Psalms 69:30

ASSURANCE OF BEING ANSWERED

"I will praise the name of God with a song,

And will magnify him with thanksgiving.

And it will please Jehovah better than an ox,

Or a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

The meek have seen it, and are glad:

Ye that seek after God, let your heart live.

For Jehovah heareth the needy,

And despiseth not his prisoners."

"A song ... thanksgiving ... will please Jehovah better than an ox" (Psalms 69:30-31). As Matthew Henry noted, "This is a plain intimation that in the days of Messiah an end should be put to animal sacrifices."[11] There is no disparagement here of the sacrifices which God commanded under the Law of Moses, but a declaration of David's inability to offer any kind of the prescribed sacrifices, due to his being denied access to the tabernacle; he would nevertheless honor God with song and thanksgiving instead of the sacrifices which he was not able to offer.

The most bizarre, unreasonable and fantastic interpretation of this passage which we have encountered is that of Taylor who offered the following:

"Here the psalmist rated an offering of song and thanksgiving higher than one of animal flesh; and perhaps it was such a point of view which had incited so many of his fellows against him ... He did not mean to abolish the temple; he just wanted to put first things first, subordinating traditional rites to the exercise of spiritual worship."[12]

The imagination of Hans Christian Andersen was not any better than that! The fantasy indulged by many critics that the more perceptive prophets disapproved of animal sacrifices is totally incorrect. All of the passages that are cited as alleged proof of such a notion, namely, Amos 5:21-24; Jeremiah 7:21-23; Psalms 40:6; 50:8-14; 51:16-17, are absolutely devoid of any such teaching. See our comments upon all of these passages en loco. What was always disapproved in those passages was animal sacrifice offered without the true devotion, praise and thanksgiving which were intended to accompany them.

"It will please Jehovah better than ... a bullock that hath horns and hoofs" (Psalms 69:31). The pagans who offered such animals to their gods, frequently decorated them by polishing or gilding their horns and hoofs and by placing garlands of flowers upon their necks as they were led to the slaughter. Adam Clarke believed that the mention of "horns and hoofs here" actually referred to such gilding. The meaning of these words would then be, "A song and thanksgiving would please Jehovah better than a bull all decorated for a sacrifice." Clarke noted that, "The horns, etc., of consecrated animals are thus ornamented in the east till the present time."[13]

"The meek have seen it and are glad... Jehovah heareth the needy" (Psalms 69:32-33). "Here the psalmist feels that the most amazing fact of experience is not distress, frustration, conflict, misunderstanding, retribution, or even death itself; it is that, the Lord hears the needy."[14]