds, trying to avoid any delays, and cutting short conversations by calling out “Speedy Delivery! Speedy Delivery!” and dashing on his way.
I am struck today, at the end of this combined Psalm 70–71, with how much we, like the psalmist, want “Speedy Delivery! Speedy Delivery!” We are creatures of instant gratification—wanting pleasure and release now! Too often for my own comfort, however, God allows our suffering to continue, calling us to a life of faithful suffering. May we like the psalmist recognize the refuge we have in God in the midst of trouble and allow our times of pain to become opportunities to mirror the power of God made perfect in our weakness, leaving a legacy of enduring faith to those who come after us.