a miracle · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
many
לְרַבִּ֑יםle.ra.Bim
H7227
abundant (in quantity · preposition + adjective, masculine plural absolute
strong
עֹֽז'Oz
H5797
strength in various applications (force · noun, common masculine singular absolute
refuge
מַֽחֲסִיma.cha.si-
H4268
a shelter (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mou…
Psalms 62:7 In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took kno…
1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to…
Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth,…
2 Corinthians 6:8-10 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
Psalms 61:3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
Zechariah 3:6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 71:1-13
Two things in general David here prays for - that he might not be confounded and that his enemies and persecutors might be confounded.
I. He prays that he might never be made ashamed of his dependence upon God nor disappointed in his believing expectations from him. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace; for God will never disappoint the hope that is of his own raising. Now observe here,
1. How David professes his confidence in God, and with what pleasure and grateful variety of expression he repeats his profession of that confidence, still presenting the profession of it to God and pleading it with him. We praise God, and so please him, by telling him…
I am as a wonder unto many,.... To the multitude, to the populace, or "to the great" (u) and mighty; and indeed to both: which respects not his wonderful preservation from the womb, he had before observed; nor his being in a wonderful manner raised to the throne of Israel; nor the wonderful things and amazing exploits done by him, and victories he obtained; nor the wonderful instances of divine grace and goodness to him; but rather the forlorn and distressed state and condition he was now in, being obliged to quit his palace, and flee from the face of his son, accompanied only with a few of his servants; and so was a shocking sight, a spectacle, as the apostle says of himself, to others, to…
Psalm 71:5-8
5. For thou art my expectation, [or hope,] O Lord Jehovah! My trust from my youth. 6. Upon thee have I leaned [or have I been sustained] from the womb: [103] thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise is continually of thee. 7. I have been as a prodigy to the great ones, [104] and yet [105] thou art my strong confidence. 8. My mouth shall be filled with thy praise and with thy glory daily.
5. For thou art my expectation, O Lord Jehovah! The Psalmist here repeats what he had said a little before concerning his trust or confidence. But some, perhaps, may be inclined to refer this sentence rather to the matter or ground afforded him for hope and confidence than…
The Church Fathers
"As it were a monster I have become unto many" (ver. 7). Here in time of hope, in time of groaning, in time of humiliation, in time of sorrow, in time of infirmity, in time of the voice from the fetters-here then what? "As it were a monster I have become unto many." Why, "As it were a monster"? Why do they insult me that think me a monster? Because I believe that which I see not. For they being happy in those things which they see, exult in drink, in wantonness, in chamberings, in covetousness, in riches, in robberies, in secular dignities, in the whitening of a mud wall, in these things they exult: but I walk in a different way, contemning those things which are present, and fearing even the prosperous things of the world, and secure in no other thing but the promises of God. And they, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." What sayest thou? Repeat it: "let us eat," he saith, "and drink." Come now, what hast thou said afterwards? "for to-morrow we die." Thou hast terrified, not led me astray. Certainly by the very thing which thou hast said afterwards, thou hast stricken me with fear to consent with thee. "For to-morrow we die," thou hast said: and there hath preceded, "Let us eat and drink." For when thou hadst said, "Let us eat and drink;" thou didst add, "for to-morrow we die." Hear the other side from me, "Yea let us fast and pray, `for to-morrow we die.'" I keeping this way, strait and narrow, "as it were a monster have become unto many: but Thou art a strong helper." Be Thou with me, O Lord Jesus, to say to me, faint not in the narrow way, I first have gone along it, I am the way itself, I lead, in Myself I lead, unto Myself I lead home. Therefore though "a monster I have become unto many;" nevertheless I will not fear, for "Thou art a strong Helper."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Praise · Is due to God on account of: Constant preservation — Is due to God on account of: Constant preservation
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כּמופת, as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata, cognate afaka, הפך, to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psa 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מחסי־עז, as in Sa2 22:33. עז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra, p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [lit. unalloyed]. Psa 71:8 tells us what it i…
The psalmist has trusted God throughout his life (see 22:9).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 71:7
I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
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…
