This psalm is without a title, as is the case with the first, second, tenth, and some others. Of course it is impossible to determine on what occasion it was composed. There is some plausibility in the supposition that Psalm 70:1-5 might have been placed before it, or in connection with it, as a kind of introduction, or as indicating the character of the psalms among which it is found; but nothing of certainty can be ascertained on that point. It evidently belongs to the "class" of psalms which refer to the trials of the righteous; but it was rather in view of past troubles than of those which were then existing.
There is no certain evidence that the psalm was composed by David. If so, it was when he was advanced in life. There is, indeed, much in the psalm which would be appropriate to David - much which he might have written; but there is no way now of ascertaining with certainty who was the author. In the Syriac version, the psalm is, indeed, ascribed to David, and this may perhaps express the prevailing idea in regard to the authorship as it had been handed down by tradition. The title in Syriac is, "Composed by David. When Saul warred against the house of David. And a prophecy respecting the passion and resurrection of the Messiah." The Latin Vulgate and the Septuagint also ascribe it to David. The title in both is the same - "By David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the first captives." But these titles are of no authority, as they are not in the Hebrew, and they are of little historic value.
All that is known respecting the occasion on which the psalm was composed, whoever was the author, is, that it was composed when old age was drawing near, and in view of the trials and the blessings of life as considered from the contemplation of its approaching close, Psalm 71:5, Psalm 71:9,Psalm 71:17-18. The life of the author had been one of trials Psalm 71:20, but also of great mercies Psalm 71:6-7, Psalm 71:17. He was then surrounded with difficulties; the infirmities of age were coming upon him, and he was encompassed with enemies Psalm 71:10-11, Psalm 71:20; therefore, he sought the continued favor and blessing of God in the little that remained to him of life.
It is a psalm of great value as describing the feelings of a good man when he is growing old, and is an illustration of what there has been occasion so often to remark in this exposition of the Book of Psalm, that the Bible is adapted to all the conditions of human life. In a book professing to be a revelation from God, and in a world where "old age," with its trials, its infirmities, its recollections, and its hopes, must be so prominent in the actual state of things existing, it would have been unaccountable if there had been nothing to illustrate the feelings of those in advancing or advanced years - nothing to suggest the kind of reflections appropriate to that period of life - nothing to cheer the heart of the aged man, and to inspire him with hope - nothing to prompt him to recall the lessons of the past, and to make use of those lessons to prepare him for the future; even as, in a world so full of trial, it would have been strange if there had been nothing to comfort the mind in affliction, and to enable people to derive proper lessons from the experiences of life. This psalm, therefore, is one of the most valuable portions of the Bible to a certain class of mankind, and may be to any of the living, as suggesting the proper reflections of a good man as the infirmities of age draw on, and as he reviews the mercies and the trials of the past.
It is not necessary to make a more particular analysis of its contents. The psalm, in general, embraces these points:
(1) A prayer for deliverance from troubles, and from wicked people, Psalm 71:1-4.
(2) an acknowledgment of God's goodness in early life; a grateful review of divine mercies manifested from the earliest years of life, Psalm 71:5-8.
(3) a prayer that God would still preserve him as old age came on; a prayer that God would interpose in his behalf, and enable him still to be useful to the world - to that generation, and to the generations to come, Psalm 71:9-18.
(4) the expression of a confident expectation that his prayer would be answered, and that God would be merciful to him, Psalm 71:19-21.
(5) the expression of a purpose to offer praise to God as a suitable return for the mercies of the past, and for all that he hoped to receive in time to come, Psalm 71:22-24.

The prophet, in confidence, prays for God's favor, Psalm 71:1-5; recounts God's kindness to him from youth to old age, Psalm 71:6-9; shows what his adversaries plot against him, and prays for their confusion, Psalm 71:10-13; promises fidelity, and determines to be a diligent preacher of righteousness even in old age, Psalm 71:14-19; takes encouragement in God's mercy, and foresees the confusion of all his adversaries, Psalm 71:20-24.
There is no title to this Psalm either in the Hebrew or Chaldee; and the reason is, it was written as a part of the preceding Psalm, as appears by about twenty-seven of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, have, "A Psalm of David for the sons of Jonadab, and the first of those who were led captives." For the first, second, and third verses, see the notes on their parallels, Psalm 31:1-3 (note).

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 71
This psalm is without a title, but is thought to be David's: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and all the Oriental ones, ascribe it to him; and both the subject and style show it to be his. According to the title of the Syriac version, it was composed by him when Saul made war against the house of David; but this is not likely, since it was written by him in his old age, Psalm 71:9; rather, according to Kimchi and Arama, it was penned when he fled from his son Absalom: there are several things in it which incline to this. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions call it
"A Psalm of David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of the first that were carried captive;''
and so the Ethiopic and Arabic versions. Apollinarius says the sons of Jonadab composed it; but without any foundation for it; and the Syriac version is, it is a prophecy concerning the sufferings and resurrection of the Messiah; and so Jerom and others interpret it. The literal meaning respecting David seems best, though it may be applied to the church, and to any believer in distress. Theodoret thinks it was written by David in the person of the captives in Babylon.

(Psalm 71:1-13) Prayers that God would deliver and save.
(Psalm 71:14-24) Believing praises.

Prayer of a Grey-Headed Servant of God for Further Divine Aid
The Davidic Psalm 70:1-5 is followed by an anonymous Psalm which begins like Ps 31 and closes like Ps 35, in which Psalm 71:12, just like Psalm 70:2, is an echo of Psalm 40:14. The whole Psalm is an echo of the language of older Psalm, which is become the mental property, so to speak, of the author, and is revived in him by experiences of a similar character. Notwithstanding the entire absence of any thorough originality, it has an individual, and in fact a Jeremianic, impress.
The following reasons decide us in considering the Psalm as coming from the pen of Jeremiah: - (1) Its relationship to Psalm of the time of David and of the earlier times of the kings, but after David, leads us down to somewhere about the age of Jeremiah. (2) This anthological weaving together of men's own utterances taken from older original passages, and this skilful variation of them by merely slight touches of his own, is exactly Jeremiah's manner. (3) In solitary instances the style of Ps 69, slow, loose, only sparingly adorned with figures, and here and there prosaic, closely resembles Jeremiah; also to him corresponds the situation of the poet as one who is persecuted; to him, the retrospect of a life rich in experience and full of miraculous guidings; to him, whose term of active service extended over a period of more than thirty years under Zedekiah, the transition to hoary age in which the poet finds himself; to him, the reference implied in Psalm 71:21 to some high office; and to him, the soft, plaintive strain that pervades the Psalm, from which it is at the same time clearly seen that the poet has attained a degree of age and experience, in which he is accustomed to self-control and is not discomposed by personal misfortune. To all these correspondences there is still to be added an historical testimony. The lxx inscribes the Psalm τῷ Δαυίδ υἱῷν Ἰωναδάβ καὶ τῶν πρώτων αἰχμαλωτισθέντων. According to this inscription, the τῷ Δαυίδ of which is erroneous, but the second part of which is so explicit that it must be based upon tradition, the Psalm was a favourite song of the Rechabites and of the first exiles. The Rechabites are that tribe clinging to a homely nomad life in accordance with the will of their father, which Jeremiah (Jeremiah 35) holds up before the men of his time as an example of self-denying faithful adherence to the law of their father which puts them to shame. If the Psalm is by Jeremiah, it is just as intelligible that the Rechabites, to whom Jeremiah paid such a high tribute of respect, should appropriate it to their own use, as that the first exiles should do so. Hitzig infers from Psalm 71:20, that at the time of its composition Jerusalem had already fallen; whereas in Ps 69 it is only the cities of Judah that as yet lie in ashes. But after the overthrow of Jerusalem we find no circumstances in the life of the prophet, who is no more heard of in Egypt, that will correspond to the complaints of the psalmist of violence and mockery. Moreover the foe in Psalm 71:4 is not the Chaldaean, whose conduct towards Jeremiah did not merit these names. Nor can Psalm 71:20 have been written at the time of the second siege and in the face of the catastrophe.