Psalm 70

The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs.

It’s unclear who is supposed to be remembering what. Some speculate it refers to the “memorial portion” of a sacrifice—the part burned on the altar (Leviticus 2:2). Musicians may have sang or chanted Psalm 70 during the offering. The rest of the offering was eaten by priests and worshipers. Another educated guess is that it’s a reminder to God to help the person who’s praying for help and in trouble.

Psalm 70 is almost a cut and paste job from Psalm 40:13-17, although scribes couldn’t cut and paste with sheepskin scrolls. The lyrics are almost identical.