Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 71:17

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

17. thou hast taught me &c.] He has been a life-long disciple in the school of God. Cp. Isa 8:16; Isa 50:4; Isa 54:13.

have I declared ] Have I been declaring, habitually and constantly.

thy wondrous works ] A special term for the singular and conspicuous works of God, both in nature (Job 5:9), and in His dealings with His people (Exo 3:20), particularly in the great crises of their history (Psa 78:4; Psa 78:11; Psa 78:32), which declare His power and love, and arouse the admiration of all who behold them. The word includes ‘miracles’ commonly so called, as one limited class of ‘the wonderful works of God,’ but is of much wider application. To recount and celebrate His marvellous works is the duty and delight of God’s saints. Cp. Psa 9:1; Psa 26:7; Psa 40:5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17 20. Past mercies are the ground of hope alike for the Psalmist and for the nation.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth – See Psa 71:5-6. That is, God had guided and instructed him from his earliest years. He had made known to him his own being and perfections; he had made his duty plain; he had led him along the dangerous path of life.

And hitherto have I declared – I have made known. That is, he had done this by public praise; he had done it by his writings; he had done it by maintaining and defending the truth. In all situations of life, up to that time, he had been willing to stand up for God and his cause.

Thy wondrous works – See Psa 9:1, note; Psa 26:7, note. Doings or acts which were suited to attract attention; to awe the mind by their greatness; to inspire confidence by their wisdom.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 71:17-18

O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works.

The old mans sermon

His scholarship. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth.

1. The psalmist was an instructed believer. He had not merely been saved, but taught: conversion had led to instruction. I call the attention of all young Christians to this. How desirable it is not merely that you should be forgiven your sins, and that your hearts should be renewed by the operations of the Holy Ghost, but that you should go to school to Jesus, and take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him.

2. All his instruction the psalmist traced to his God. O God, Thou hast taught me. He had entered Christs college as a scholar. Most wisely had he chosen to learn of Him who was infinite wisdom to impart, and divine skill in communicating it. What a school have some of us passed through, a school of trial and a school of love. We have sat on the hard form of discipline.

3. David also had the privilege of beginning early. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth. If you would be a good scholar you must be a young scholar.

4. Further, notice David tells us he kept to his studies. He says, O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, which implies that God had continued to teach him: and so, indeed, He had. The learner had not sought another school, nor had the Master turned off His pupil. Some make slight progress because they seem to begin well, but afterwards turn aside to folly.

II. His occupation. Hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works.

1. A Divine subject. Did you notice the fifteenth verse, My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day? That is the great Christian doctrine–the very pith and marrow of theology–the atonement in which grace and justice unite in the sacrifice of Jesus.

2. The style which David used was very commendable. Declared. Davids teaching about his God had not been with an if, and a but, and a may be, but it had been, Thus and thus, saith the Lord.

III. His prayer.

1. He was not ashamed of his former reliance. He knew the secret springs from which all his blessings had flowed, and he pleads with the Lord never to stop the Divine fountain of self-sufficiency, or he must faint and die.

2. This proves that David did not imagine that past grace could suffice for the present. David acknowledged his present dependence, and it was wise to do so, Men always stumble when they try to walk with their eyes turned behind them.

3. He confessed his undeservingness. He felt that for his sins God might well leave him. But he humbly resolved not to be deserted, he could not bear it, he held his God with eagerness, and cried in agony, O God, forsake me not. His heart was desperately set upon holding to his one hope and consolation, and so he pleaded as one who pleads for life itself.

IV. His wish (Psa 71:18). He had spent a lifetime in declaring Gods Gospel, but he wanted to do it once more. Aged saints are loth to cease from active service. Many of them are like old John Newton, who, when he was too feeble to walk up the pulpit stairs of St. Mary Woolnoth parish church, was carried up to his place and preached on still. His friends said, Really, Mr, Newton, you are so feeble, you ought to give over, and he said, What? Shall the old African blasphemer ever leave off preaching the grace of his Master as long as there is breath in his body? No, never. It is harder work to leave off than to go on, for the love o! Christ constrains us still, and burns with young flame in an aged heart. So here the good man pines to show forth once more Gods strength. And, do you notice the congregation he wished to address? He would testify to the generation that was growing up around him. He wished to make known Gods power to his immediate neighbours, and to their children, so that the light might be handed on to other generations. This should be on the mind of all who are going off the stage of action: they should think of those who are to come after them, and pray for them, and help them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The training of a nation

This psalm tells the experience of an old man, some grey-haired saint of the Old Testament. He speaks in accents now sad, now joyful, but always trustful. He invokes Gods judgment against his enemies, in the spirit of the Old Testament rather than of the New. But the chief truth and the eternal teaching is, that behind all lifes disciplines and trials he recognizes God as the Guido, the Friend, the Teacher, from whom they have come. And he is sure that God will be with him still, and he will be yet a witness of His righteousness. Jeremiah may have been the writer, or some other saint of his age. For it is said that the exiles were familiar with it. And some say the unknown author is tolling not of himself but of his nation; if so, the true meaning of the text would be, Thou, Lord, hast taught, trained and disciplined this nation from its birth, and, if we follow a more correct rendering of the rest of the verses, and up to this day it has proclaimed and acknowledged, without reserve, the wondrous doings which have marked that history. Such application of the language gives new force and colour to it, whether right or wrong.

I. Hear the voice of our own nation in these words. Trace her history from pro-Roman times, on through the beginnings of Christianity in her midst, by the days of our rude Saxon forefathers who had entered into the fair heritage which Rome had abandoned; how they in their turn bowed before the cross of Christ, and in their turn strove against ruthless Dane and Norseman. And once again foreign rule forced itself on the nation, how on this very spot the Conqueror, first of a long line of kings, was crowned by the tomb of the gentle, unwarlike monarch whose bones still rest amongst us, And we see the gradual fusing of the varied elements into that one hardy race, toiling, fighting, conquering, and being conquered, the memorials of all which are around us. But in and through all these vicissitudes has not God been training this land; might it not take our text for itself?

II. And we may do so, again, in regard to the reign of our sovereign, whose jubilee we have so recently and joyfully celebrated. During these fifty years God has still been teaching this nation by ways and agencies manifold. What material prosperity has been given; for the amelioration of the lot of the poor, what were once the privileges of the few being now the common patrimony of the many; for all just and wise legislation; for the strides with which human knowledge has advanced, for fresh light thrown on history; for the good men and great whom God has raised up for us; for those who are gone and those who are left. And let us, above all, thank Him for those who have died in His faith and fear; and for all who have striven to extend the knowledge of our Father-God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us ask Him not to forsake us now that He has led us so far on in our career. We may not shut our eyes to the perils of the future–the weakness as well as the strength of a world-wide empire; the decay of faith and the turning away from Christ. All the more, therefore, let us pray this prayer, O God, forsake me not. (Dean Bradley.)

The discipline of life

Trace this in the life of David.

I. It begins early.

II. Is conducted through various agencies.

1. Prosperity is one of them. Darwin says in one of his books, speaking of change of instinct in the lower creation, that when bees were carried to Barbadoes and the Western Islands, they ceased to lay up honey after the first year. They found the weather so fine, and the material for honey so plentiful, that they ate up their store, and neglected to provide for the future any longer. Their character degenerated under the influence of their prosperity. Too often it is so among men; and the greater their prosperity, the greater is their deterioration of character. It is said of one of the popes that when he was a poor priest he was regarded as a good man; when promoted to be a cardinal he doubted of his salvation; and when he was raised to the papal chair he despaired of it. Now, that ought not to be the result of prosperity. But it too often is so.

2. Adversity is another. Adversity, says one, is of use to kill those sinners which the summer of prosperity is apt to produce and nourish. I have seen a Christian man accumulate money, and in the process of accumulation begin to love it; and I have observed the wisdom and fatherly kindness of God, in making all his investments profitless, and scattering his little board to the winds like dust, and in the end drawing out his soul in deeper love and desire for the true riches. Affliction is beneficial in perfecting patience, fortitude, and acquiescence in the Divine will. No other form of discipline can so promote growth.

III. Is often very mysterious. See this in history of Joseph. And observation and experience teach the same.

IV. Is perpetual. And–

V. Is regulated by infinite wisdom and love. (William Walters.)

Gods pupil, Gods preacher; an autobiography

I. Think of David as a pupil, God was his Teacher. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth. This shows that David had a teachable spirit; and if you had asked him where it came from, he would have said that God gave him a teachable spirit. God is not only the Teacher of our spirit, but He gives us a teachable spirit, Have we all received that precious gift? A teachable spirit, although it is despised by many, is a happy spirit; it is a growing spirit; it is a restful spirit; it is a heavenly spirit; and whoever has it, must ascribe the possession of it to the Spirit of God, who leads us into all truth, and makes us willing to be led therein. Oh, that we may have such a spirit, that we shall count it an honour to say, O God, Thou hast taught me! In Davids acknowledgment we learn that God took him very early into His school. Thou hast taught me from my youth. What a mercy it is to begin to know God before we begin to know anything else! Happy shalt thou be if thy first intelligible thoughts shall be of thy Maker, thy Benefactor, thy Friend. There are many aged men who can say with David, O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth. They find themselves learners yet, for they are Unstable, weak, and apt to slide.

II. But now I want you to notice David as a pupil-teacher. While he was a pupil, he was also teaching. He says, Hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works. Observe, then, that David taught people what he saw. He saw Gods works all around him. Ah! me, that is a great sight. We do not see God as we should, and we shall never teach aright for God, until we have a kind of instinctive feeling of the presence of God, till we are conscious that God is in us, and round about us, and at work for us. Gods work that David saw was very much work in himself, and work for himself, and work in other mens hearts. Being taken into the school of God, he was made to observe things; he had object lessons put before him, and he learned to read Gods work; and as he saw it, he wondered. Hitherto, said he, have I declared Thy wondrous works. He who is a stranger to wonder is a stranger to God, for God is wonderful everyway, and everywhere, and everyhow. We find that David took opportunity to declare Gods wondrous work; sometimes with his pen, writing his psalms; sometimes with his voice, singing those psalms; sometimes talking to a few, sometimes speaking to many. Now, dear friends, what I want you all to do is, if you have seen Gods work, and have been struck with it, you should declare it, tell it to others. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 17. Thou hast taught me from my youth] I have had thee for my continual instructor: and thou didst begin to teach me thy fear and love from my tenderest infancy. Those are well taught whom God instructs; and when he teaches, there is no delay in learning.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Taught me; partly by thy word and Spirit, convincing and assuring me; and partly by my own experience of thy righteousness last mentioned, the wondrous effects whereof I have received and declared from time to time, as it here follows.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17-21. Past experience againencourages.

taught me, &c.byprovidential dealings.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth,…. The corruption of human nature; the weakness and impotence of it, to everything that is spiritually good; and the need of continual strength and grace from Christ, to go to him for righteousness and strength, life and salvation, and to walk by faith on him; the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, and the insufficiency of his own; the will, ways, and worship of God; and all the duties of religion, prayer, praise, c. and whoever were the instruments, or whatever were the means, of teaching David these things, he ascribes it to God. Whether his parents, or the priests and Levites, taught him the sacrifices and ordinances of the law, it was the Lord that blessed instructions to him and that taught him by providences and precepts, and by his Holy Spirit. And a wonderful blessing it is to be taught of God, and not of men, things relating both to doctrine and practice; and it is an addition to it to be taught these things early, as David was from his youth; and therefore the Lord was so soon the object of his faith and trust, Ps 71:5; and, as Timothy, from a child, was acquainted with the holy Scriptures, and the things contained in them, which are able to make wise unto salvation, Isa 29:13;

and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works: not only of nature and providence, but of grace; the treasuring up of all grace, and the blessings of it in Christ; the work of redemption by him; the work of regeneration and conversion by his Spirit; and the perseverance of the saints by his grace and strength; which are all wonderful and amazing. And as the psalmist saw his interest in these things, and had an experience of them, he declared them to others for their encouragement, and to the glory of all the three Persons; see Ps 66:16.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

17. O God! thou hast taught me from my youth. The Psalmist again declares the great obligations under which he lay to God for his goodness, not only with the view of encouraging himself to gratitude, but also of exciting himself to continue cherishing hope for the time to come: which will appear from the following verse. Besides, since God teaches us both by words and deeds, it is certain that the second species of teaching is here referred to, the idea conveyed being, that David had learned by continual experience, even from his infancy, that nothing is better than to lean exclusively upon the true God. That he may never be deprived of this practical truth, he testifies that he had made great proficiency in it. When he promises to become a publisher of God’s wondrous works, his object in coming under this engagement is, that by his ingratitude he may not interrupt the course of the Divine beneficence.

Upon the truth here stated, he rests the prayer which he presents in the 18 verse, that he may not be forgotten in his old age. His reasoning is this: Since thou, O God! hast from the commencement of my existence given me such abundant proofs of thy goodness, wilt thou not stretch forth thy hand to succor me, when now thou seest me decaying through the influence of old age? And, indeed, the conclusion is altogether inevitable, that as God vouchsafed to love us when we were infants, and embraced us with his favor when we were children, and has continued without intermission to do us good during the whole course of our life, he cannot but persevere in acting toward us in the same way even to the end. Accordingly, the particle גם, gam, which we have translated still, here signifies therefore; it being David’s design, from the consideration that the goodness of God can never be exhausted, and that he is not mutable like men, to draw the inference that he will be the same towards his people in their old age, that he was towards them in their childhood. He next supports his prayer by another argument, which is, that if he should fail or faint in his old age, the grace of God, by which he had been hitherto sustained, would at the same time soon be lost sight of. If God were immediately to withdraw his grace from us after we have but just tasted it slightly, it would speedily vanish from our memory. In like manner, were he to forsake us at the close of our life, after having conferred upon us many benefits during the previous part of it, his liberality by this means would be divested of much of its interest and attraction. David therefore beseeches God to assist him even to the end, that he may be able to commend to posterity the unintermitted course of the Divine goodness, and to bear testimony, even at his very death, that God never disappoints the faithful who betake themselves to him. By the generation and those who are to come, he means the children and the children’s children to whom the memorial of the loving-kindness of God cannot be transmitted unless it be perfect in all respects, and has completed its course. He mentions strength and power as the effects of God’s righteousness. He is, however, to be understood by the way as eulogising by these titles the manner of his deliverance, in which he congratulates himself; as if he had said, that God, in the way in which it was accomplished, afforded a manifestation of matchless and all-sufficient power.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

17. From my youth Again the psalmist reviews the divine care, as in vers. 5, 6.

Hitherto I declared His faithfulness in making known the goodness of God had been co-extensive with that goodness. But the Hebrew punctuation gives the sense,

“O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and until this time;

I will show forth thy wondrous works.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments