Psalm 71:5

For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) My hope.—Comp. Jeremiah 14:8; Jeremiah 1:7. Also in New Testament, 1Timothy 1:1, “The Lord Jesus Christ our hope.” Shakespeare, with his fine ear for scriptural expressions, caught this.

“And God shall be my hope, my stay.”

“God, our hope, shall succour us.”—2 Henry VI.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

71:1-13 David prays that he might never be made ashamed of dependence upon God. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace. The gracious care of Divine providence in our birth and infancy, should engage us to early piety. He that was our Help from our birth, ought to be our Hope from our youth. Let none expect ease or comfort from the world. Those who love the Lord, often are hated and persecuted; men wondered at for their principles and conduct; but the Lord has been their strong refuge. The faithful servants of God may be assured that he will not cast them off in old age, nor forsake them when their strength fails.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thou art my hope, O Lord God - The ground of my hope and my expectation is in thee.

(1) I have no other help; no other defense; but

(2) I "have" confidence; on thee I "do" rely.

Thou art my trust from my youth - From my earliest years. The meaning is, that he had always trusted in God, and had always found him a helper. All that he was, and all that he possessed, he owed to God; and he felt now that God had been his protector from his earliest years. Perhaps it could not be shown certainly from this expression that he meant to say he had "actually trusted" in God from his youth, for the "language" means no more than that God had actually protected him, and holden him up, and had continually interposed to save and keep him. As God had always been his Protector, so he felt that he might come to Him now, and put his trust in Him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. trust—place of trust.

The Treasury of David

5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.

6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Psalm 71:5

"For thou art my hope, O Lord God." God who gives us grace to hope in him, will assuredly fulfil our hope, and, therefore, we may plead it in prayer. His name is "Jehovah, the hope of Israel" (Jeremiah 17:13); and, as he cannot be a false or falling hope, we may expect to see our confidence justified. "Thou art my trust from my youth." David had proved his faith by notable exploits when he was a youth and ruddy; it was to him a cheering recollection, and he felt persuaded that the God of his youth would not forsake him in his age. They are highly favoured who can like David, Samuel, Josiah, Timothy, and others say, "Thou art my trust from my youth."

Psalm 71:6

"By thee have I been holden up Item the womb." Before he was able to understand the power which preserved him, he was sustained by it. God knows us before we know anything. The elect of old lay in the bosom of God before they were laid on their mothers' bosoms; and when their infantile weakness had no feet strong enough to carry it, the Lord upheld it. We do well to reflect upon divine goodness to us in childhood, for it is full of food for gratitude. "Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels." Even before conscious life, the care of God is over his chosen. Birth is a mystery of mercy, and God is with both mother and babe. If marriages are registered in heaven we may be sure that births are also. Holy women do well to bless God for his mercy to them in nature's perilous hour; but every one who is born of woman has equal cause for thankfulness. She, whose life is preserved, should render thanks, and so should he whose life is given. "My praise shall be continually of thee." Where goodness has been unceasingly received, praise should unceasingly be offered. God is the circle where praise should begin, continue, and endlessly revolve, since in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Psalm 71:7

"I am as a wonder unto many." "To thousand eyes a mark and gaze am I." The saints are men wondered at; often their dark side is gloomy even to amazement, while their bright side is glorious even to astonishment. The believer is a riddle, an enigma puzzling the unspiritual; he is a monster warring with those delights of the flesh, which are the all in all of other men; he is a prodigy, unaccountable to the judgments of ungodly men; a wonder gazed at, feared, and, by-and-by, contemptuously derided. Few understand us, many are surprised at us. "But thou art my strong refuge." Here is the answer to our riddle. If we are strong, it is in God; if we are safe, our refuge shelters us; if we are calm, our soul hath found her stay in God. When faith is understood, and the grounds of her confidence seen, the believer is no longer a wonder; but the marvel is that so much unbelief remains among the sons of men.

Psalm 71:8

"Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day." What a blessed mouthful! A man never grows nauseated though the flavour of it be all day in his mouth. God's bread is always in our mouths, so should his praise be. He fills us with good; let us be also filled with gratitude. This would leave no room for murmuring or backbiting; therefore, may we well join with holy David in this sacred wish.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thou art my hope, O Lord God,.... The object, ground, and foundation of it, even of present deliverance, and of future and eternal salvation;

thou art my trust from my youth; in whom he trusted in his youthful days, of which there is an eminent instance in 1 Samuel 17:33.

Geneva Study Bible

For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my {e} trust from my youth.

(e) He strengthens his faith by the experience of God's benefits, who not only preserved him in his mother's womb, but took him from there, and ever since has preserved him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5, 6. A free imitation of Psalm 22:9-10.

my hope … my trust] Cp. Jeremiah 14:8; Jeremiah 17:7; Jeremiah 17:13; and “Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1).

By thee &c.] Better (cp. Isaiah 48:2), On thee have I stayed myself from (my) birth. The same word is used in Psalm 3:5; Psalm 51:12.

thou art he that took me] A different word from that similarly translated in Psalm 22:9, and of doubtful meaning. The rendering, Thou hast been my benefactor from my mother’s womb (cp. R.V. marg.), suits the parallelism well. But cp. Jeremiah 1:5.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - For thou art my Hope, O Lord God (comp. Psalm 39:7; Jeremiah 14:8; Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7). Thou art my Trust from my youth (comp. Psalm 40:4). Psalm 71:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes (Psalm 71:1-3) is taken from Psalm 31:2-4, the second (Psalm 71:4-6, with the exception of Psalm 71:4 and Psalm 71:6) from Psalm 22:10-11; both, however, in comparison with Psalm 70:1-5 exhibit the far more encroaching variations of a poet who reproduces the language of others with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read מעוז in Psalm 71:3, Psalm 90:1; Psalm 91:9, instead of מעון, which he holds to be an error in writing. But this old Mosaic, Deuteronomial word (vid., on Psalm 90:1) - cf. the post-biblical oath המעון (by the Temple!) - is unassailable. Jahve, who is called a rock of refuge in Psalm 31:3, is here called a rock of habitation, i.e., a high rock that cannot be stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode; and this figure is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of Psalm 31:3 : לבוא תּמיד, constantly to go into, i.e., which I can constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, betake myself for refuge. The additional צוּית is certainly not equivalent to צוּה; it would more likely be equivalent to אשׁר צוית; but probably it is an independent clause: Thou hast (in fact) commanded, i.e., unalterably determined (Psalm 44:5; Psalm 68:29; Psalm 133:3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the words לבוא תמיד צוית corresponds the expression לבית מצודות in Psalm 31:3, which the lxx renders καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς, whereas instead of the former three words it has καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν, and seems to have read לבית מבצרות, cf. Daniel 11:15 (Hitzig). In Psalm 71:5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine name מקוה ישׂראל in Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7 (cf. ἡ ἐλπίς ἡμῶν used of Christ in 1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27). נסמכתּי is not less beautiful than השׁלכתּי in Psalm 22:11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. Psalm 3:6), and in its self-conscious continuance. He was and is the upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of my life. And גוזי instead of גּחי in Psalm 22:10, is just such another felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the meaning of this גוזי according to גּזה equals גּזה, Arab. jz', retribuere (prop. to cut up, distribute), because גּמל is the representative of this Aramaeo-Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be derived from גּוּז, transire, the participle of which, if it would admit of a transitive meaning equals מוציאי (Targum), ought to be גּזי. The verb גּזה, in accordance with its radical signification of abscindere (root גז, synon. קץ, קד, קט, and the like), denotes in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, and even to his birth. The lxx σκεπαστής (μου) is an erroneous reading for ἐκσπαστής, as is clear from Psalm 22:10, ὁ ἐκσπάσας με. הלּל בּ, Psalm 44:9 (cf. שׂיח בּ, Psalm 69:13), is at the bottom of the expression in Psalm 71:6. The God to whom he owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, inexhaustible theme of his praise.