This is a psalm of David which is highly emotional, he begins with tears and finishes with joy. He trusts God in the time of his trouble and praises God for helping him be triumphant. This psalm is interesting because parts of it are quoted in other places within the Scriptures.
The first three verses of Psalm 71, are direct quotes from the first three verses in Psalm 31. Jonah, from inside the great fish, quotes Psalm 31:6, in Jonah 2:8. Jeremiah quotes Psalm 31:13, six times, Jeremiah 6:25 / Jeremiah 20:3 / Jeremiah 20:10 / Jeremiah 46:5 / Jeremiah 49:29 / Lamentations 2:22.
Paul quotes Psalm 31:24, in 1 Corinthians 16:13. Jesus, whilst on the cross quotes Psalm 31:5, in Luke 23:46. Stephen, just before he was murdered quotes Psalm 31:5, in Acts 7:59.
Although the headings aren’t inspired by God, they are important because they give us some understanding of the Psalm and they help us to see why it was written. The headings usually tell us four things.
1. Who wrote them, probably wrote them, or possibly wrote them.
2. Information about the historical background to the Psalm. Why it was written.
3. They tell us of the tune the Psalm was written to.
4. How it was used.
This psalm was for the director of music and was to be sung with the use of stringed instruments. Some commentators believe that the ‘director of music’ is God Himself and others believe that it is a song leader who led choirs or musicians, 1 Chronicles 6:33 / 1 Chronicles 16:17 / 1 Chronicles 25:6.
David begins by telling us about how he trusted in the Lord, Psalm 7:1. No matter what the trials are, he is going through, his faith is in the Lord, therefore he sees God as his refuge, Psalm 31:1 / Job 6:20 / Isaiah 30:5 / Jeremiah 2:26 / Jeremiah 14:3-4.
He knows that the Lord will always do what is right, hence why he is confident the Lord will deliver him, Psalm 31:1. When we listen to the Lord, He will be our rock of stability and house of protection, Psalm 31:2 / 1 Kings 20:28. He asks God to listen to his pleas, Psalm 17:6, and asks Him to quickly rescue him, Psalm 31:2. In other words, he wants God to help him immediately.
He describes God as his rock of refuge, Psalm 31:2 / Psalm 18:1-2 / Psalm 18:46, and a strong fortress, Psalm 31:2 / Psalm 18:2, that is, a house which is made strong and safe. Because God was his rock and refuge, which demonstrates his trust and hope in the Lord, he asks the Lord, to lead and guide him for His name’s sake, Psalm 31:3 / Psalm 23:3. In other words, he wanted to be delivered from his enemies in order that he can give God the glory.
He asks God to keep him from the trap which has been set for him, Psalm 31:4 / Psalm 9:15. The phrase ‘the trap’, refers to the custom of hiding or concealing a net, so that the wild beast that was to be taken couldn’t see it, or would fall into it unawares. David’s enemies wanted to defeat him, by springing a net upon him at a moment when he wasn’t aware of it, and at a place where he didn’t suspect.
Notice he says, ‘into your hands I commit my spirit’, Psalm 31:5, which is symbolic of total surrender to God. We know that Jesus quoted these words whilst on the cross, Luke 23:46, and we know that Stephen quoted these words just before he was murdered, Acts 7:59. We must note the difference between David’s use of the words and Jesus’ use of the words.
Jesus appears to have used these words in the same understanding of them that David apparently had, with this exception, David commended his spirit to God that he might live and not die, Jesus used the same words to mean that he indeed would die, but that he would continue to live after the resurrection.
Jesus died with a prayer on his lips, `Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,’ Luke 23:46, that is, Psalm 31:5, with one word added, ‘Father’ ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.’
That verse was the prayer every Jewish mother taught her child to say the last thing at night. Just as we were taught, maybe, to say, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep,’ so the Jewish mother taught her child to say, before the threatening dark came down, ‘Into your hands I commit my spirit.’
Jesus made it even more intimate, for He began it with the word ‘Father’. Even on the cross, Jesus died like a child falling asleep in his father’s arms.
1. A Word of Intimacy.
It was also a moment of intimacy. The two belong together, trust nurtured by intimacy, intimacy nurtured by trust. The intimate word Jesus added to the words of David was ‘Father’. ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ David cried out to his God, ‘O Lord,’ he would say, ‘You are My God.’
In David’s time, such language was radical. The Psalms of David personalises the spiritual life in a way that earlier biblical literature did not. But Jesus took it even further. He consistently spoke of and to his Father. And to his disciples, he said, ‘When you pray, say, ‘Our Father’.
This language of intimate conversations with his Father he shared with his followers. He prays to the Father as he has done throughout his ministry. For Jesus, death is no out of control enemy. No matter how bleak the moment, he knows his Father is present with him, now present to receive his spirit.
2. A Word of Trust.
Second, Jesus entrusts himself to his Father. In Psalm 31:5, the word ‘commit’ is the Hebrew verb ‘paqad’. The corresponding Greek word means to entrust to someone for safekeeping, give over, entrust, commend, As He lets go of this life, Jesus trusts his eternal destiny to the Father’s everlasting arms.
3. A Word of Surrender.
Finally, Jesus speaks a word of surrender. He gives up His human life to his Father who gave it to Him thirty-three years before. The word ‘spirit’ is the common word ‘pneuma’, which means breathing, breath of life.
It can refer to the Holy Spirit, but here refers to the personal spirit of Jesus, part of the human personality, Hebrews 4:12 / 1 Thessalonians 5:23. He gave up his life as a voluntary sacrifice.
The loud voice just mentioned was significant. The loud voice shows that Jesus did not die of exhaustion. If death had come from exhaustion, his vocal cords would not have functioned at all. Jesus’ death was conscious and voluntary, fulfilling his prophecy recorded in John 10:17-18.
Jesus prays His final prayer with this kind of equanimity and peace because He knows the Father and knows that there is life with the Father beyond death. As a devout Jew, He has prayed these words as part of an evening prayer all His life.
Now at the end of His life, He prays one last time and lets go of human life in order to embrace the Life that the Father has to offer in His own presence. Death had no legitimate power over the sinless son of God, Philippians 1:20-23.
David says that he ‘hates those who cling to worthless idols’, Psalm 31:6 / 1 Corinthians 8:4, which is a reference to idols and is distinguished by the fact that the prophet Jonah quoted this verse in his prayer from the belly of the great fish, Jonah 2:8. His words are similar to the sentiment he expresses in Psalm 26:3-5. Instead of clinging to idols, he completely trusts God, Psalm 31:6.
His love for God is shown in that he knows God will see his ‘affliction and knew the anguish of his soul,’ Psalm 31:7 / Isaiah 16:11 / Psalm 6:7 / Psalm 22:14.
He knows God hasn’t given him into the hands of his enemies, Psalm 31:8 / 1 Samuel 17:46 / 1 Samuel 24:18 / 1 Samuel 26:8 but has ‘set his feet in a spacious place’, Psalm 31:8, that is, in a place where there is room to move, Psalm 4:1 / Psalm 18:19 / Psalm 18:36.
David continues to pour his heart out to God in the time of his distress, his eyes are weak from the sorrow he feels deep within, Psalm 31:9. The word, ‘consumed’ means wasted away or destroyed, Jeremiah 16:4 / Lamentations 2:11 / Psalm 84:2 / Psalm 143:7 / Psalm 69:3 / Job 11:20.
He feels as though his bones are wasting away, Psalm 31:10, which tells us he is absolutely exhausted, he has no more strength, Psalm 32:3 / Psalm 102:3. He feels like his neighbours and closest friends don’t want anything to do with him, because of his enemies, Psalm 31:11 / Job 19:13-15 / Psalm 22:6.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Why were people afraid even to be seen with David? We can see from the fate of Abimelech and the priests of Nob what cause, humanly speaking, the people had, for avoiding all intercourse with David. King Saul murdered Abimelech and all the priests of Nob because David had been done a favour by them, 1 Samuel 22. No wonder people were afraid even to be seen near him.’
David feels like those who have already died, they passed away and no one remembers them, Psalm 31:12 / Psalm 88:4-5. He feels like broken pottery, Psalm 31:12, that is, something which is easily broken and when it is broken it becomes worthless, Isaiah 30:14 / Jeremiah 22:28 / Jeremiah 48:38 / Lamentations 4:2 / Psalm 2:9 / Hosea 8:8. He hears what people are saying, he hears all the plots and schemes to take his life, Psalm 31:13 / Psalm 2:2.
After pouring out his heart to God about his troubles, David, despite all those troubles, turns to God in trust, Psalm 31:14. He now feels that his fate was in the control of God, Psalm 31:14-15 / 2 Samuel 24:14.
He asks God to allow his face to shine on him, Psalm 31:16, which was an Aaronic blessing, where God’s people sought God’s goodness and favour, Numbers 6:23-27 / Psalm 4:6 / Psalm 67:1 / Psalm 80:5 / Psalm 80:7 / Psalm 80:19 / Psalm 119:135.
David calls upon the Lord for deliverance from the wicked because he doesn’t want to be ashamed, Psalm 31:17. In other words, he doesn’t want to be ashamed to trust in God, Psalm 25:2-3. And so, when God delivers him, it would be the wicked who would be ashamed for not trusting in God, Psalm 31:17.
He asks that the wicked be silenced in the realm of the dead, Psalm 31:17 / Isaiah 14:9 / Job 10:21-22 / Psalm 16:10. This was a request that David’s enemies meet their judgment at the hand of God, Revelation 6:10. In other words, he doesn’t want his enemies to win.
The realm of the dead is Sheol and there are, in fact, three Biblical words, the meanings of which are often confused because people tend to use them very loosely. Two of the words in the New Testament are Greek words. The Third word is an Old Testament Hebrew word.
For instance, in the New Testament, we have the following.
1. ‘Gehenna’, which occurs twelve times, and, in the Authorised Version, it’s always translated ‘hell’.
2. ‘Hades’, which occurs ten times, and which is also always translated, as ‘hell’.
3. The third word is the word ‘Sheol’, found in the Old Testament, and which sometimes is erroneously said to be the word that corresponds to ‘Gehenna’.
You clearly see the confusion that has been created about the meaning of this word when you understand that, in the Authorised Version, out of the sixty-five instances it occurs, thirty-one times it has been translated ‘hell’ and thirty-four times it has been translated ‘the grave’!
Now, although the word ‘Sheol’ literally means ‘The Place of the Dead’, you don’t need much intelligence to recognise that ‘Hell’ and the ‘Grave’ aren’t the same places! When a body is placed in the grave, it hasn’t been consigned to ‘Hell’!
But there is a history behind this inconsistent rendering of the word ‘Sheol’. Whilst the translators of the Authorised Version believed ‘Hell’ to be the place of punishment for the wicked, they withdrew from the idea of saying that good people also go to ‘Sheol’, and so in passages that related to the death of good people, they decided to translate ‘Sheol’ as ‘the grave’!
However, in Hebrew theology and, in Old Testament teaching, ‘Sheol’ is described as the place to which all the dead go, both good and bad. It’s defined as ‘the place of departed souls’. In the account of King Saul’s visit to the medium at Endor, the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel is recorded as saying to Saul, ‘Tomorrow, you and your sons shall be with me’. 1 Samuel 28:19.
Even the Oxford Dictionary is close to the truth as far as the meaning of the word is concerned. It says that ‘Sheol’ is, ‘The abode of the dead’.
Furthermore, in the Old Testament, ‘Sheol’ is described as a gloomy place, in which an individual is farther away from God than he was during his lifetime. We are told that ‘the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything,’ Ecclesiastes 9:5, and, according to Psalm 115:17, ‘The dead do not praise Yahweh, nor any who go down into silence.’
The wicked speak lies against David and he wants God to silence them, Psalm 31:18 / Psalm 12:2-3.
After pouring out his heart to God about his troubles, David, despite all those troubles, turns to God for hope and victory, Psalm 31:19. Victory is always the result for those who fear, Psalm 5:7, and trust God and His goodness, Isaiah 64:4 / Matthew 5:12 / 1 Corinthians 2:9. The goodness of God stored up for Christians is far superior to anything conceivable in our minds.
The phrase ‘in the shelter of your presence you hide them’, Psalm 31:20, means God’s secret presence, Psalm 27:5. The words, ‘human intrigues’, Psalm 31:20, refer to human pride, Exodus 28:28 / Exodus 39:21.
In other words, when the wicked in their pride go against God’s people, God will take them, into His own immediate presence, and will protect them in His dwelling place, Psalm 31:20 / Psalm 27:5, from their accusations, Psalm 31:20 / Psalm 37:5-6.
De Hoff, in his commentary, says the following concerning David’s words concerning ‘the city under siege’, Psalm 31:21.
‘This is probably a reference to David’s taking refuge with Achish, king of Gath, who gave him Ziklag, a fortified city where David dwelt with his men during the period of his flight from Saul, 1 Samuel 27:6. The passage also may teach in a figurative sense that David was as safe in the hands of God as he would have been in a fortified city.’
David says, ‘In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ Psalm 31:22. The word, ‘alarm’ means he was afraid, he wanted to escape, 1 Samuel 23:26. Despite being alarmed, he knows that God heard his cry for help and so, God delivered him, Psalm 31:22.
David now calls upon all of God’s faithful to love the Lord and to trust the Lord will deal with the proud, Psalm 31:23. He encourages the faithful to be strong and to take heart because their hope is in the Lord, Psalm 31:24 / Psalm 27:14.
David completely poured out his heart to God about how he was feeling. He was desperate and in a desperate place in his mind, he didn’t mess around with his words, he opened up to God and truthfully described how he was feeling.
In our society today mental health has become a huge issue and people are being encouraged to open up and speak to people about their feelings, troubles, and concerns.
If this is important for our mental health welfare, how much more important should it be for our spiritual health welfare? Every Christian should have at least, one person, within their congregation they can turn to in their time of need, often this would be an elder or his wife.
But they need someone they can express how they are feeling to, someone they can talk to about their troubles and concerns, Ecclesiastes 3:7 / Proverbs 21:13 / Proverbs 25:19 / James 5:16.
Along with speaking to someone else within the congregation about their feelings, troubles, and concerns, they should speak to God Himself. God completely understand us, He knows us better than anyone else does, Hebrews 4:15.
When we’re tired and at the end of our tether, He understands, Isaiah 53:2 / John 4:6-7 / Mark 6:31. When society appears to be against us, He understands, Matthew 27:32 / Matthew 5:41 / Matthew 23:2-3 / Luke 6:31 / John 8:41.
When our family and friends turn against us, He understands, Jeremiah 3:6-14 / Luke 9:46 / Luke 23:49 / John 1:46 / John 7:5 / John 7:15. When we’re ill or in pain, He understands, Isaiah 52:14, Matthew 26:39 / Matthew 26:42. When we’re grieving and in distress, He understands, Genesis 6:6 / Matthew 11:28-30.
The words of Johnson Oatman Jr. in his hymn, ‘there’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus’ are good remember.