Psa 40:6-7 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 6 . Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of the Old Testament, a passage in which the incarnate Son of God is seen not through a glass darkly, but as it were face to face. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. In themselves considered, and for their own sakes, the Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various offerings of the ceremonial law. Neither the victim pouring forth its blood, nor the fine flour rising in smoke from the altar, could yield content to Jehovah's mind; he cared not for the flesh of bulls or of goats, neither had he pleasure in corn and wine, and oil. Typically these offerings had their worth, but when Jesus, the Antitype, came into the world, they ceased to be of value, as candles are of no estimation when the sun has arisen. Mine ears hast thou opened. Our Lord was quick to hear and perform his Father's will; his ears were as if excavated down to his soul; they were not closed up like Isaac's wells, which the Philistines filled up, but clear passages down to the fountains of his soul. The prompt obedience of our Lord is here the first idea. There is, however, no reason whatever to reject the notion that the digging of the ear here intended may refer to the boring of the ear of the servant, who refused out of love to his master to take his liberty, at the year of jubilee; his perforated ear, the token of perpetual service, is a true picture of our blessed Lord's fidelity to his Father's business, and his love to his Father's children. Jesus irrevocably gave himself up to be the servant of servants for our sake and God's glory. The Septuagint, from which Paul quoted, has translated this passage, "A body hast thou prepared me:" how this reading arose it is not easy to imagine, but since apostolical authority has sanctioned the variation, we accept it as no mistake, but as an instance of various readings equally inspired. In any case, the passage represents the Only Begotten as coming into the world equipped for service; and in a real and material body, by actual life and death, putting aside all the shadows of the Mosaic law. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Two other forms of offerings are here mentioned; tokens of gratitude and sacrifices for sin as typically presented are set aside; neither the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded. What need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present? We learn from this verse that Jehovah values far more the obedience of the heart than all the imposing performances of ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not to us as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the effect of our great Substitute's obedience to the will of Jehovah. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 6 . Sacrifice and offering ... burnt offering and sin offering. Four kinds are here specified, both by the psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice (xbz) zebhach, yusia; offering, (hxnm) minchah, prosfora; burnt offering, (hlw[) olah, olokautwma; sin offering, (hajx) chataah, peri amartias. Of all these we may say with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, etc., should take away sin. Adam Clarke. Verse 6 . Mine ears hast thou opened . The literal translation is, mine ears hast thou digged (or pierced) through; which may well be interpreted as meaning, "Thou hast accepted me as thy slave," in allusion to the custom of masters boring the ear of a slave, who had refused his offered freedom, in token of retaining him. Daniel Cresswell. Verse 6 . John Calvin , in treating upon the interpretation, "mine ears hast thou bored," says, "this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and refined." Verse 6 . Mine ears hast thou opened . If it is to be said that the apostle to the Hebrews read this differently, I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true, he found a different, but corrupted translation (wtia, ears, as the learned have observed, having been changed into swma, 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, , "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 for the Hebrew text as it stands at present. Green, quoted in S. Burder's "Scripture Expositor." Verse 6 . The apostle's reading , though it be far distant from the letter of the Hebrew, and in part from the LXX (as I suppose it to have been originally), yet is the most perspicuous interpretation of the meaning of it: Christ's body comprehended the ears, and that assumed on purpose to perform in it the utmost degree of obedience to the will of God, to be obedient even to death, and thereby to be as the priest. Henry Hammond. Verse 6. Nor sacrifice thy love can win, Nor offerings from the stain of sin Obnoxious man shall clear: Thy hand my mortal frame prepares, (Thy hand, whose signature it bears,) And opens my willing ear. James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769. Verse 6-7 . In these words an allusion is made to a custom of the Jews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual servants , and to enrol their names in a book, or make some instrument of the covenant. "Sacrifices and burnt offerings thou wouldst not have;" but because I am thy vowed servant, bored with an awl, and enrolled in thy book, I said, Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God. These words of the Psalm are alleged by S. Paul, Hebrews 10. But the first of them with a most strange difference. For whereas the psalmist hath, according to the Hebrew verity, Sacrifice and burnt offering thou wouldst not: mine ears thou hast bored or digged, (tyrn); S. Paul reads with the LXX, swma kathrtisw moi, "A body thou hast prepared or fitted me." What equipollency can be in sense between these two? This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most interpreters make the life of the quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is, namely, That the words, "A body thou hast prepared me," are brought by the apostle to prove our Saviour's incarnation; whereunto the words in the Psalm itself (Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged, or opened), take them how you will in no wise suit. I answer, therefore, That the life of the quotation lies not in the words of difference, nor can do, because this epistle was written to the Hebrews, and so first in the Hebrew tongue, where this translation of the LXX could have no place. And if the life of the quotation lay here, I cannot see how it can possibly be reconciled. It lies therefore in the words where there is no difference, namely, That Christ was such a High Priest as came to sanctify us, not with the legal offerings and sacrifices, but by his obedience in doing like a devoted servant the will of his Father. Thus, the allegation will not depend at all upon the words of difference, and so they give us liberty to reconcile them: Mine ears hast thou bored, saith the psalmist, i.e., Thou hast accepted me for a perpetual servant, as masters are wont, according to the law, to bore such servants' ears as refuse to part from them. Now the LXX, according to whom the apostle's epistle readeth, thinking perhaps the meaning of this speech would be obscure to such as knew not that custom, chose rather to translate it generally swma de katertisw moi, "Thou hast fitted my body," namely, to be thy servant, in such a manner as servants' bodies are wont to be. And so the sense is all one, though not specified to the Jewish custom of boring the ear with an awl, but left indifferently applicable to the custom of any nation in marking and stigmatising their servants' bodies. Joseph Mede, B.D., 1586-1638. Verse 6-10 . Here we have in Christ for our instruction , and in David also (his type) for our example; A firm purpose of obedience, in a bored ear, and a yielding heart. A ready performance thereof: Lo, I come. A careful observance of the word written: In the volume of the Book it is written of me, . A hearty delight in that observance, . A public profession and communication of God's goodness to others, . Now, we should labour to express Christ to the world, to walk as he walked : 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, . John Trapp. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 6 . Here David goes beyond himself, and speaks the language of David's Son. This was naturally suggested by God's wonderful works, and innumerable thoughts of love to man. The sacrifices that were not required. These were the sacrifices and burnt offerings under the law. When required? From Adam to the coming of Christ. 2. When not required? 3. Why required before? As types of the one method of redemption. 4. Why not now required? Because the great Antitype had come. The sacrifice that was required. This was the sacrifice offered on Calvary. It was required by God by his justice, his wisdom, his faithfulness, his love, his honour, his glory. 2. It was required by man to give him salvation and confidence in that salvation. 3. It was required for the honour of the moral government of God throughout the universe. The person by whom this sacrifice was offered. Mine ears hast thou opened. This is the language of Christ, prospectively denoting -- Knowledge of the sacrifice required. 2. Consecration of himself as a servant for that end. George Rogers. Verse 6 . Mine ears hast thou opened. Readiness to hear, fixity of purpose, perfection of obedience, entireness of consecration. Verse 6-8 . The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it. James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769.

Psalms 40:6-7

EXPOSITION

Verse 6. Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of the Old Testament, a passage in which the incarnate Son of God is seen not through a glass darkly, but as it were face to face. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. In themselves considered, and for their own sakes, the Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various offerings of the ceremonial law. Neither the victim pouring forth its blood, nor the fine flour rising in smoke from the altar, could yield content to Jehovah's mind; he cared not for the flesh of bulls or of goats, neither had he pleasure in corn and wine, and oil. Typically these offerings had their worth, but when Jesus, the Antitype, came into the world, they ceased to be of value, as candles are of no estimation when the sun has arisen. Mine ears hast thou opened. Our Lord was quick to hear and perform his Father's will; his ears were as if excavated down to his soul; they were not closed up like Isaac's wells, which the Philistines filled up, but clear passages down to the fountains of his soul. The prompt obedience of our Lord is here the first idea. There is, however, no reason whatever to reject the notion that the digging of the ear here intended may refer to the boring of the ear of the servant, who refused out of love to his master to take his liberty, at the year of jubilee; his perforated ear, the token of perpetual service, is a true picture of our blessed Lord's fidelity to his Father's business, and his love to his Father's children. Jesus irrevocably gave himself up to be the servant of servants for our sake and God's glory. The Septuagint, from which Paul quoted, has translated this passage, "A body hast thou prepared me:" how this reading arose it is not easy to imagine, but since apostolical authority has sanctioned the variation, we accept it as no mistake, but as an instance of various readings equally inspired. In any case, the passage represents the Only Begotten as coming into the world equipped for service; and in a real and material body, by actual life and death, putting aside all the shadows of the Mosaic law. Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Two other forms of offerings are here mentioned; tokens of gratitude and sacrifices for sin as typically presented are set aside; neither the general nor the private offerings are any longer demanded. What need of mere emblems when the substance itself is present? We learn from this verse that Jehovah values far more the obedience of the heart than all the imposing performances of ritualistic worship; and that our expiation from sin comes not to us as the result of an elaborate ceremonial, but as the effect of our great Substitute's obedience to the will of Jehovah.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering ... burnt offering and sin offering. Four kinds are here specified, both by the psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice (xbz) zebhach, yusia; offering, (hxnm) minchah, prosfora; burnt offering, (hlw[) olah, olokautwma; sin offering, (hajx) chataah, peri amartias. Of all these we may say with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, etc., should take away sin. Adam Clarke.

Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. The literal translation is, mine ears hast thou digged (or pierced) through; which may well be interpreted as meaning, "Thou hast accepted me as thy slave," in allusion to the custom Exodus 21:6 of masters boring the ear of a slave, who had refused his offered freedom, in token of retaining him. Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 6. John Calvin, in treating upon the interpretation, "mine ears hast thou bored," says, "this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and refined."

Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. If it is to be said that the apostle to the Hebrews read this differently, I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true, he found a different, but corrupted translation (wtia, ears, as the learned have observed, having been changed into swma, 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, Psalms 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 for the Hebrew text as it stands at present. Green, quoted in S. Burder's "Scripture Expositor."

Verse 6. The apostle's reading Hebrews 10:5, though it be far distant from the letter of the Hebrew, and in part from the LXX (as I suppose it to have been originally), yet is the most perspicuous interpretation of the meaning of it: Christ's body comprehended the ears, and that assumed on purpose to perform in it the utmost degree of obedience to the will of God, to be obedient even to death, and thereby to be as the priest. Henry Hammond.

Verse 6. Nor sacrifice thy love can win,

Nor offerings from the stain of sin

Obnoxious man shall clear:

Thy hand my mortal frame prepares,

(Thy hand, whose signature it bears,)

And opens my willing ear. James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769.

Verse 6-7. In these words an allusion is made to a custom of the Jews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual servants, and to enrol their names in a book, or make some instrument of the covenant. "Sacrifices and burnt offerings thou wouldst not have;" but because I am thy vowed servant, bored with an awl, and enrolled in thy book, I said, Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God. These words of the Psalm are alleged by S. Paul, Hebrews 10. But the first of them with a most strange difference. For whereas the psalmist hath, according to the Hebrew verity, Sacrifice and burnt offering thou wouldst not: mine ears thou hast bored or digged, (tyrn); S. Paul reads with the LXX, swma kathrtisw moi, "A body thou hast prepared or fitted me." What equipollency can be in sense between these two? This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most interpreters make the life of the quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is, namely, That the words, "A body thou hast prepared me," are brought by the apostle to prove our Saviour's incarnation; whereunto the words in the Psalm itself (Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged, or opened), take them how you will in no wise suit. I answer, therefore, That the life of the quotation lies not in the words of difference, nor can do, because this epistle was written to the Hebrews, and so first in the Hebrew tongue, where this translation of the LXX could have no place. And if the life of the quotation lay here, I cannot see how it can possibly be reconciled. It lies therefore in the words where there is no difference, namely, That Christ was such a High Priest as came to sanctify us, not with the legal offerings and sacrifices, but by his obedience in doing like a devoted servant the will of his Father. Thus, the allegation will not depend at all upon the words of difference, and so they give us liberty to reconcile them: Mine ears hast thou bored, saith the psalmist, i.e., Thou hast accepted me for a perpetual servant, as masters are wont, according to the law, to bore such servants' ears as refuse to part from them. Now the LXX, according to whom the apostle's epistle readeth, thinking perhaps the meaning of this speech would be obscure to such as knew not that custom, chose rather to translate it generally swma de katertisw moi, "Thou hast fitted my body," namely, to be thy servant, in such a manner as servants' bodies are wont to be. And so the sense is all one, though not specified to the Jewish custom of boring the ear with an awl, but left indifferently applicable to the custom of any nation in marking and stigmatising their servants' bodies. Joseph Mede, B.D., 1586-1638.

Verse 6-10. Here we have in Christ for our instruction, and in David also (his type) for our example;

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 6. Here David goes beyond himself, and speaks the language of David's Son. This was naturally suggested by God's wonderful works, and innumerable thoughts of love to man.

George Rogers.

Verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened. Readiness to hear, fixity of purpose, perfection of obedience, entireness of consecration.

Verse 6-8. The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it.

James Merrick, M.A., 1720-1769. EXPOSITION Verse 7 . Then said That is to say, when it was clearly seen that man's misery could not be remedied by sacrifices and offerings. It being certain that the mere images of atonement, and the bare symbols of propitiation were of no avail, the Lord Jesus, in propria persona, intervened. O blessed "then said I." Lord, ever give us to hear and feed on such living words as these, so peculiarly and personally thine own. Lo, I come. Behold, O heavens, and thou earth, and ye places under the earth! Here is something worthy of your most intense gaze. Sit ye down and watch with earnestness, for the invisible God comes in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an infant the Infinite hangs at a virgin's breast! Immanuel did not send but come; he came in his own personality, in all that constituted his essential self he came forth from the ivory palaces to the abodes of misery; he came promptly at the destined hour; he came with sacred alacrity as one freely offering himself. In the volume of the book it is written of me. In the eternal decree it is thus recorded. The mystic roll of predestination which providence gradually unfolds, contained within it, to the Saviour's knowledge, a written covenant, that in the fulness of time the divine I should descend to earth to accomplish a purpose which hecatombs of bullocks and rams could not achieve. What a privilege to find our names written in the book of life, and what an honour, since the name of Jesus heads the page! Our Lord had respect to his ancient covenant engagements, and herein he teaches us to be scrupulously just in keeping our word; have we so promised, it is so written in the book of remembrance? then let us never be defaulters. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 6-7 . See Psalms on " Psalms 40:7 " for further information. Verse 6-10 . See Psalms on " Psalms 40:6 " for further information. Verse 7 . Then said I , Lo, I come. As his name is above every name, so this coming of his is above every coming. We sometimes call our own births, I confess, a coming into the world; but properly, none ever came into the world but he. For, He only truly can be said to come, who is before he comes; so were not we, only he so. He only strictly comes who comes willingly; our crying and struggling at our entrance into the world, shows how unwillingly we come into it. He alone it is that sings out, Lo, I come. He only properly comes who comes from some place or other. Alas! we had none to come from but the womb of nothing. He only had a place to be in before he came. Mark Frank. Verse 7 . Then said I , Lo, I come, to wit, as surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, O God. Every word carrieth a special emphasis as The time, then, even so soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for such an end, then, without delay. This speed implies forwardness and readiness; he would lose no opportunity. His profession in this word, said I; he did not closely, secretly, timorously, as being ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession beforehand. This note of observation, Lo, this is a kind of calling angels and men to witness, and a desire that all might know his inward intention, and the disposition of his heart; wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to anything. An offering of himself without any enforcement or compulsion; this he manifests in this word, I come. That very instant set out in the present tense, I come; he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in that moment, he saith, I come. The first person twice expressed, thus, "I said," "I come." He sends not another person, nor substitutes any in his room; but he, even he himself in his own person, comes. All which do abundantly evidence Christ's singular readiness and willingness, as our surety, to do his Father's will, though it were by suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins. Thomas Brooks. Verse 7 . Lo , I come, i.e., to appear before thee; a phrase used to indicate the coming of an inferior into the presence of a superior, or of a slave before his master, Numbers 22:38 2Sa 19:20: as in the similar expression, "Behold, here I am," generally expressive of willingness. J. J. Stewart Perowne. Verse 7 . Lo , I come. Christ's coming in the spirit is a joyful coming. I think this, Lo, I come, expresses Present joy. It expresses certain joy: the Lo, is a note of certainty; the thing is certain and true; and his joy is certain; certain, true, solid joy. It expresses communicative joy; designing his people shall share of his joy, Lo, I come! The joy that Christ has as Mediator is a fulness of joy, designed for his people's use, that out of his fulness we may receive, and grace for grace, and joy for joy; grace answering grace in Jesus, and joy answering joy in him. It expresses solemn joy. He comes with a solemnity; Lo, I come! according to the council of a glorious Trinity. Now, when the purpose of heaven is come to the birth, and the decree breaks forth, and the fulness of time is come, he makes heaven and earth witness, as it were, to his solemn march on the errand: he says it with a loud, Lo! that all the world of men and angels may notice, Lo, I come! And, indeed, all the elect angels brake forth into joyful songs of praise at this solemnity; when he came in the flesh, they sang, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will towards man." Ralph Erskine, 1685-1752. Verse 7 . Lo , I come, or, am come, to wit, into the world Hebrews 10:5 , and particularly to Jerusalem, to give myself a sacrifice for sin. Henry Ainsworth. Verse 7 . The volume of the book . What book is meant, whether the Scripture, or the book of life, is not certain, probably the latter. W. Wilson, D.D. Verse 7 . The volume of the book . But what volume of manuscript roll is here meant? Plainly, the one which was already extant when the psalmist was writing. If the psalmist was David himself (as the title of the Psalm seems to affirm), the only parts of the Hebrew Scriptures then extant, and of course, the only part to which he could refer, must have been the Pentateuch, and perhaps the book of Joshua. Beyond any reasonable doubt, them, the kefalis biblion (rps tlnm) was the Pentateuch ... But I apprehend the meaning of the writer to be, that the book of the law, which prescribes sacrifices that were merely skiai or parabolai of the great atoning sacrifice by Christ, did itself teach, by the use of these, that something of a higher and better nature was to be looked for than Levitical rites. In a word, it pointed to the Messiah; or, some of the contents of the written law had respect to him. Moses Stuart, M.A., in "A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews," 1851. Verse 7 . The volume of the book etc . When I first considered Romans 5:14 , and other Scriptures in the New Testament which make the first Adam, and the whole story of him both before and after, and in his sinning or falling, to be the type and lively shadow of Christ, the second Adam; likewise observing that the apostle Paul stands admiring at the greatest of this mystery or mystical type, the Christ, the second Adam should so wonderfully be shadowed forth therein, as Ephesians 5:32 , he cries out, "This is a great mystery," which he speaks applying and fitting some passages about Adam and Eve unto Christ and his church; it made me more to consider an interpretation of a passage in Heb 10:7, out of Psalms 40:7 , which I before had not only not regarded, but wholly rejected, as being too like a postil (A marginal note) gloss. The passage is, that "when Christ came into the world," to take our nature on him, he alleged the reason of it to be the fulfilling of a Scripture written in "the beginning of God's book," en kefalisi Biblion, so out of the original the words may be, and are by many interpreters, translated, though our translation reads them only thus, In the volume of the book it is written of me. It is true, indeed, that in the fortieth Psalm, whence they are quoted, the words in the Hebrew may signify no more than that in God's book (the manner of writing which was anciently in rolls of parchment, folded up in a volume) Christ was everywhere written and spoken of. Yet the word kefalis which out of the Septuagint's translation the apostle took, signifying, as all know, the beginning of a book; and we finding such an emphasis set by the apostle in the fifth chapter of the Ephesians, upon the history of Adam in the beginning of Genesis, as containing the mystery, yea, the great mystery about Christ, it did somewhat induce, though not so fully persuade, me to think, that the Holy Ghost in those words might have some glance at the story of Adam in the first of the first book of Moses. And withal the rather because so, the words so understood do intimate a higher and further inducement to Christ to assume our nature, the scope of the speech, Hebrews 10, being to render the reason why he so willingly took man's nature: not only because God liked not sacrifice and burnt offering, which came in but upon occasion of sin, and after the fall, and could not take sin away, but further, that he was prophesied of, and his assuming a body prophetically foresighted, as in the fortieth Psalm, so even by Adam's story before the fall, recorded in the very beginning of Genesis, which many other Scriptures do expressly apply it unto. Thomas Goodwin. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 6-8 . The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it. Verse 7 . The time of Christ's coming. Then said When types were exhausted, when prophecies looked for their fulfilment, when worldly wisdom had done its utmost, when the world was almost entirely united under one empire, when the time appointed by the Father had come. The design of his coming. In the volume was written -- The constitution of his person. 2. His teaching. 3. The manner of his life. 4. The design of his death. 5. His resurrection and ascension. 6. The kingdom he would establish. The voluntariness of his coming, Lo, I come. Though sent by the Father, he came of his own accord. "Christ Jesus came into the world." Men do not come into the world, they are sent into it. Lo, I come, denotes pre-existence, pre-determination, pre-operation. George Rogers.