Salmi 40:6 Commento

It should seem David penned this psalm upon occasion of his deliverance, by the power and goodness of God, from some great and pressing trouble, by which he was in danger of being overwhelmed; probably it was some trouble of mind arising from a sense of sin and of God's displeasure against him for it; whatever it was, the same Spirit that indited his praises for that deliverance was in him, at the same time, a Spirit of prophecy, testifying of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow; or, ere he was aware, he was led to speak of his undertaking, and the discharge of his undertaking, in words that must be applied to Christ only; and therefore how far the praises that here go before that illustrious prophecy, and the prayers that follow, may safely and profitably be applied to him it will be worth while to consider. In this psalm, I. David records God's favour to him in delivering him out of his deep distress, with thankfulness to his praise (Psa 40:1-5). II. Thence he takes occasion to speak of the work of our redemption by Christ (Psa 40:6-10). III. That gives him encouragement to pray to God for mercy and grace both for himself and for his friends (Psa 40:11-17). If, in singing this psalm, we mix faith with the prophecy of Christ, and join in sincerity with the praises and prayers here offered up, we make melody wit our hearts to the Lord. To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

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 10:5, etc.) 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 8:3); therefore he must not be of the house of Aaron, Heb 7:14. 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 (Mat 12:12), 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 Exo 21:6. 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 42:1. 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 10:10. 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, Joh 19:28. 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. 9): I delight to do thy will, O my God! It was to Christ his meat and drink to go on with the work appointed to him (Joh 4:34); 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 2:3. It is the gospel of Christ that is preached to all nations. Observe, 1. What it is that is preached: It is righteousness (Psa 40:9), God's righteousness (Psa 40:10), the everlasting righteousness which Christ has brought in (Dan 9:24); 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, Psa 40:9 and again Psa 40:10. 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 50:7) 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.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 40 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. Jarchi interprets this psalm of the Israelites, and of their deliverance and song at the Red sea. The title of it, in the Syriac version, is, "A psalm of David according to the letter, when Shemaiah brought the names of those who minister in the house of the Lord;'' see Ch1 24:6; according to Kimchi, the subject of this psalm is the same with that of the two preceding; and R. Obadiah thinks it was composed by David, when he was recovered of a leprosy; but though it might be written by David, it was not written concerning himself, or on his own account, but of another. The title of this psalm is somewhat different from others in the order of the words; whereas it is usually put "a psalm of", or "for David"; here it is, "for David, a psalm"; and may be rendered, as Ainsworth observes, "a psalm concerning David"; not literally, but typically understood; not concerning David himself, but concerning his antitype and son, who is called by his name, Eze 37:24; and that it is to be interpreted of him is evident from the application of Psa 39:6, unto him by the apostle in Heb 10:5; and the whole of it is applicable to him; some apply it to Jeremiah in the dungeon, and others to Daniel in the den, as Theodoret observes.

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, Sa1 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, Psa 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 Exo 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.

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. [Psalms 40:6-8] By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

[Christ] offered himself to the death of the accursed that he might break the curse of the Law, offering himself voluntarily a victim to God the Father, in order that by means of a voluntary victim the curse that attended the discontinuance of the regular victim might be removed. Now of this sacrifice mention is made in another passage of the psalms: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body have you prepared for me”; that is, by offering to God the Father, who refused the legal sacrifices, the acceptable offering of the body that he received. Of this offering the holy apostle thus speaks: “For this he did once for all when he offered himself up,” securing complete salvation for the human race by the offering of this holy, perfect victim.

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire" [Psalm 40:6], says the Psalm to God. For the men of old time, when as yet the true Sacrifice, which is known to the faithful, was foreshown in figures, used to celebrate rites that were figures of the reality that was to be hereafter; many of them understanding their meaning; but more of them in ignorance of it. For the Prophets and the holy Patriarchs understood what they were celebrating; but the rest of the "stiff-necked people" were so carnal, that what was done by them was but to symbolize the things that were to come afterwards; and it came to pass, when that first sacrifice was abolished; when the burnt-offerings of "rams, of goats, and of calves," and of other victims, had been abolished, "God did not desire them." Why did God not desire them? And why did He at the first desire them? Because all those things were, as it were, the words of a person making a promise; and the expressions conveying a promise, when the thing that they promise has come, are no longer uttered....Those sacrifices then, as being but expressions of a promise, have been abrogated. What is that which has been given as its fulfilment? That "Body;" which you know; which you do not all of you know; which, of you who do know it, I pray God all may not know it unto condemnation. Observe the time when it was said; for the person is Christ our Lord, speaking at one time for His members, at another in His own person. "Sacrifice and offering," said He, "You did not desire." What then? Are we left at this present time without a sacrifice? God forbid! "But a Body have You perfected for me." It was for this reason that You did not desire the others; that You might "perfect" this; before You "perfected" this, You desired the others. The fulfilment of the promise has done away with the words that express the promise. For if they still hold out a promise, that which was promised is not yet fulfilled. This was promised by certain signs; the signs that convey the promise are done away; because the Substance that was promised has come. We are in this "Body." We are partakers of this "Body." We know that which we ourselves receive; and you who know it not yet, will know it bye and bye; and when you come to know it, I pray ye may not receive it unto condemnation. "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation unto himself." [1 Corinthians 11:29] "A Body" has been "perfected" for us; let us be made perfect in the Body.

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire." Here he assigns the reason why he renders this recompense to God for his benefits, or why he preached. And he assigns this cause in two ways. First, he presents the divine will as the cause. Second, his own resolve, at "Then I said." Concerning the first, it should be known that in the old covenant, certain sacrifices were offered for benefits received from God; and in general there were four kinds of things that were offered to God. For every sacrifice is an offering, but not every offering is a sacrifice: because sacrifice implies the making of something sacred. Hence, when in an offering nothing else happens except that it comes into the use of the priest, it is a pure offering; when something else is done with it, for example it was burned, then it was called a sacrifice. Now in the old covenant there were three kinds of sacrifice. One was called the most worthy, which was called a holocaust. The second was a sacrifice for sin. The third was a victim, or peace offering. The first was entirely burned; and this was the most acceptable; and it is called from "holon," which means "whole." Of the sacrifice for sin, one part was burned and the other fell to the use of the priest; and nothing came to the use of the one offering, because they gave it for sin--except perhaps in two cases: either when it was offered for the sin of the priest, then the whole was burned, because nothing was done with it; likewise, when it was offered for the whole people, because among them the priest was also included. The peace offering, however, was divided into three parts: for one was offered to God, another was given to the priests, another was given to those who offered. And all these are touched upon here. He touches upon the peace offering when he says, "Sacrifice." He touches upon the simple offering when he says, "And offering you did not desire." He touches upon holocausts when he says, "Holocausts and for sin"; as if to say, you have done many benefits for me, and I wished to repay you: yet not with sacrifices and such things, because "you did not desire them" in the time of the new covenant, because then the figure ceased, and the other sacrifices were figures of the true sacrifice, namely of Christ. And therefore after Christ the temple was destroyed, and the sacrifices ceased. Hence even the Jews today observe few of those things, namely circumcisions as a sign; or, "you did not desire," that is, you did not accept them for their own sake in the good works that a person does. For certain things are acceptable to God for their own sake, such as the work of justice, charity, faith, and virtue; and this is what Deut. 10 says: "Now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only that you fear the Lord your God and walk in his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." But offerings he does not accept for their own sake: Ps. 49: "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls?" etc. No. But what? Ibid.: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise," etc. Why then were they ordained in the law? I reply: for two reasons, namely as a figure of the future sacrifice. 1 Cor. 10: "All these things happened to them as figures"; and as a precaution, so that they would not offer them to idols, the Israelites being inclined to idolatry since they lived in the midst of the nations, to which the children of Israel were prone in the beginning of the law. But in Exodus there is no mention of sacrifices except after the people fell and worshiped the calf: Jer. 7: "I did not speak to your fathers, and I did not command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and victims." It is otherwise with the sacrifice of the new covenant, which contains Christ himself, who is in himself acceptable to God. "But you have fashioned ears for me." Another reading has, "a body." And thus the Apostle introduces it in Heb. 10: "But a body you have prepared for me." And the sense is this: and therefore you desired another sacrifice of the new covenant, because another sacrifice came. For you gave me a body, that I might offer it through the holy sacrifice. Or, "You have perfected," that is, you have bestowed upon me a perfect body without blemish. Or, "You have fitted," that is, you have united a body to me. Or, "You have fashioned ears for me." Or, "You have pierced them"; and this agrees with the preceding, because he prefers that we offer the sacrifice of the lips, that is, of preachings of the works of God, rather than of animals. And therefore he says, "Ears," etc.; as if to say, you require this from me, which you principally gave me, namely the capacity for perceiving wisdom. And therefore you require this so that I may show forth the wisdom which we have received for this purpose, that we may proclaim and preach: Is. 50: "The Lord has opened my ears." "And you did not ask for," that is, you did not accept, "a holocaust and a sacrifice for sin." Or, "You did not ask for" a victim even for sin: Is. 1: "The holocausts of rams and the fat of fatlings and the blood of calves and lambs and goats I did not desire." And yet, as is also said, a holocaust is acceptable to God. But when a holocaust is merely a simple sacrifice, then it is like when we do good works. If, however, all works are done for God, then it is a holocaust. And if we sometimes observe continence, it is a sacrifice; if perpetual virginity, then it is a holocaust: because works of perfection are therefore most acceptable to God.

In this Psalm a celebration of God's deliverance is followed by a profession of devotion to His service. Then follows a prayer for relief from imminent dangers, involving the overthrow of enemies and the rejoicing of sympathizing friends. In Heb 10:5, &c., Paul quotes Psa 40:6-8 as the words of Christ, offering Himself as a better sacrifice. Some suppose Paul thus accommodated David's words to express Christ's sentiments. But the value of his quotation would be thus destroyed, as it would have no force in his argument, unless regarded by his readers as the original sense of the passage in the Old Testament. Others suppose the Psalm describes David's feelings in suffering and joy; but the language quoted by Paul, in the sense given by him, could not apply to David in any of his relations, for as a type the language is not adapted to describe any event or condition of David's career, and as an individual representing the pious generally, neither he nor they could properly use it (see on Psa 40:7, below). The Psalm must be taken then, as the sixteenth, to express the feelings of Christ's human nature. The difficulties pertinent to this view will be considered as they occur. (Psa. 40:1-17) The figures for deep distress are illustrated in Jeremiah's history (Jer 38:6-12). Patience and trust manifested in distress, deliverance in answer to prayer, and the blessed effect of it in eliciting praise from God's true worshippers, teach us that Christ's suffering is our example, and His deliverance our encouragement (Heb 5:7-8; Heb 12:3; Pe1 4:12-16). inclined--(the ear, Psa 17:6), as if to catch the faintest sigh.

In Paul's view this passage has more meaning than the mere expression of grateful devotion to God'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 had come to render the required satisfaction, which he states was effected by "the offering of the body of Christ" [Heb 10:10], for that is the "will of God" which Christ came to fulfil or do, in order to effect man's redemption. We thus see that the contrast to the unsatisfactory character assigned the Old Testament offerings in Psa 40:6 is found in the compliance with God's law (compare Psa 40:7-8). Of course, as Paul and other New Testament writers explain Christ's work, it consisted in more than being made under the law or obeying its precepts. It required an "obedience unto death" [Phi 2:8], and that is the compliance here chiefly intended, and which makes the contrast with Psa 40:6 clear. mine ears hast thou opened--Whether allusion is made to the custom of boring a servant's ear, in token of voluntary and perpetual enslavement (Exo 21:6), or that the opening of the ear, as in Isa 48:8; Isa 50:5 (though by a different word in Hebrew) denotes obedience by the common figure of hearing for obeying, it is evident that the clause is designed to express a devotion to God's will as avowed more fully in Psa 40:8, and already explained. Paul, however, uses the words, "a body hast thou prepared me" [Heb 10:5], which are found in the Septuagint in the place of the words, "mine ears hast thou opened." He does not lay any stress on this clause, and his argument is complete without it. It is, perhaps, to be regarded rather as an interpretation or free translation by the Septuagint, than either an addition or attempt at verbal translation. The Septuagint translators may have had reference to Christ's vicarious sufferings as taught in other Scriptures, as in Isa 53:4-11; at all events, the sense is substantially the same, as a body was essential to the required obedience (compare Rom 7:4; Pe1 2:24).