Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Arise for our help - Margin, as in Hebrew, "a help for us." That is, Deliver us from our present calamities and troubles.
And redeem us - Save us; deliver us. See Psalms 25:22, note; Psalms 31:5, note; Isaiah 1:27, note; Isaiah 52:3, note.
For thy mercies' sake - On account of thy mercies. That is, in order that thy mercy may be manifested; or that thy character, as a God of mercy, may be made known. It was not primarily or mainly on their own account that the psalmist urges this prayer; it was that the character of God might be made known, or that it might be seen that he was a merciful Being. The proper manifestation of the divine character, as showing what God is, is in itself of more importance than our personal salvation - for the welfare of the universe depends on that; and the highest ground of appeal and of hope which we can have, as sinners, when we come before him, is that he would glorify himself in his mercy. To that we may appeal, and on that we may rely. When that is urged as an argument for our salvation, and when that is the sole ground of our confidence, we may be assured that he is ready to hear and to save us. In the New Testament he has told us how that mercy has been manifested, and how it may be made available to us - to wit, through the Lord Jesus, the great Mediator; and hence, we are directed to come in his name, and to make mention of what he has done and suffered in order that the divine mercy may be consistently manifested to mankind. From the beginning of the world - from the time when man apostatized from God, - through all dispensations, and in all ages and lands, the only hope of men for salvation has been the fact that God is a merciful Being; the true ground of successful appeal to him has been, is, and ever will be, that his own name might be glorified and honored in the salvation of lost and ruined sinners - in the displays of his mercy.
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