“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalm 40:6-8, ESV)
This portion of the Psalm is wrought with Messianic connections and yet speaks so closely to our hearts as we dive into the text.
Immediately upon reading this passage, I’m reminded of passages like Hos. 6:6,Micah 6:6-8, Isa 1:11 and especially Amos 5:21-24. (BTW, if you’re on the blog, if you hover your mouse over the reference, the verse should pop up!) As a worship leader, verses like this hit me pretty hard. If you spend any amount of time reading worship blogs or books, you begin to realize that there are a whole lot of folks out there that spend a whole lot of time trying to figure out what the right way to worship is. What songs do we use? How often do we serve communion? Should the lights be dimmed or full? The questions and “biblical” answers go on and on! How we “do worship” has spawned whole volumes of material.
The Jews had a worship manual straight from God. They had the Law of Moses, handed down directly from God specifying the sacrificial system and worship rites to follow. There was just one problem. The sacrifices weren’t about the animals, they weren’t about the ritual. The sacrifices were about hearts bent towards God! After all, if ever a group of people “had it together,” it was the Pharisees. Jesus didn’t react well to the Pharisees. In Philippians 3:2-11, Paul lays out just how good a Jew he really was. He was as good of a person as you could be in the Hebrew world. If anyone could boast, it was Paul. What does he say about this? “… I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Our hearts are what are important here. We are to count all of our works and stuff as nothing compared to knowing Christ!
So what is the Psalm talking about when it says, “You have given me an open ear?” The Hebrew here is a bit ambiguous, but the same phrase is used in places like Ex 21:6 talking about a slave’s ear being pierced. In one way here, this could be read essentially, though You have not delighted in sacrifices and offerings, you have made me your servant. The Septuagint translated this phrase, “a body hast thou prepared me,” which is the translation that the writer of Hebrews uses in Hebrews 10:5-7when referencing this passage as a Messianic prophecy. Since Jesus himself used the Septuagint, we can be fairly certain that it was a faithful translation of the Hebrew into Greek.
Out of curiosity, I spent some time reading Jewish commentaries on this passage where they backlash against the use of this verse in Hebrews saying that the passage is obviously David talking. They miss entirely the idea that the Spirit speaking through the writer can say something and mean two things. There is sometimes an obvious meaning and a meaning that won’t be fulfilled until the remote future. This passage is one of those with amphibological meaning. There are two different, but fully correct interpretations.
The writer of Hebrews rightly realized the second meaning of these verses as the pre-incarnate Christ speaking through David. In this section of Hebrews, the writer is pointing out how the sacrificial system was and could never be enough for God. Christ therefore comes to offer a better way. Look at this passage from the perspective of Christ saying it,
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” (Hebrews 10:5-7, ESV)
The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, “When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:8-10, ESV)
Let’s head back to the David centered meaning of the Psalm to end up. David says, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.” Kind of reminds you of Jeremiah 31:33-34 doesn’t it? We have the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Rather than studying the Torah, we have the Law of the Lord written on our very hearts. He forgives our iniquities and remembers our sin no more! What a great truth that is. Praise God for the work done at the cross!
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