Psalms 40:6 - Exposition

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire . Will the right return be by sacrifices and burnt offerings? No, the psalmist answers to himself; it is not these which God really "desires." Samuel had already preached the doctrine, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" ( 1 Samuel 15:22 ). David goes further. Apart from a spirit of obedience, sacrifice and offering are not desired or required at all; rather, as Isaiah says, they are a weariness and an abomination ( Isaiah 1:11 , Isaiah 1:12 ). The one thing needed is obedience—a cheerful, willing obedience to all that God reveals as his will. Mine ears hast thou opened . Either, "Thou hast taken away my deafness, and given me ears open to receive and embrace thy Law;" or, perhaps, with special reference to Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:17 , "Thou hast accepted me as thy voluntary servant, and bored through mine ear, to mark that I am thy servant for ever." Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required . Of the four kinds of offering mentioned in this verse, the first ( זבח ) is the ordinary offering of a victim at the altar in sacrifice; the second ( מנחה ), the meat offering of flour, with oil and frankincense accompanying it; the third ( עולה ) is the "whole burnt offering," representative of complete self-sacrifice; and the fourth ( חטאה ), the "sin offering," or "trespass offering," of which the special intention was expiation.