תהלים, פרק קי״ה, פסוק א׳

In times of exile and deep distress, a nation feeling empty of merits and good deeds reaches out to God for salvation. This plea rests not on human righteousness, but on the inseparable bond between the destiny of the people and God's honor in the world. While early sages debate whether this prayer was first voiced at the splitting of the Red Sea, inside a fiery furnace, or during Haman's decree, the straightforward meaning points to the ongoing pain of exile and life under foreign rule [מאירי]. Some traditions view this prayer not as a new song, but as a direct continuation of the preceding one [רד״ק, מנחת שי]. This creates a sharp contrast between the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, a time when the Israelites were worthy, and their current state of spiritual emptiness [אלשיך, מלבי״ם].

The repeated cry that salvation should not be granted for the sake of the people themselves serves to strongly emphasize this central reality [רד״ק]. The prayer asks God to withhold judgment based on human merit, openly admitting that the people are unworthy of kindness in their own right [רש״י, אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד, מאירי]. Because the nation lacks its own merits, the justification for rescue must come from God's own honor. The identity of the Israelites is completely intertwined with God's name. When the nation is brought low, God's honor is similarly diminished in the eyes of the world. Therefore, the request for salvation is a plea to elevate God's glory and prevent the desecration of His name, ensuring that the surrounding nations do not mock them by asking where their God has gone [רש״י, רד״ק, אבן עזרא, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ, חומת אנך].

The prayer concludes with a dual appeal to God's core attributes, asking Him to act purely for the sake of these traits [רד״ק, מלבי״ם באור המילות, מנחת שי, מאירי]. The primary approach among commentators is that the appeal to kindness is a request for pure mercy and free grace, given freely even when the nation has sinned. The appeal to truth relies on God keeping His promises, honoring the ancient covenant and oaths sworn to the forefathers [רד״ק, מלבי״ם, מאירי, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Another perspective links these specific attributes directly to those forefathers. In this view, the prayer asks God to act through the kindness associated with Abraham and the truth associated with Jacob. It intentionally skips over the attribute of strict justice associated with Isaac, as invoking justice could bring further accusation against a struggling and unworthy nation [אלשיך].