21
But You, O God the Lord,
Deal with me for Your name’s sake;
Because Your mercy is good, deliver me.
My Thoughts
In Psalm 109:21, David appeals to God for deliverance, focusing his reliance on divine mercy rather than personal merit. The essence of his plea highlights God’s honor and faithfulness, showing his trust in the Lord’s goodness. David seeks God’s intervention, confident that divine mercy offers hope and solace amidst adversity……….Bill
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Charles Spurgeon
“But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake.” How eagerly he turns from his enemies to his God! He sets the great THOU in opposition to all his adversaries, and you see at once that his heart is at rest. The words are very indistinct and though our version may not precisely translate them, yet it in a remarkable manner hits upon the sense and upon the obscurity which hangs over it. “Do thou for me”—what shall he do? Why, do whatever he thinks fit. He leaves himself in the Lord’s hands, dictating nothing, but quite content so long as his God will but undertake for him. His plea is not his own merit, but the name. The saints have always felt this to be their most mighty plea. God himself has performed his grandest deeds of grace for the honor of his name, and his people know that this is the most potent argument with him. What the Lord himself has guarded with sacred jealousy we should reverence with our whole hearts and rely upon without distrust.
“Because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.” Not because I am good, but because thy mercy is good: see how the saints fetch their pleadings in prayer from the Lord himself. God’s mercy is the star to which the Lord’s people turn their eye when they are tossed with tempest and not comforted, for the peculiar bounty and goodness of that mercy have a charm for weary hearts. When man has no mercy we shall still find it in God. When man would devour we may look to God to deliver. His name and his mercy are two firm grounds for hope, and happy are those who know how to rest upon them.
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Enduring Word
Deal with me for Your name’s sake: David understood that it wasn’t enough to have his enemy judged. David needed help from God, from Yahweh Adonai. David asked on the basis of God’s name and mercy, not on the basis of his own righteousness. (Guzik)
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Barnes
But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake – That is, Interpose for me; exert thy power in my behalf. The phrase “for thy name’s sake” implies that the motive which prompted him was a desire that God might be honored. It was not primarily or mainly for his own happiness; it was that God might be glorified, that his character might be illustrated, that his plans might be accomplished. Compare the notes at Daniel 9:18-19.
Because thy mercy is good – That is, It is the characteristic of mercy to do good; to show kindness.
Deliver thou me – He prays that God would “manifest” himself as he really was, as a God of mercy.
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John Gill
But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake,…. The sense of the petition is, and which is a prayer of Christ as man, that the Lord God would take his part, be on his side, be present with him, work with him, help and assist him, and that for his own honor and glory, for his truth and faithfulness sake, who had promised him help and assistance, Psalm 89:21.
Because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me; or “thy kindness”; meaning the lovingkindness of God to Christ, which he always bore to him, and was eminently and superlatively good; which he makes use of as an argument for his deliverance out of all his troubles, and from death itself; see Psalm 69:14.
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Matthew Henry
He prays for mercy for himself. In general (v. 21): “Do thou for me, O God the Lord! appear for me, act for me.” If God be for us, he will do for us, will do more abundantly for us than we are able either to ask or think. He does not prescribe to God what he should do for him but refers himself to his wisdom: “Lord, do for me what seems good in thy eyes. Do that which thou knowest will be for me, really for me, in the issue for me, though for the present it may seem to make against me.
He despises the causeless curses of his enemies: Let them curse. He said of Shimei, So let him curse. They can but show their malice; they can do him no more mischief than the bird by wandering or the swallow by flying, Prov. 26
He values the blessing of God as sufficient to counterbalance their curses: Bless thou, and then it is no matter though they curse. If God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse those whom God has not cursed, nay, whom he has blessed? Num. 23:8. Men’s curses are impotent; God’s blessings are omnipotent; and those whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect and pray for God’s blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for his confessing Christ, Christ found him, Jn. 9:35. When men without cause say all the ill they can of us and wish all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift up our heart to God in this petition: Let them curse, but bless thou.
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Matthew Poole
21 But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
Do thou for me, to wit, what I desire, which he expresseth in the next clause. Or, do thou act for me; be not silent or still, but stir up thyself to work on my behalf. For thy name’s sake; for the glory of thy faithfulness, which is highly concerned in giving me the deliverance which thou hast promised to me. Thy mercy is good, i.e. gracious, and ready to do good to all, but especially to those that love and fear thee. As sin is said to be sinful, Rom. 7:13, so God’s mercy may be said to be merciful, to wit, in an eminent degree, and above the mercy of all the creatures.
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853), 171.
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Cross References
Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake:
For thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 143:11.
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Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good:
Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 69:16.
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Because thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise thee.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Ps 63:3.
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KJV W/ STRONGS BIBLE – PSALMS 109
109:21 But do 6213 8798 thou for me, O GOD 3069 the Lord 136, for thy name’s 8034 sake: because thy mercy 2617 [is] good 2896, deliver 5337 8685 thou me.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 109:21
21 But thou, ô Lord my God, deal with me according unto thy (l) Name: deliver me, (for thy mercie is good)
(l) As you are named merciful, gracious and long-suffering, so show yourself in effect.
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Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, So that your trust may be in the Lord; I have instructed you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you? Proverbs 22:17-21 NKJV
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