Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 40:6
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
6. The various kinds of offerings are described according to their material, as sacrifice of slain animals, and offering (‘meal-offering’) of the fruits of the earth (Lev 2:1 ff.); and according to their purpose, as burnt-offering; symbolising the dedication of the worshipper to God, and sin-offering, for the reconciliation of the offender and the restoration of interrupted communion.
thou didst not desire ] R.V. thou hast no delight in. It is the same word as in Psa 40:8, and in the parallel passages Hos 6:6; Isa 1:11; cp. 1Sa 15:22.
mine ears hast thou opened ] Lit. ears hast thou dug (or, pierced) for me. This unique phrase can hardly be an equivalent for the common expression to ‘uncover’ or ‘open the ear,’ to be explained as a parenthetical exclamation that this truth has been impressed upon the Psalmist by a special revelation. It is best to regard it as a statement preparing the way for Psa 40:7, and placed between the two parallel clauses of Psa 40:6 for poetic effect. God has endowed man with the faculty of hearing, and the endowment implies a corresponding duty of obedience. ‘Ears’ need not be limited to the physical organ, but may include ‘the ears of the heart.’ The same Hebr. word means to hear and to obey. Cp. the repeated appeals to Israel to hear; Deu 4:1; Deu 6:4; &c.
The language does not suggest any reference to the custom of boring to the slave’s ear (Exo 21:6; Deu 15:17) in the sense, ‘Thou hast bound me to Thyself for perpetual service.’
hast thou not required ] Lit. asked. Cp. Deu 10:12; Mic 6:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 8. True service consists not in material sacrifices but in obedience to the will of God. The stanza is an answer to the implied question, How should man express his gratitude? It affirms the common prophetic doctrine that sacrifice was in itself of no value apart from the dispositions of heart which it was intended to represent. The new commandment of the Exodus was not sacrifice but obedience (Exo 15:26). See Psa 50:7 ff; Psa 51:16 ff.; 1Sa 15:22; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:8; Jer 7:21 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sacrifice and offering – The first of the words used here – zebach – means properly a bloody-offering; the other – minchah – an offering without blood, as a thank-offering. See the notes at Isa 1:11. The four words employed in this verse – sacrifice, offering, burnt-offering, sin-offering – embrace all the species of sacrifice and offerings known among the Hebrews; and the idea here is, that such offering as they were accustomed to offer was required of him who is here referred to. A higher service was needed.
Thou didst not desire – The word here rendered desire means to incline to, to be favorably disposed, as in reference to doing anything; that is, to will, to desire, to please. The meaning here is, that he did not will this or wish it; he would not be pleased with it in comparison with obedience, or as a substitute for obedience. He preferred obedience to any external rites and forms; to all the rites and forms of religion prescribed by the law. They were of no value without obedience; they could not be substituted in the place of obedience. This sentiment often occurs in the Old Testament, showing that the design of all the rites then prescribed was to bring men to obedience, and that they were of no value without obedience. See the notes at Isa 1:10-20; compare 1Sa 15:22; Psa 51:16-17; Hos 6:6; see also the notes at Heb 10:5.
Mine ears hast thou opened – Margin: digged. The Hebrew word – karah – means to dig; as, to dig a well, Gen 26:25; to dig a sepulchre, Gen 50:5. As used here this would properly mean, mine ears hast thou digged out; that is, thou hast so opened them that there is a communication with the seat of hearing; or, in other words, thou hast caused me to hear this truth, or hast revealed it to me. Compare Isa 50:5, The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious. The meaning here would be, that the ear had been opened, so that it was quick to hear. An indisposition to obey the will of God is often expressed by the fact that the ears are stopped: Zec 7:11; Psa 58:4-5; Pro 21:13. There is manifestly no allusion here, though that has been supposed by many to be the reference, to the custom of boring through the ear of a servant with an awl, as a sign that he was willing to remain with his master: Exo 21:6; Deu 15:17. In that case the outer circle, or rim of the ear was bored through with an awl; here the idea is that of hollowinq out, digging, excavating, that is, of making a passage through, so that one could hear; not the mere piercing of the outer ear. The essential idea is, that this truth had been communicated to him – that God preferred obedience to sacrifice; and that he had been made attentive to that truth, as if he had been before deaf, and his ears had been opened. The principal difficulty in the passage relates to its application in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 10:5. That difficulty arises from the fact that the Septuagint translates the phrase here by the words a body hast thou prepared me; and that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews founds an argument on that translation, with reference to the work of the Messiah. On this point, see the notes at Heb 10:5. It is perhaps not now possible to explain this difficulty in a way that will be entirely satisfactory.
burnt-offering – See the notes at Isa 1:11. The uniqueness of this offering was that it was consumed by fire.
And sin-offering – sin-offering was an offering or sacrifice made specifically for sin, with a view to expiate either sin in general, or some specific act of sin. In the Mosaic law there are two kinds of these offerings prescribed; trespass-offerings, or offerings for guilt or fault, denoted by the word ‘asham; and sin-offering, denoted by the word used here. They are offerings which were consumed by fire, Lev. 5:1-19; Lev 6:1-7; Lev 14:10. But the essential idea was that they were for sin, or for some act of guilt. In a general sense, this was true of all bloody offerings or sacrifices; but in these cases the attention of the worshipper was turned particularly to the fact of sin or transgression.
Thou hast not required – That is, thou hast not required them as compared with obedience; in other words, thou hast preferred the latter. These offerings would not meet the case. More was necessary to be done than was implied in these sacrifices. They would not expiate sin; they would not remove guilt; they would not give the conscience peace. A higher work, a work implied in an act of obedience of the most exalted kind, was demanded in order to accomplish the work to be done. Compare Psa 51:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 40:6-7
Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; mine ears hast Thou opened: burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.
Christ the only sufficient sacrifice
Among the many irrefragable proofs that we belong to a fallen race, is the misconstruction which men have put upon the clearest revelations of the Divine will. The Lord had appointed that, in their approaches to Him, the Israelites should offer sacrifices as an acknowledgment that their sins could not be remitted without the shedding of blood. The sacrifices both made clear expression of the fearful guilt of sin, and foreshadowed the atonement Christ should make for the transgressions of His people. But the Jews, as a nation, were not impressed with horror of sin, neither were their thoughts led forward to the promised Redeemer. In their shameful misconceptions of the Divine character, they often impiously imagined that, if any of them committed a trespass, he had no more to do than to kill a bullock or a sheep, in sacrifice, and his guilt would be forgiven him.
I. What kind of atonement is required. It must be costly, for mans guilt is great. Hence–
1. It must be equivalent in value to the souls of the redeemed. Such is the stern doom of justice: else man cannot be saved.
2. There must be a connection between those for whom the atonement is offered and the party who suffers.
3. He who was to die for man must be innocent. No halt or maimed victim could be accepted in the ancient sacrifices: it must be perfect. But how could man furnish a perfect sacrifice for sin?
4. The victim must be willing. An involuntary, forced sacrifice would be cruel tyranny.
II. How all the qualities requisite for a perfect atonement have met in Christ.
1. There was sufficiency in value, for Christ was the Son of God.
2. He had connection with these for whom He died; for He was man as well as God.
3. He was perfectly innocent–He did no sin.
4. He was a willing victim. (George Innes.)
Jesus the true Messiah
I. It is intimated that, whenever the Messiah should come, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the mosaic law were to be superseded by him. Jewish writers contend for the perpetuity of the ceremonial as well as of the moral law; but in this they are opposed, both by Scripture and by fact.
1. As to Scripture (1Sa 15:22; Psa 50:7-15; Psa 51:16-17; Isa 1:11-12; Jer 7:21-23; Dan 9:27; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 8:13; Heb 10:17-18).
2. Whether Messiah the Prince be come or not, sacrifice and oblation have ceased. We believed they virtually ceased when Jesus offered Himself a sacrifice, and in a few years after they actually ceased.
II. It is suggested that, whenever Messiah should come, the great body of scripture prophecy should be accomplished in him. In the volume, etc.
1. The time when Messiah should come is clearly marked out in prophecy (Gen 49:10; Hag 2:6-9; Dan 9:24-27).
2. The place where Messiah should be born, and where He should principally impart His doctrine, is determined (Mic 5:2; Isa 9:2).
3. The house or family from whom Messiah should descend is clearly ascertained.
4. The kind of miracles that Messiah should perform is specified (Isa 35:5-6).
5. It was predicted of Messiah that He should, as a King, be distinguished by His lowliness, entering into Jerusalem, not in a chariot of state, but in a much humbler style (Zec 9:9).
6. It is predicted of Messiah that He should suffer and die by the hands of wicked men (Isa 49:7; Isa 53:9; Dan 9:26).
7. It was foretold that the Messiah, after being cut off out of the land of the living and laid in the grave, should rise from the dead.
8. It was foretold that the great body of the Jewish nation would not believe in Him; and that He would set up His kingdom among the Gentiles (Isa 53:1; Isa 49:4-6).
III. It is declared, that when the Messiah should come, the will of God would be perfectly fulfilled by him. I delight to do Thy will. The will of God sometimes denotes what He approves, and sometimes what He appoints. The first is the rule of our conduct, the last of His own; and both we affirm to have been fulfilled by Jesus. (A. Fuller.)
Lo, I come
I. The sweeping away of the shadow.
1. When the Son of God is born into the world, there is an end of all types by which He was formerly prefigured. When the heart is gone out of the externals of worship, they are as shells without the kernel. Habitations without living tenants soon become desolations, and so do forms and ceremonies without their spiritual meaning. Toward the time of our Lords coming, the outward worship of Judaism became more and more dead: it was time that it was buried.
2. As these outward things vanish, they go away with Gods mark of non-esteem upon them: they are such things as He did not desire. The spiritual, the infinite, the almighty Jehovah could not desire merely outward ritual, however it might appear glorious to men. The sweetest music is not for His ear, nor the most splendid robes of priests for His eye. He desired something infinitely more precious than these, and He puts them away with this note of dissatisfaction.
3. They were so put away as never to be followed by the same kind of things. Shadows are not replaced by other shadows.
II. The revelation of thy Substance.
1. The Lord Himself comes, even He who is all that these things foreshadowed.
(1) When He comes He has a prepared ear. The margin hath it, Mine ears hast Thou digged. Our ears often need digging; for they are blocked up by sin. The passage to the heart seems to be sealed in the case of fallen man. But when the Saviour came, His ear was not as ours, but was attentive to the Divine voice.
(2) He came also with a prepared body (Heb 10:5).
2. He who assumed that body was existent before that body was prepared. He says, A body hast Thou prepared me. Lo, I come. He from old eternity dwelt with God: the Word was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God. He was before all worlds, and was before He came into the world to dwell in His prepared body.
3. The human nature of Christ was taken on Him in order that He might be able to do for us that which God desired and required. An absolutely perfect righteousness He renders unto God; as the second Adam, He presents it for all whom He represents.
III. The declaration of the Christ made in the text. Lo, I come.
1. Observe when He says this. It is in the time of failure.
2. When our Lord comes, it is with the view of filling up the vacuum which had now been sorrowfully seen. He gives to man in reality what he had lost in the shadow.
3. When He appears, it is as the personal Lord–the Infinite Ego. Everything is stored up in His blessed person, and we are complete in Him.
4. Observe the joyful avowal that He makes. This is no dirge; I think I hear a silver trumpet ring out, Lo, I come.
5. He comes with a word calling attention to it; for He is not ashamed to be made partaker of our flesh. Others have cried to you, Lo, here! and Lo, there; but Jesus looks on you, and cries, Lo, I come. Look hither; turn all your thoughts this way, and behold your God in your nature ready to save you.
6. I hear in this declaration of the coming One a note of finality. He is the fulfilment of all the requirements of the human race, as well as the full amount of what God requires.
IV. The reference to preceding writings. He says, to, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me. If I preached from the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, I might fairly declare that in the whole volume of Holy Scripture much is written of our Lord and prescribed for Him as Messiah. Preaching as I am from the Psalms, I cannot take so long a range. I must look back and find what was written in Davids day, and within the Pentateuch certainly; and whore do I find it written concerning His coming? The Pentateuch drips with prophecies of Christ as a honeycomb overflowing with its honey.
V. The delight of him that cometh.
1. He came in complete subserviency to His Father. Though high as the highest, tie stooped low as the lowest.
2. He had a prospective delight as to His work (Pro 8:31).
3. He had an actual delight in His coming among men. To Him it was joy to be in sorrow, and honour to be put to shame. Do you think that lightens our estimate of His self-denial and disinterestedness? Nay, it adds weight to it. Some people fancy that there is no credit in doing a thing unless you are miserable in doing it. Nay, that is the very reverse. Obedience which is unwillingly offered and causes no joy in the soul, is not acceptable. We must serve God with our heart, or we do not serve Him.
4. Need I tell you what must be the delight, the heavenly joy of our Lord, now that the work is finished? He is now the focus, the centre, the source of bliss. What must be His own delight! We often say of the angels that they rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. What means the presence of the angels? Why, that the angels see the joy of Christ when sinners repent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Lo, I come
The times when our Lord says, Lo, I come, have all a family likeness. There are certain crystals which assume a regular shape, and if you break them, each fragment will show the same conformation; if you were to dash them to shivers, every particle of the crystal would be still of the same form. Now, the goings forth of Christ which were of old, and His craning at Calvary, and that great advent when He shall come a second time to judge the earth in righteousness, all these have a likeness the one to the other. But there is a coming of what I may call a lesser sort, when Jesus cries, Lo, I come to each individual sinner, and brings a revelation of pardon and salvation; and this has about it much which is similar to the great ones.
I. The Lord Christ has times of his first comings to men; Then said I, Lo, I come. What are these times? Mayhap some here have reached this season, and this very day is the time of blessing when the text shall be fulfilled: Then said I, Lo, I come. Go with me to the first record in the volume of the Book, when it was said that He should come. You will find it in the early chapter of Genesis.
1. Jesus said, Lo, I come, when mans probation was a failure. Adam being in honour continued not. At that point we read in the volume of the Book that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head. Then our Redeemer said, Lo, I come. Hearken to me; you also have had your probation, as you have thought it to be.
2. When mans clever dealings with the devil had turned out a great failure.
3. When mans covering was a failure.
4. When all mans pleas were failures.
5. When mans religion had proved a failure.
II. Christ comes to sinners in the glory of his person. Lo, I come. What does He mean?
1. He means the setting of all else on one side.
2. Before Him there is a setting of self aside. Lo, he comes to clothe you from head to foot with His own seamless robe of righteousness. He annihilates self that He may fill all things.
3. Here is a glorious setting of Himself at our side and in our place. Jesus is now the one pillar on which to lean, the one foundation on which to build, the one and only rest of our weary souls.
4. He sets Himself where we can see Him; for he cries, Lo, I come; that is to say, See Me come. He comes openly, that we may see Him clearly.
5. Our Lord sets Himself to be permanently our all in all. When He came on earth, He did not leave His work till He had finished it. Even when He rose to glory, He continued His service for His chosen, living to intercede for them. Jesus will be a Saviour until all the chosen race shall have been gathered home.
III. Christ, in his coming, is his own introduction.
1. Here our Lord is His own herald. Lo, I come. He bids you look on Him when you beseech Him to look on you.
2. He comes when quite unsought or sought for in a wrong way. Lo, I come, is the announcement of majestic grace which waiteth not for man, neither tarrieth for the sons of men.
3. Our Lord Jesus is the way to Himself.
4. He is the blessing which He brings.
5. He is His own spokesman.
IV. Christ, to cheer us reveals his reasons for coming.
1. It is His Fathers will.
2. His own heart is set on you.
3. You have need, and He has love, and so He comes.
V. Christs coming is the best plea for our receiving him, and receiving him now. Receive Him! If you are in yourself sadly unready, yet He Himself will make everything ready for Himself. Shut not out your own mercy. A pastor in Edinburgh, in going round his district, knocked at the door of a poor woman, for whom he had brought some needed help; but he received no answer. When next he met her, he said to her, I called on Tuesday at your house. She asked, At what time? . . . About eleven oclock; I knocked, and you did not answer. I was disappointed, for I called to give you help. Ah, sir! said she, I am very sorry. I thought it was the man coming for the rent, and I could not pay it, and therefore I did not dare to go to the door. Many a troubled soul thinks that Jesus is one who comes to ask of us what we cannot give; but indeed He comes to give us all things. His errand is not to condemn, but to forgive. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Delight to do the will of God
I. Some cases in which the christian delights to do the will of God.
1. In the acts and offices of religious worship.
2. In the faithful discharge of those duties which he owes to his fellow-creatures.
3. In the good government of himself, and the practice of temperance and self-denial.
II. Some of the chief fruits or effects of it.
1. Cheerfulness, an habitual vivacity and gladness of heart in the exercise of our moral and religious duties, both in the time of our wealth and in the time of suffering and tribulation.
2. A firm confidence in Gods protection and goodness, a cheerful apprehension of His perpetual presence and overruling providence, and a deep-rooted persuasion of His merciful disposition towards us, and of the truth and excellence of His promises.
3. A humble but stedfast hope of everlasting happiness, grounded on His promises in Christ, and brought home to the mind of the believer in the way of just inference and reasonable collection. (Bishop Bethell.)
Christs delight in the work of redemption
I. Why it ought to be a pleasant and grateful thing to Christ to take a body of flesh and lay it down by death again for the redemption of sinners.
1. It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and delight, that thereby He might give His death the nature and formality of a sacrifice.
2. It ought to be so in regard of the unity of Christs will with the Fathers. The work of our redemption is called the pleasure of the Lord (Isa 53:10), and what was the Fathers pleasure could not be displeasing to Him who is one with the Father.
3. This was necessary to magnify and commend the love of Jesus Christ to us, for whom He gave Himself. That He came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude, but that He came in love to our souls, and underwent all His sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension.
4. It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to God according to this pattern, that seeing and setting this great example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any duty or suffering that God should call us to.
II. Whence it came to re so pleasant and acceptable to Jesus Christ to come into the world and die for poor sinners.
1. That in His sufferings there would be made a glorious display and manifestation of the Divine attributes; yea, such a glorious display of them as was never made before to angels or to men, nor ever shall be any more in this world.
(1) For though the wisdom of God had made itself visible to men in the creation of the world, yet there it shone, but in a faint and languishing beam compared with this.
(2) The love of God had appeared before in our creation, protection and provision, yet nothing to what it doth in our redemption by the death of Christ.
(3) God had given several sad marks of His justice before, both upon the angels that fell, and in the overthrow of Sodom, etc.; yet never was the exactness and severity of justice so manifested before, nor ever shall be any more, as it was at the death of Christ.
2. Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of His sufferings was the recovery and salvation of all the elect by His death; and though His sufferings were exceeding bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceeding sweet; upon this account He assumed his name Jesus (Mat 1:21), yea, and His human nature also (Gal 4:4-5).
3. The glory which would redound to Him from His redeemed ones to all eternity; for it will be the everlasting pleasant employment of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise and honour to the Redeemer. (John Flavel.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering] The apostle, Heb 10:5, c., quoting this and the two following verses, says, When he (the Messiah) cometh into the world-was about to be incarnated, He saith-to God the Father, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not-it was never thy will and design that the sacrifices under thy own law should be considered as making atonement for sin they were only designed to point out my incarnation and consequent sacrificial death: and therefore a body hast thou prepared me, by a miraculous conception in the womb of a virgin; according to thy word, The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.
A body hast thou prepared me. – The quotation of this and the two following verses by the apostle, Heb 10:5, c., is taken from the Septuagint, with scarcely any variety of reading: but, although the general meaning is the same, they are widely different in verbal expression in the Hebrew. David’s words are oznayim caritha lli, which we translate, My ears hast thou opened but they might be more properly rendered, My ears hast thou bored; that is, Thou hast made me thy servant for ever, to dwell in thine own house: for the allusion is evidently to the custom mentioned Ex 21:2, c.: “If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free: but if the servant shall positively say, I love my master, c., I will not go out free then his master shall bring him to the doorpost, and shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.”
But how is it possible that the Septuagint and the apostle should take a meaning so totally different from the sense of the Hebrew? Dr. Kennicott has a very ingenious conjecture here: he supposes that the Septuagint and apostle express the meaning of the words as they stood in the copy from which the Greek translation was made and that the present Hebrew text is corrupted in the word oznayim, ears, which has been written through carelessness for az gevah, THEN, a BODY The first syllable, az, THEN, is the same in both; and the latter, , which, joined to makes oznayim, might have been easily mistaken for gevah, BODY; nun being very like gimel; yod like vau; and he like final mem; especially if the line on which the letters were written in the MS. happened to be blacker than ordinary, which has often been a cause of mistake, it might then have been easily taken for the under-stroke of the mem, and thus give rise to a corrupt reading; add to this, the root carah signifies as well to prepare, as to open, bore, c. On this supposition the ancient copy translated by the Septuagint, and followed by the apostle, must have read the text thus: az gevah charitha lli; Then a body thou hast prepared me: thus the Hebrew text, the version of the Septuagint, and the apostle, will agree in what is known to be an indisputable fact in Christianity; namely, that Christ was incarnated for the sin of the world.
The AEthiopic has nearly the same reading: the Arabic has both, “A body hast thou prepared me, and mine ears thou hast opened.” But the Syriac, the Chaldee, and the Vulgate, agree with the present Hebrew text; and none of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi have any various reading on the disputed words.
It is remarkable, that all the offerings and sacrifices which were considered to be of an atoning or cleansing nature, offered under the law, are here enumerated by the psalmist and the apostle, to show that none of them, nor all of them, could take away sin; and that the grand sacrifice of Christ was that alone which could do it.
Four kinds are here specified, both by the psalmist and the apostle: viz. SACRIFICE, zebach, ; OFFERING, minchah, ; BURNT-OFFERING, olah, ; SIN-OFFERING, chataah, . Of all these we may say, with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, c. should take away sin.
Thou hast had no pleasure. – Thou couldst never be pleased with the victims under the law thou couldst never consider them as atonements for sin, as they could never satisfy thy justice, nor make thy law honourable.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These words may in an improper sense belong to the person and time of David; when God might be said not to desire or require legal sacrifices comparatively, as negative expressions are frequently understood, as Mat 9:13; 1Co 1:17, and in this very case of sacrifices, as Psa 51:16; Jer 7:22,23; Ho 6:6. So the sense is, Thou didst desire obedience more or rather than sacrifices, as was said, 1Sa 15:22. But in a proper and literal and full sense they belong only to the person and times of the Messias, in whose name David uttereth these words. And so the sense of the place is, God did not desire or require them for the satisfaction of his own justice, and the expiation of mens sins, which could not possibly be done by the blood of bulls or goats, as is said, Heb 10:4-6; but only by the blood of Christ, which was typified by them, and which Christ came into the world to shed, in pursuance of his Fathers will, as it here follows, Psa 40:7,8. So here is a prediction concerning the cessation and abolition of the legal sacrifices, and the substitution of a better instead of them.
Mine ears hast thou opened, Heb. bored. The sense is either,
1. Whereas many men have no ears to hear, as is implied, Rev 2:7,11,17, or stop their ears, as Psa 58:4; Zec 7:11, thou hast given me open ears to hear and obey thy precepts, as this phrase is used, Isa 1:5, although indeed there is another verb in that text, which much alters the case. Or,
2. I have wholly devoted myself to thy perpetual service, and thou hast accepted of me as such, and signified so much by the boring of mine ears, according to the law and custom in that case, Exo 21:5,6; Deu 15:17. And whereas only one ear was then bored, and here it is ears, this may be either an ensilage of the plural number for the singular, whereof divers instances have been given; or else it may be so expressed emphatically, to intimate that Christ was more strictly obliged to a more universal obedience, not only active, to which the legal servants were bound, but passive also, to be obedient even unto the death, to which they were not obliged. The seventy Jewish interpreters, whom the apostle follows, Heb 10:5, translate these words, a body hast thou prepared me; wherein though the words differ, the sense is the same; for the ears suppose a body to whom they belong, and the preparing of a body implies the preparing Or disposing of the ears, and the obligation of the person for whom a body was prepared to serve him who prepared it; which the boring of the ear signifies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6-8. In Paul’s view this passagehas more meaning than the mere expression of grateful devotion toGod’s service. He represents Christ as declaring that the sacrifices,whether vegetable or animal, general or special expiatory offerings,would not avail to meet the demands of God’s law, and that He hadcome to render the required satisfaction, which he states waseffected by “the offering of the body of Christ” [Heb10:10], for that is the “will of God” which Christ cameto fulfil or do, in order to effect man’s redemption. We thus seethat the contrast to the unsatisfactory character assigned the OldTestament offerings in Ps 40:6is found in the compliance with God’s law (compare Psa 40:7;Psa 40:8). Of course, as Paul andother New Testament writers explain Christ’s work, it consisted inmore than being made under the law or obeying its precepts. Itrequired an “obedience unto death” [Php2:8], and that is the compliance here chiefly intended, and whichmakes the contrast with Ps 40:6clear.
mine ears hast thouopenedWhether allusion is made to the custom of boring aservant’s ear, in token of voluntary and perpetual enslavement (Ex21:6), or that the opening of the ear, as in Isa 48:8;Isa 50:5 (though by a differentword in Hebrew) denotes obedience by the common figure ofhearing for obeying, it is evident that the clause is designed toexpress a devotion to God’s will as avowed more fully in Ps40:8, and already explained. Paul, however, uses the words, “abody hast thou prepared me” [Heb10:5], which are found in the Septuagint in the place ofthe words, “mine ears hast thou opened.” He does notlay any stress on this clause, and his argument is complete withoutit. It is, perhaps, to be regarded rather as an interpretation orfree translation by the Septuagint, than either an addition orattempt at verbal translation. The Septuagint translators mayhave had reference to Christ’s vicarious sufferings as taught inother Scriptures, as in Isa53:4-11; at all events, the sense is substantially the same, as abody was essential to the required obedience (compare Rom 7:4;1Pe 2:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire,…. These were desired, willed, and appointed by God, and that very early, even from the times of our first parents; and, when performed aright, were acceptable to God, quite down to the times of the Messiah: indeed, when offered without faith in Christ, and with a wicked mind, to merit any thing at the hand of God, they were always abominable to him; and he likewise ever preferred love to himself, and of the neighbour, obedience to the commands of the moral law, and works of mercy to men, before all the sacrifices of the ceremonial law, 1Sa 15:22; nor were these ever in such esteem with him as the sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart, or of praise and thanksgiving, Ps 51:16; nor were they ever regarded by him but as they respected Christ; nor were they ever designed to cleanse from sin, and take it away, but to lead to the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ: but none of these senses have place here: the meaning of the words is, that it was not the will of God, at the time this passage refers to, that legal sacrifices should continue any longer; and that they should not be offered up, even by good men, in the best manner, and to the best ends and purposes; the time being come that a better sacrifice should be offered, which was the sum and substance of them, and was prefigured by them;
mine ears hast thou opened; or “dug”, or “bored” m; in allusion, as is thought by many, to Ex 21:6; though the phrase rather signifies the formation and excavation of the ear; or the preparing and fitting it for its use; that is, to hearken to the will of his heavenly Father, to become man, offer himself a sacrifice, and suffer and die in the room of his people; to which he became obedient, taking upon him the form of a servant, when found in fashion as a man; and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; see Isa 50:4; in Heb 10:5, the words are rendered as by the Septuagint, “but a body hast thou prepared me”; and with it the Arabic and Ethiopic versions agree; and so Apollinarius,
“flesh of mortal generation;”
a part of the body being put for the whole; and which, indeed, is supposed: for unless a body had been prepared for him, his ears could not have been opened; and it was in the body, in human nature, that he was the obedient servant; and this is to be understood, not only of a preparation of this body, in the purposes, counsel, and covenant of God; but chiefly of the formation of it in the womb of the virgin, where it was curiously wrought and prepared by the Holy, Ghost, that he might have something to offer, and in it become, as he did, an offering and a sacrifice to God, of a sweet smelling savour;
burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required; any longer; this body being prepared for the Messiah to be offered up in.
m “fodisti”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis; “perfodisti”, Tigurine version, Musculus, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “perforasti”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices; The Efficacy of Christ’s Sacrifice. | |
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. 10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
The psalmist, being struck with amazement at the wonderful works that God had done for his people, is strangely carried out here to foretel that work of wonder which excels all the rest and is the foundation and fountain of all, that of our redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s thoughts, which were to us-ward concerning that work, were the most curious, the most copious, the most gracious, and therefore to be most admired. This paragraph is quoted by the apostle (Heb. x. 5, c.) and applied to Christ and his undertaking for us. As in the institutions, so in the devotions, of the Old Testament saints were aware of and, when the apostle would show us the Redeemer’s voluntary undertaking of his work, he does not fetch his account out of the book of God’s secret counsels, which belong not to us, but from the things revealed. Observe,
I. The utter insufficiency of the legal sacrifices to atone for sin in order to our peace with God and our happiness in him: Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; thou wouldst not have the Redeemer to offer them. Something he must have to offer, but not these (Heb. viii. 3); therefore he must not be of the house of Aaron, Heb. vii. 14. Or, In the days of the Messiah burnt-offering and sin-offering will be no longer required, but all those ceremonial institutions will be abolished. But that is not all: even while the law concerning them was in full force it might be said, God did not desire them, nor accept them, for their own sake. They could not take away the guilt of sin by satisfying God’s justice. The life of a sheep, which is so much inferior in value to that of a man (Matt. xii. 12), could not pretend to be an equivalent, much less an expedient to preserve the honour of God’s government and laws and repair the injury done to that honour by the sin of man. They could not take away the terror of sin by pacifying the conscience, nor the power of sin by sanctifying the nature; it was impossible, Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1-4. What there was in them that was valuable resulted from their reference to Jesus Christ, of whom they were types–shadows indeed, but shadows of good things to come, and trials of the faith and obedience of God’s people, of their obedience of God’s people, of their obedience to the law and their faith in the gospel. But the substance must come, which is Christ, who must bring that glory to God and that grace to man which it was impossible those sacrifices should ever do.
II. The designation of our Lord Jesus to the work and office of Mediator: My ears hast thou opened. God the Father disposed him to the undertaking (Isa 50:5; Isa 50:6) and then obliged him to go through with it. My ear hast thou digged. It is supposed to allude to the law and custom of binding servants to serve for ever by boring their ear to the doorpost; see Exod. xxi. 6. Our Lord Jesus was so in love with his undertaking that he would not go out free from it, and therefore engaged to persevere for ever in it; and for this reason he is able to save us to the uttermost, because he has engaged to serve his Father to the uttermost, who upholds him in it, Isa. xlii. 1.
III. His own voluntary consent to this undertaking: “Then said I, Lo, I come; then, when sacrifice and offering would not do, rather than the work should be undone; I said, Lo, I come, to enter the lists with the powers of darkness, and to advance the interests of God’s glory and kingdom.” This intimates three things:– 1. That he freely offered himself to this service, to which he was under no obligation at all prior to his own voluntary engagement. It was no sooner proposed to him than, with the greatest cheerfulness, he consented to it, and was wonderfully well pleased with the undertaking. Had he not been perfectly voluntary in it, he could not have been a surety, he could not have been a sacrifice; for it is by this will (this animus offerentis–mind of the offerer) that we are sanctified, Heb. x. 10. 2. That he firmly obliged himself to it: “I come; I promise to come in the fulness of time.” And therefore the apostle says, “It was when he came into the world that he had an actual regard to this promise, by which he had engaged his heart to approach unto God.” He thus entered into bonds, not only to show the greatness of his love, but because he was to have the honour of his undertaking before he had fully performed it. Though the price was not paid, it was secured to be paid, so that he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 3. That he frankly owned himself engaged: He said, Lo, I come, said it all along to the Old Testament saints, who therefore knew him by the title of ho erchomenos—He that should come. This word was the foundation on which they built their faith and hope, and which they looked and longed for the accomplishment of.
IV. The reason why he came, in pursuance of his undertaking–because in the volume of the book it was written of him, 1. In the close rolls of the divine decree and counsel; there it was written that his ear was opened, and he said, Lo, I come; there the covenant of redemption was recorded, the counsel of redemption was recorded, the counsel of peace between the Father and the Son; and to that he had an eye in all he did, the commandment he received of his Father. 2. In the letters patent of the Old Testament. Moses and all the prophets testified of him; in all the volumes of that book something or other was written of him, which he had an eye to, that all might be accomplished, John xix. 28.
V. The pleasure he took in his undertaking. Having freely offered himself to it, he did not fail, nor was discouraged, but proceeded with all possible satisfaction to himself (Psa 40:8; Psa 40:9): I delight to do thy will, O my God! It was to Christ his me at and drink to go on with the work appointed to him (John iv. 34); and the reason here given is, Thy law is within my heart; it is written there, it rules there. It is meant of the law concerning the work and office of the Mediator, what he was to do and suffer; this law was dear to him and had an influence upon him in his whole undertaking. Note, When the law of God is written in our hearts our duty will be our delight.
VI. The publication of the gospel to the children of men, even in the great congregation,Psa 40:9; Psa 40:10. The same that as a priest wrought out redemption for us, as a prophet, by his own preaching first, then by his apostles, and still by his word and Spirit, makes it know to us. The great salvation began to be spoken by the Lord, Heb. ii. 3. It is the gospel of Christ that is preached to all nations. Observe, 1. What it is that is preached: It is righteousness (v. 9), God’s righteousness (v. 10), the everlasting righteousness which Christ has brought in (Dan. ix. 24); compare Rom 1:16; Rom 1:17. It is God’s faithfulness to his promise, and the salvation which had long been looked for. It is God’s lovingkindness and his truth, his mercy according to his word. Note, In the work of our redemption we ought to take notice how brightly all the divine attributions shine, and give to God the praise of each of them. 2. To whom it is preached–to the great congregation, v. 9 and again v. 10. When Christ was here on earth he preached to multitudes, thousands at a time. The gospel was preached both to Jews and Gentiles, to great congregations of both. Solemn religious assemblies are a divine institution, and in them the glory of God, in the face of Christ, ought to be both praised to the glory of God and preached for the edification of men. 3. How it is preached–freely and openly: I have not refrained my lips; I have not hid it; I have not concealed it. This intimates that whoever undertook to preach the gospel of Christ would be in great temptation to hide it and conceal it, because it must be preached with great contention and in the face of great opposition; but Christ himself, and those whom he called to that work, set their faces as a flint (Isa. l. 7) and were wonderfully carried on in it. It is well for us that they were so, for by this means our eyes come to see this joyful light and our ears to hear this joyful sound, which otherwise we might for ever have perished in ignorance of.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6 In sacrifice and oblation thou hast not taken pleasure. Here David offers not only the sacrifice of praise, or, as the prophet Hosea calls it, (Hos 14:2,) “the calves of the lips,” but, in token of his gratitude, offers and consecrates himself entirely to God; as if he had said, I am now wholly devoted to God, because, having been delivered by his wonderful power, I am doubly indebted to him for my life. At the same time, treating of the true worship of God, he shows that it consists not in outward ceremonies, but rather that it is spiritual. Accordingly, the meaning is, that he came into the presence of God not only in the outward pomp or ceremony and figures of the law, but that he brought with him the true devotion of the heart. We know, indeed, that all men have some sense of religion impressed upon their hearts, so that no one dares to withdraw openly and wholly from his service, and yet the greater part of men turn aside into winding and crooked paths; and hence it happens, that in serving God in a perfunctory manner, their worship is scarcely anything else than a mockery of him. We see then the reason why David, on the present occasion, shows in what the true worship of God consists; it is, that he may distinguish between himself and hypocrites, who draw near to God with their lips only, or at least seek to pacify him with cold and unmeaning ceremonies.
We now come to the exposition of the words. I have no doubt that David, under the four different kinds of sacrifices which he here enumerates, comprehends all the sacrifices of the law. His meaning, to express it in a few words, is, that God requires not mere ceremonies of those who serve him, but that he is satisfied only with sincerity of heart, with faith and holiness of life: and that he takes no pleasure merely in the visible sanctuary, the altar, the burning of incense, the killing of beasts, the lights, the costly apparel, and outward washings. From this he concludes, that he ought to be guided by another principle, and to observe another rule in the service of God, than a mere attention to these — that he should yield himself wholly to God.
Thou hast bored my ears. Some think that in using this form of expression, David has a reference to the ordinance under the Law of which we read in Exo 21:6. If any bond-servant, when the time of his being discharged from servitude had arrived, made no account of his freedom, he was brought to the public place of judgment, and having there declared that he wished to continue in servitude, his master pierced his ear with an awl, as a mark of perpetual bondage. But this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and refined. (88) Others more simply consider that it is of the same meaning as to render fit, or qualify for service, for David mentions not one ear only, but both. Men, we know, are naturally deaf, because they are so dull, that their ears are stopped until God pierce them. By this expression, therefore, is denoted the docility to which we are brought and moulded by the grace of the Holy Spirit. I, however, apply this manner of expression more closely to the scope of the passage before us, and explain it in this sense, That David was not slow and dull of hearing, as men usually are, so that he could discern nothing but what was earthly in the sacrifices, but that his ears had been cleansed, so that he was a better interpreter of the Law, and able to refer all the outward ceremonies to the spiritual service of God. He encloses the sentence, Thou hast bored my ears, as it were, in parenthesis, whilst he is treating professedly of sacrifices, so that the sentence might be explained in this way: Lord, thou hast opened my ears, that I may distinctly understand whatever thou hast commanded concerning the sacrifices, namely, that of themselves they afford thee no pleasure: for thou, who art a Spirit, takest no delight in these earthly elements, and hast no need of flesh or blood; and, therefore, thou requirest something of a higher and more excellent nature. If, however, it is objected that sacrifices were offered by the express commandment of God, I have just said that David here distinguishes between the spiritual service of God, and that which consisted in outward types and shadows. And in making this comparison, it is no great wonder to find him saying that the sacrifices are of no value, since they were only helps designed to lead men to true piety, and tended to a far higher end than that which was at first apparent. Seeing, then, God made use of these elements, only to lead his people to the exercises of faith and repentance, we conclude that he had no delight in being worshipped by sacrifices. We must always bear in mind, that whatever is not pleasing to God for its own sake, but only in so far as it leads to some other end, if it be put in the place of his true worship and service is rejected and cast away by him.
(88) The objections to this interpretation are,
1. That the verb כרה carah, here used, does not mean to bore, but that the radical idea of the word is, to dig, to hollow out; as to dig a well, Gen 26:25; a pit, Psa 7:15; to carve or cut out a sepulcher from a rock, 2Ch 16:14; and hence we find it transferred from the grottoes of the sepulcher to the quarry of human nature, Isa 51:1. Williams, viewing the verb as properly signifying digged, carved, or cut out, in the sense of forming, explains the words as if the Psalmist had said, “Mine ears hast thou made, or prepared, for the most exact and complete obedience.” Stuart, (Commentary on Heb 10:5,) and Davidson, (Sacred Hermeneutics, p. 461,) viewing the word as meaning digged, hollowed out, simply in the sense of opening, read, “Mine ears hast thou opened;” which they explain as meaning, Thou hast made me obedient, or, I am entirely devoted to thy service; observing, that to open or uncover the ear was a customary expression among the Hebrews, to signify a revealing something to any one, including the idea of listening to the communication, followed by prompt obedience, Isa 50:5; 1Sa 20:2. There is another verb of the same radical letters, which means to purchase or provide; and this is the sense in which the LXX. understood כרה, carah, as is evident from their rendering it by κατηρτίσω
2. That the verb used in Exodus is not כרה, as here, but רצע, ratsang
3. That only one ear was pierced, as appears from the passages in the Pentateuch in which the rite is described. But here the plural number is used, denoting both ears. From these considerations, it is concluded that there is here no allusion to the custom of boring the ear of a servant under the Law.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Mine ears hast thou opened.Literally, Ears hast thou dug for me, which can hardly mean anything but Thou hast given me the sense of hearing. The words are an echo of 1Sa. 15:22. The attentive ear and obedient heart, not formal rites, constitute true worship. Comp. the words so frequent on the lips of Christ, He that hath ears to hear let him hear. The fact that the plural ears is used instead of the singular, sets aside the idea of a revelation, which is expressed in Isa. 48:8 by open the ear and 1Sa. 9:15 uncover the ear. Not that the idea is altogether excluded, since the outward ears maybe typical of the inward. The same fact excludes allusion to the symbolic act by which a slave was devoted to perpetual servitude (Exo. 21:6), because then also only one ear was bored. For the well-known variation in the LXX. see New Testament Commentary, Heb. 10:5. The latest commentator, Grtz, is of opinion that the text is corrupt, and emends (comp. Psa. 51:16) to, Shouldest thou desire sacrifice and offering I would select the fattest, a most desirable result if his arguments, which are too minute for insertion, were accepted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. According to Heb 10:5, Psa 40:6-10 are the words of Christ, or of David speaking in the person of Christ.
Sacrifice offering burnt offering sin offering The enumeration covers all the offerings necessary to entering into and continuing in covenant with God. The first two are generic terms for bloody and unbloody offerings, the last two specific of bloody sacrifices; the “burnt offering,” , ( ‘olah,) a self-dedicatory sacrifice, the “sin offering,” , ( hhattaah,) an expiation.
Mine ears hast thou opened Literally, ears hast thou digged for me. More naturally the mind turns to boring through the ear of the servant, Exo 21:6, as the basis of this metaphor. But a different word occurs there, and the noun ( ear) is in the singular, while this is plural. Besides, the import of the passages is not identical. The verb , ( karah,) in the text, has the general sense of to dig, as a pit, a wall, a grave, but allows the sense of to uncover, to open, as in the English text. To open the ears is a figurative expression for to awaken attention, as the inlet to the understanding, (Isa 50:4,) the indispensable preparation of a servant in order to perfect obedience. It signifies, also, to reveal, or communicate, as 1Sa 20:3; where “show it me,” is literally, uncover mine ear. See also chapter Psa 22:17; Job 36:10; Job 36:15. The emblematic idea, then, of “mine ears hast thou opened,” is, thou hast revealed to me, caused me to understand, thy most secret will, or mind. The ideas of attentive listening and an inward, hearty obedience, are implied. David’s interior ear had now been opened to receive the will of God in its spiritual sense, and to perceive that animal sacrifice, in itself, was not the ultimate requirement, but the obedience of the heart, of which the ritual form was but the expression. Compare 1Sa 15:22; Psa 51:16-17. The application of all this to Messiah, to whom it primarily refers, (and to David only secondarily,) is made in Heb 10:5-9, where it is quoted in proof of the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, namely, that pardon is obtained only by the death of Christ as a sin offering.
Instead of “mine ears hast thou opened,” the Septuagint gives , Thou hast prepared me a body. This, not the Hebrew form, the apostle quotes Heb 10:5, for the reason, says Hammond, “that the apostle attended more to the sense than to the words, and changed it into those words which more fully and perspicuously expressed the mystery of Christ’s incarnation.” G.C. Storr admits that a body hast thou prepared me, may be brought within the general limits of an ad sensum quotation. To this Professor Stuart also agrees. This would be sustained also by the analogy of New Testament quotations from the Old. Bengel thinks the version of the Seventy is an interpretation rather than a translation of the Hebrew text, the “ears,” as a part, being put for the “body.” Moll, also, thinks the Septuagint is an “enlarged and explanatory translation” of the Hebrew. Olshausen calls it a “free translation,” and thinks that the Septuagint might have considered “ears” to be unintelligible, and substituted the more general idea, “Thou hast prepared for me a body.” This view simply takes , ( karah,) opened, in the sense of prepared, which is admissible, and by synecdoche the “ears” for the whole body. It is in harmony, also, with the scope both of the psalm and the quotation, for the inadequacy of animal sacrifice with the doctrine of atonement unchanged, naturally suggests a higher expiation which Messiah, in his greater fulfilment of the will of God, relating to pardon by atonement, could accomplish only by taking upon himself a human body. On this plan, therefore, “the incarnation of the Son was a prerequisite to obedience, ” ( Alexander,) and hence in itself an act of obedience to the will of God touching the redemptive plan. “It was the first and most direct step to his being made a servant.” Bonar. See note on Heb 10:5
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
He Recognises That In Order For A Man To Express His Gratitude to God Religious Observances Are Not Enough, And That What God Requires Of Him Is Total Obedience to His Will, Something To Which He Gladly Accedes ( Psa 40:6-8 ).
Psa 40:6-8
‘Sacrifice and offering you have no delight in,
My ears have you provided (literally ‘dug for me’),
Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required.
Then said I, Lo, I am come, in the roll of the book it is written of me,
I delight to do your will, O my God,
Yes, your law is within my heart.’
He affirms that he has used his God-provided ears (the ears that God has dug for him) in order to listen to what God has to say, and has recognised that God requires not simply religious observance, but an obedient heart. He had no doubt heard of the words of Samuel to Saul, which would have echoed throughout the land. ‘Has YHWH as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of YHWH. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams’ (1Sa 15:22). And he wants YHWH to know that he will use the ears that He has given him in order to listen.
The whole range of offerings and sacrifices are in mind. Both the blood sacrifices and the meal offerings, and including those most important of offerings, the wholly offered burnt offerings and the sin offerings. All are required by YHWH for the purposes of atonement, but they are not sufficient in themselves. What is more important than all is an obedient heart (compare Isa 1:11-18).
And he wants YHWH to know that his obedience is such that the guarantee of it is in writing, for it is written in a book, ‘Lo I am come, I delight to do your will O my God, yes, your Instruction is in my heart’.
The reference may be to his own private record of his own dedication of himself, including some of his psalms, or to the Book of Deuteronomy, or indeed to the whole of the Instruction of Moses (the Pentateuch). But the fact that it is recorded in writing is seen as giving it more force. (For ‘roll of a book’ compare Jer 36:2; Jer 36:4; Eze 2:9. In both cases what was written was of immense import).
What is written, however is more important than where it is written. And what is written is that he will come to God, and will with great delight obey Him fully from the heart. This is what is required of all men, to do the will of God (compare Psa 19:7-14), and have His Instruction written in their heart (compare Jer 31:33). And when the words are applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, great David’s greater son, the book is the Scriptures, and the obedience is according to the eternal will of God, but carried out through suffering by our Lord Himself in order that He might be a perfect and complete sacrifice (Heb 10:5-14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 40:6-8. Sacrifice and offering, &c. These three verses, as they may possibly relate to David, who was a a type of Christ, may be thus considered.Sacrifice, &c. The Psalmist here enumerates the principal sorts of sacrifices which were offered under the law. See on Psa 51:19.Thou didst not desire; i.e. “in comparison with obedience.” Compare 1Sa 15:22.But mine ears hast thou opened, or bored; which was a ceremony used to a slave, who would not have his liberty, but loved his master, and would not go out free: Exo 21:5-6. Deu 15:7 and the ceremony was very significant; for boring the ear, signified opening it; and the opening of the ear, is a sign of hearkening, which in Scripture is frequently used for obeying. In allusion to this ceremony, God may here be said to have opened the ears of David, i.e. engaged him to obedience.Then said I, Lo, &c. that is, “as if I had heard thee calling upon me, to do thee some exemplary service, I immediately said, Lo, I come, to make an offering of myself unto thee, and to pay thee a cheerful obedience.” In the volume of thy book, means in thy law; which is here called a volume, because it was the manner of the Jews to roll up the books of the law. It is written of me; that is, so thy law particularly requires me as a king to do. Deu 17:18-19.Is within my heart, means, “not only included in a book; but so treasured up in my mind, that I am perfectly in the knowledge, and continually exercised in the practice of it.” Thus the passage may be explained in reference to David. But it relates in a higher and more proper sense to Christ; whom the Psalmist, while he is commemorating God’s particular mercies to himself and his people, prophetically introduces as thus speaking with respect to the redemption of mankind. Sacrifice, &c. that is, “The sacrifices of the law are only typical and prefigurative: They make not a full satisfaction to thy infinite justice; and therefore thou dost not perfectly acquiesce in them.”Mine ears, &c. By this is intimated, in allusion to the exposition above given, Christ’s taking upon him the form of the servant, and becoming obedient, even unto death. See Php 2:7. Then, that is, when he cometh into the world, &c. as the apostle explains it. Heb 10:5. In the volume, &c. This may allude to instruments drawn up between masters and servants, and accordingly signify, the roll or contract betwixt God the Father, and God the Son; wherein is supposed to be written the agreement preparatory to that great work of Christ’s incarnation, in which he, undertaking perfectly to fulfil the will of God and to perform all obedience to him, had the promise from him that he should become the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. See Fenton; and more on this subject when we come to Hebrews 10. For my own part, I cannot help thinking, that the passage immediately and primarily refers to Christ; and indeed the whole psalm appears to have greater propriety, when understood as delivered in his person, than in that of another. See Pearse on the Hebrews, and Saurin’s Sermon’s, vol. 11: The whole passage may be rendered thus: Psa 40:6. Sacrifice and offering didst thou not delight in, &c. Psa 40:7. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the folded roll, or roll of writing, it is written of me, Psa 40:8. That I should do thy will: O my God, I have delighted therein; yea, thy law, &c. Mr. Green, upon the passage Thou hast opened my ears, observes, If it be said, that the apostle to the Hebrews reads this differently; I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true, he found a different, but corrupted translation (, ears, as the learned have observed, having been changed into , body) in the LXX which was the version then in use; and he was obliged to quote it as he found it, under the penalty, if he altered it, of being deemed a false quoter. He therefore took the translation as he found it, especially as it served to illustrate his argument equally well. Upon this quotation from the LXX the apostle argues, Psa 40:9. He [Christ] taketh away the first, (namely, legal sacrifices) that he may establish the second, (namely, obedience to God’s will,) in offering himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankind: And thus he must have argued upon a quotation from the Hebrew text as it stands at present.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The Holy Ghost would not suffer the church to make her own comment upon this most momentous passage; but by his servant the apostle Paul (Heb 10:5-14 .) hath very fully done it himself; and plainly and decidedly declared that it wholly refers to Christ. Nay, that it is Christ himself speaking these words in his own person. It would form the subject of a volume, rather than the limits of a work like this, to enter at large upon the many blessed and interesting things here spoken of Christ. I must observe shortness. But I pray the Reader to notice how Christ speaks of the inefficacy of all sacrifices but that one which is himself. It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sin; and yet without shedding of blood there is no remission. Somewhat Christ must have therefore to offer, since He is to be the one all-sufficient sacrifice, by which he will forever perfect them that are sanctified. This then being the case, that sacrifice Jehovah did not desire, and yet that this great High Priest must have somewhat to offer, mine ears (saith Christ) hast thou opened, or as the Holy Ghost in the parallel passage expresses it, a body hast thou prepared me. The terms are the same. In the former text the appointment of Christ as Mediator, as servant to Jehovah, in the great work of redemption, is declared by an allusion to a custom in the Jewish church, that when a servant was so attached to his master, and wife, and family, as to determine to remain in his service forever, his ear was to be bored at the door post. See Exo 21:6 . Hence the prophet Isaiah, Isa 50:5 . And in the latter passage by a body being prepared for Christ, is intimated that the hand of God our Father was in all the transaction. It was God who set him forth as a propitiation, through faith in his blood. Rom 3:25 .
Was there ever a scripture more plain and express to testify the appointment of God the Father, and the free consent of the Lord Jesus, in thus giving himself an offering for sin? Yes, blessed Jesus! it might be truly said by thee, as Mediator of thy church, and the husband of it, I love my master, my wife, my children, I will not go out free. And as in this place, when neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice could go a step towards the expiation of sin; then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Yes! indeed it was written no doubt in the secrets of that book which none was found worthy to open but thyself. It was none but thou, blessed Jesus, that couldest open the book, or proclaim the contents of it; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Rev 5:2-9 . I detain the Reader just to remark that the expression, thy law is within my heart, might be rendered thy law is in the midst of my bowels. And indeed so it is rendered in the margin of our old Bibles. By which may be understood that so holy and sanctified was, and is, the whole nature of Christ, that the holy law of God, and the holy nature of Christ, were one and the same. Precious thought to the believer! Reader! do not forget it, Thy Redeemer’s nature was altogether pure. And such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Heb 7:26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Ver. 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ] Comparatively to the obedience of faith, 1Sa 15:22 , without which, when hypocrites thought to bribe God by cold ceremonies, they were rejected. Christ is the end of the law to all that believe; that Lamb of God, slain from the beginning of the world, is the only expiatory sacrifice, and the foundation of that fore-mentioned blessedness, Psa 40:4 . Now, since Christ suffered, the Levitical sacrifices being abolished, we have none to offer but such as are gratulatory, to show our thankfulness for such a Redeemer, whose perfect obedience, with the fruit of it, is here and in the following verses both described, and set forth for an absolute pattern to us of performing our duty toward God, for this inexplicable mercy. Confer Heb 10:5-6 , &c. Here we have in Christ for our instruction, and in David also (his type) for our example, 1. A firm purpose of obedience, in a bored ear add a yielding heart. 2. A ready performance thereof, “Lo, I come.” 3. A carefull observance of the word written, “In the volume of thy book it is written of me,” Psa 40:7 Psa 40:4 . A hearty delight in that observance, Psa 40:8 Psa 40:5 . A public profession and communication of God’s goodness to others, Psa 40:9-10 (D. Ames). Now, we should labour to express Christ to the world, to walk as he walked, 1Jn 2:6 ; our lives should be in some sense parallel with his life, as the transcript with the original. He left us a copy to write by, saith St Peter, 1Pe 2:21
Mine ears hast thou opened
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 40:6-8
6Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7Then I said, Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.
Psa 40:6-8 This strophe uses the Mosaic Law as a literary foil to the psalmist’s new personal relationship based on the concept similar to the new covenant of Jer 31:31-34 (i.e., the Law is within my heart, cf. Isa 51:7). The motivation for worship, obedience, service, and perseverance is internal (cf. Deu 6:6).
The sacrificial system was YHWH’s method of dealing with human sin among His covenant community. Innocent animals died in the place of sinful humans (cf. Eze 18:4; Eze 18:20; Rom 6:23). It was a typological model of the coming Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (cf. Joh 1:29; Mar 10:45; 2Co 5:21; Heb 10:1-18).
The problem with the Mosaic covenant is that for many Jews it became an external moral code instead of a means to intimate personal faith (cf. Deu 10:16; Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4; Jer 9:25; Rom 2:28-29).
The NT sees this strophe (Psa 40:6-8) as ultimately fulfilled by Jesus’ life and death (cf. Heb 10:5-7 from the LXX). He is the perfect fulfillment of these texts. He is the ideal Israelite, dying on behalf of all (cf. Isaiah 53).
Psa 40:6 There are four different words used to describe the different sacrifices of Israel (cf. Leviticus 1-7).
1. sacrifices BDB 257, general term for sacrifices where part of the animal was eaten in a fellowship with their Deity
2. meal offerings BDB 585, originally referred to both animal and grain offerings but came to be used of grain only
3. burnt offerings BDB 750 II, referred to an offering that was consumed completely on the altar
4. sin offerings BDB 308, one of two feminine nouns; this is the rarer one; it is translated great sin in Gen 20:9; Exo 32:21; Exo 32:30-31; 2Ki 17:21; and sin in Psa 32:1; Psa 109:7. Here it seems to refer to a sin offering because of the parallelism but the usage is unique.
This verse is not a rejection of the sacrificial system but its abuse (cf. 1Sa 15:22; Psa 50:8-14; Psa 51:16-17; Psa 69:30-31; Isa 1:11-15; Jer 7:22-23; Hos 6:6; Amo 5:21-22).
NASB, NKJVopened
NASB margindug or pierced
NRSV margindug
LXXa body you have prepared for me
This verb (BDB 500, KB 496, Qal perfect) has this meaning only here. It is used of digging
1. a well Gen 26:25; Num 21:18
2. a grave Gen 50:5
3. a pit Exo 21:33
4. figuratively a plot Psa 7:14-16; Psa 57:6; Psa 119:85; Pro 16:27; Pro 26:27; Jer 18:20 (i.e., compare Jer 6:10)
The NASB marginal suggestion, pierced, possibly comes from Exo 21:5-6 or Deu 15:12-18, where a slave is made a permanent member of the household (cf. Deu 15:17, different verb and ear is singular).
The LXX translation must be based on a different Hebrew manuscript or it paraphrased the thought sensing that ears stood for the whole body. The LXX was what the early church used and it is quoted in Heb 10:5 (cf. Heb 10:1-18).
In context the verb refers to the new relationship of faith and trust established by the new covenant model (i.e., Your Law is within my heart, cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:26-27), which allows sinful humans to clearly know and do YHWH’s will (i.e., Psa 40:8).
Psa 40:7
NASB, NKJVBehold, I come
NRSV, TEV,
NRSV, REBHere I am
NJBHere I am, I am coming
LXXLook, I have come
NETLook, I come
The translation, Here I am, comes from the use of the same interjection (BDB 243) used by Isaiah in Isa 6:8, combined with the verb (BDB 97, KB 112, Qal perfect), I come (different verb from Isa 6:8).
It is an idiom of availability and surrender to YHWH’s will and plan for one’s life (cf. Psa 40:7-8). In this context (i.e., sacrifice) it may refer to the fact that in the OT there was no sacrifice for known, intentional sin (cf. Lev 4:2; Lev 4:22; Lev 4:27; Lev 5:15-18; Lev 22:14; Psa 51:16-17). Only the sins of passion or ignorance were covered (i.e., unintentional). The psalmist sees that the only appropriate sacrifice was himself (cf. Rom 12:1). This is surely a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God (cf. Joh 1:29) who came to give Himself (cf. Mar 10:45; Isaiah 53).
In the scroll of the book Some scholars see this as referring to YHWH’s revelation to Moses. The king was given a copy (cf. Deu 17:18-20; 1Ki 2:3; 2Ki 11:12). The Bible uses book(s) to denote YHWH’s plans for each person (cf. Psa 139:1-6; Psa 139:16) or memory of the lives of all humans who will one day stand before Him as judge. This imagery is expressed in two books, the book of life and the book of deeds. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TWO BOOKS OF GOD .
Psa 40:8 I delight to do Your will What a radical change from Genesis 3. The damaged image of God has been restored! Fellowship at the deepest level is possible again. The independent spirit of the Fall is replaced by a dependent spirit.
Jesus modeled this servant attitude for us to see (cf. Mat 26:39; Joh 4:34; Joh 5:30; Joh 6:38).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Sacrifice. Hebrew. zabach. App-43. Quoted in Heb 10:5-9.
offering. Hebrew. minchah. App-43. Compare Heb 10:5-7. Note the four great offerings here, and separately: Psa 40:6= any sacrifice; -6-, the meal offering; -6-, burnt offering; -6, sin offering (compare Psalm 22); and inPs. 69 =the trespass offering.
opened = digged. Kal Pret. of karah, = opening by digging, or boring. Note the occurrences: Gen 50:5. Num 24:18. 2Ch 16:14 (margin) Psa 7:15 (margin); Psa 40:6; Psa 57:6; Psa 119:85. Jer 18:22, Jer 18:22, referring to the opening of the ear to hear; for which, in Isa 50:5 (compare Isa 48:8), another word (pathah) is used with the meaning of opening (as of a door). Note the obedience, which is the point emphasized by the alternation in Psa 40:6. | Sacrifice and offering. Not desired. | Mine ears hast Thou digged. (Pos.) | Burnt-offering and sin-offering. Not required. | Lo, I come to do. (Pos.) Obedience is the great truth here conveyed; and, on the same grounds as in 1Sa 15:22. Jer 7:22, Jer 7:23. Heb 10:5, is not a quotation of this verse: it is what Messiah “said” when He came into the world to perform what Psa 40:6 prophesied, when He had become Incarnate, and could say “I am come”. He must change the word “ears” for the “body”, in which that obedience was to be accomplished, and He had a right to change the words, and thus adapt them. It is not a question of quotation, or of the Septuagint versus the Hebrew text. Note the heaping up of these expressions to emphasize the obedience, and observe the alternation of positive and negative in verses: Psa 40:9, Psa 40:10.
hast = didst.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 40:6-8
Psa 40:6-8
THE GREAT PROPHECY OF MESSIAH
“Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in;
Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.
Then said I, Lo, I am come;
In the roll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do thy will, O my God;
Yea, thy law is within my heart.”
“Sacrifice … offering … burnt-offering … sin-offering” (Psa 40:6). As Yates noted, “These are the four basic sacrifices of the Law of Moses. Their giving God `no delight’ (Psa 40:6), and being `not required’ (Psa 40:6) make it absolutely certain that we have here a reference to the New Covenant; because under the Old Covenant, the sacrifices mentioned here were absolutely required.
Many of the commentators have softened what is said here by saying that, “Even in the Old Testament more was required than all forms of worship”; “This means that, apart from a spirit of obedience,” such sacrifices are not required. No! This is not what our text says, nor is such a thing what is meant. What is said here is that no kind of animal sacrifices whatever will characterize the worship of Messiah.
“Mine ears hast thou opened” (Psa 40:6). In the New Testament, this clause is rendered, “But a body didst thou prepare for me.” Of course this is the well known problem posed by the difference in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the LXX, the latter being evidently followed in the New Testament quotation. As Jamieson pointed out, “Paul laid no stress on that clause, and his argument is complete without it. Griffith, however, stated quite firmly that, “On the principle that the Greek reading is the harder, it may be regarded as the original.
Leupold thought that, “The author of Hebrews apparently felt that the basic import of the passage had not been changed (the whole body for a part); and he was thus content to quote the passage as he found it.
The whole point in the Hebrews quotation of this passage was stated thus by Ash: “Christ has abolished the offerings of the Old Law, to establish the offering of the body of Christ, as a completely adequate atonement for the sins of the whole world.
“Then said I, Lo, I am come …” (Psa 40:7). Lenski commented on this as follows:
“These lines are a part of all that David the type says of the antitype, the Messiah. These lines are the voice of Messiah himself speaking to God … before the First Advent.
The fact of these words being introduced in Hebrews with the qualifying clause, “When he cometh into the world,” ties them closely to Christ. David did not say anything `before’ he came into the world. It is also important to note, as Westcott said, that, “These words assume the pre-existence of Christ.
“In the roll of the book it is written of me” (Psa 40:7). Without any doubt whatever, “We obviously here have a reference to the Law of Moses (The Pentateuch), which was in existence at that time, as numerous passages indicate. It is also significant that the Pentateuch has not a single word in it about David, but it contains many magnificent prophecies of Jesus Christ, such as Gen 3:15; Gen 49:10 and Deu 18:15-19, etc. The fact that certain qualities of kingship are mentioned in the Pentateuch cannot be construed as having been “written about David.” This verse limits the application to Christ alone.
“Lo, I come to do thy will” (Psa 40:7). As the writer of Hebrews pointed out, the inferences here are tremendous.
(1) This means that God’s will had not been done previously.
(2) It means that the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant were not effective in removing sin.
(3) It means that God would take away the old Law, or the Old Covenant, and
(4) that God would establish a New Covenant (Heb 10:9).
“Thy law is in my heart” (Psa 40:8). This is a unique quality, or ear mark, of the New Covenant (Jer 31:33), and the wildest imagination cannot suppose that David manifested such a quality centuries before Christ came. This again binds the passage securely to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before leaving this passage, we should observe the importance of references here to the Torah, or Pentateuch. F. Delitzsch wrote, “All of the Psalms of the times of Saul abound in retrospective references to the Torah. Of course, this is the unanswerable refutation of the critical claim of a late date for the Pentateuch.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 40:6-8. This paragraph is a prophecy of Christ and is quoted in Heb 10:5-7. David was writing by inspiration and with his prophetic eye he could see Christ as he came into the world to become the supreme sacrifice for sin. An extended explanation of this prophecy will be found in its proper place in the New Testament.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Sacrifice: Psa 50:8, Psa 51:16, 1Sa 15:22, Isa 1:11, Isa 66:3, Jer 7:21-23, Hos 6:6, Mat 9:13, Mat 12:7, Heb 10:5-12
mine ears: Exo 21:6, Job 33:16, Isa 50:4, Isa 50:5
opened: Heb. digged
Reciprocal: Gen 22:13 – behind Lev 4:31 – a sweet Lev 14:25 – General Num 28:11 – in the beginnings Num 29:17 – General Deu 15:16 – General 1Sa 20:2 – show it me 2Sa 7:27 – revealed Job 36:10 – openeth Pro 8:31 – and my Isa 1:12 – required Isa 30:33 – the breath Isa 40:16 – nor Isa 48:8 – thine ear Jer 6:20 – To what Jer 7:22 – nor Mat 5:17 – but Luk 19:28 – he went Luk 24:44 – in the psalms Joh 10:18 – This Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 15:3 – Christ Phi 2:8 – and became Heb 9:9 – that could
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 40:6. Sacrifice, &c. These and the four following verses may, in an improper sense, belong to the person and time of David; when God might be said, not to desire, or require, legal sacrifices, comparatively. So the sense is, Thou didst desire obedience more, or rather, than sacrifices, as was said 1Sa 15:22. But in a proper and full sense, they belong only to the person and time of the Messiah, in whose name David utters these words. And so the sense is, God did not desire or require them for the satisfaction of his own justice and the expiation of mens sins, which could not possibly be done by the blood of bulls or goats, as is said Heb 10:4-6; but only by the blood of Christ, which was typified by them, and which Christ came into the world to shed, in pursuance of his Fathers will, as it here follows, Psa 40:7-8. So here is a prediction concerning the cessation of the legal sacrifices, and the substitution of a better instead of them. Mine ears hast thou opened Hebrew, bored. I have devoted myself to thy perpetual service, and thou hast accepted of me as thy servant, and signified so much by the boring of mine ears, according to the law and custom in that case, Exo 21:5-6. The seventy Jewish interpreters, whom the apostle follows, Heb 10:5, translate these words, a body hast thou prepared me. In which translation, though the words differ, the sense is the same; for the ears suppose a body to which they belong, and the preparing of a body implies the preparing of the ears, and the obligation of the person for whom a body was prepared, to serve him who prepared it; which the boring of the ear signified.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; {f} mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
(f) You have opened my ears to understand the spiritual meaning of the sacrifices: and here David esteems the ceremonies of the law as nothing in respect to the spiritual service.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Animal and meal offerings were not of primary importance to God under the Mosaic Law. More important than sacrifices for either worship or expiation was the believer’s true commitment of himself or herself to the Lord (cf. 1Sa 15:22-23).
The phrase, "my ears Thou hast opened (or pierced)," may mean David viewed God as having made him His willing slave by being so gracious to him (cf. Exo 21:6). However, it seems more probable that David meant God had given him the ability to comprehend and obey His Word (cf. Psa 40:8).