Psalm 71 is a noble psalm with no stated author (although verses 1 to 3 are very similar to part of psalm 31, a psalm of David). It has the themes of giving our trust to the Lord at all times, and of the passage through our life, from birth through to being elderly and grey-haired. The Lord is described as our rock and our fortress.

It brings out the well-founded truth that in old age, having lived for many years and having gone through all kinds of different experiences, there is often a coming into wisdom which is not present in earlier life.

This is also a psalm expressing the certainty of being able to depend on the Lord, that when we turn to Him to bring us back from whatever false or apparent thoughts, fears, and sensations we're having. Words and phrases such as ‘never’, ‘continually’, ‘all the day’, ‘on every side’ ring through the psalm. (Arcana Caelestia 8066-8067)

The speaker is keenly aware of his adversaries, yet he declares ‘I have become a wonder to many’. This ‘wonder’ could be due to the sheer number of attacks on him, or to his resilience when attacked. It gives us some sense of the inner state of Jesus during his life in the world, too, where no one would have been able to know his full state but could only marvel. He saw all his states portrayed throughout the psalms. (Arcana Caelestia 1690)

The psalm begins with an acknowledgement of the Lord’s power to bring us from dark into light, from fear into security and strength. The words, “You have given the commandment to save me” are not an absolute decree of our salvation, because that would transgress our spiritual freedom. It is the divine promise of salvation when we will it and act to receive it. (Divine Providence 325)

This theme continues, declaring the experience of deliverance, hope, trust and being upheld by God. This is from ‘birth’ and ‘from out of my mother’s womb’. These physical images stand for the first states of our regeneration of our spiritual birth, and being born and delivered from our first natural states of our proprium and selfhood. (Arcana Caelestia 4918.2)

Next comes the idea of our “old age”. This is linked with the onslaught of evil which, on seeing frailty, seeks to undermine and destroy. “Old age”, understood spiritually, means the end of a previous state and the start of a new state, a further period in our regeneration. (Arcana Caelestia 3492) The references to enemies, adversaries and ‘those who lie in wait for my life’ stand for the experience of temptation – especially the Lord in his temptation – that we have no power to withstand on our own, but are frail.

Verses 12 to 16 are a series of short, sharp affirmations of certainty of the Lord’s help and our hope. Spiritual hope is to put ourselves fully in the Lord’s providence and care while we yet determine to live according to his commands. It is not a resignation, but a firming up. (Arcana Caelestia 3913)

Then we come back to the idea of our youth and our old age being the remembrance of the Lord’s guidance and leading all through our life. And, as before, we have the prayer to be upheld so that the coming generations – which are our future states – will come to be from our present love and faith in the Lord. (True Christian Religion 584)

From verse 19 to the end there is a eulogy of praise to the Lord, first for what He has done and always will do for us, and then our response, pictured by playing the lute and the harp, and by singing and speaking all the day long. Stringed musical instruments stand for our acknowledgement of and affection for spiritual truths, while singing and speaking refer more to our desire to live these truths. (Apocalypse Explained 323)

4918. 'That behold, there were twins in her womb' means the two essentials of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'twins' as the two - good and truth - dealt with in 3299; and from the meaning of 'the womb' as the place where good and truth have been conceived and are lying, and consequently the place where the essentials of the Church are lying. In the genuine sense 'the womb' means the inmost centre of conjugial love where innocence is present, for the womb corresponds to that love in the Grand Man. Now because conjugial love has its origin in the love of good and truth, which love is at the heart of the heavenly marriage, and because this marriage is heaven itself or the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church, therefore 'the womb' also means the Church. For the Church exists where the marriage of good and truth exists. This explains why 'opening the womb' means the resulting doctrines taught by the Churches, 3856, as well as the ability to receive the truths and goods of the Church, 3967; while 'going out of the womb' means being born again or being regenerated, 4904, that is, becoming the Church since one who is born again or regenerated becomes the Church.

[2] Since 'going out of the womb' means rebirth, and therefore the Church, the Lord is called in the Word 'He who formed from the womb' and 'He who brought out of the womb', and those who have been regenerated and become the Church are said 'to have been carried from the womb', as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah. your Maker. He who formed you from the womb, and who helps you. Isaiah 44:2.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah. who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel might be gathered to Him. Isaiah 49:5.

In David,

Jehovah who brought me out of the womb. Psalms 22:9.

In Isaiah,

Hearken to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been carried from the womb, and borne from the belly. Isaiah 46:3.

In David,

The wicked are alienated from the womb, and go astray from the belly, with lying words. Psalms 58:3.

Here 'being alienated from the womb' means alienation from the good fostered by the Church, and 'going astray from the belly' straying from the truth. In Hosea,

The pains of childbirth will come upon him, he is an unwise son, for now he does not present himself at the womb of sons. Hosea 13:13.

'Not presenting himself at the womb of sons' stands for not coming to the good of truth fostered by the Church.

[3] In the same prophet,

Their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, from the belly, and from conception. Hosea 9:11.

This means that the truth of the Church will perish fully - 'from birth' being that to which birth is given, 'from the belly' that which is undergoing gestation, 'from conception' that which is taking rise. In Isaiah,

I knew that you would certainly act treacherously, and that you were called [a man] of transgression from the womb. Isaiah 48:8.

This means that from the time when the Church first began he was like this. In John,

A great sign was seen in heaven - a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Carrying in the belly however, she cried out in labour, and was in anguish to give birth. Revelation 12:1-2.

'The woman' is the Church, 252, 253, 255. 'The sun' with which she was clothed is the good of love, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 4060, 4696; 'the moon' which was under her feet is the truth of faith, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2495, 4696; 'the stars' are cognitions of good and truth, 2495, 2849, 4697 - there being 'twelve stars' because 'twelve' means all things, thus all aspects of faith, 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913; 'carrying in the belly' is the truth of the Church that had been conceived; 'being in labour and in anguish to give birth' is the fact that it was received with difficulty.