Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 40:6

"Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in; Mine ears hast thou opened: Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required." — Psalms 40:6 (ASV)

Sacrifice and offering – The first of the words used here—זבח zebach—properly means a bloody offering; the other—מנחה minchāh—an offering without blood, like a thank offering. (See the notes at Isaiah 1:11). The four words used in this verse—sacrifice, offering, burnt offering, and sin offering—embrace all the types of sacrifice and offerings known among the Hebrews. The idea here is that the offering they were accustomed to make was not what was required of the one referred to here. A higher service was needed.

You did not desire – The word translated here as “desire” means to incline toward, to be favorably disposed, as in reference to doing anything; that is, to will, to desire, to please. The meaning here is that God did not will this or wish for it; He would not be pleased with it in comparison with obedience, or as a substitute for obedience. He preferred obedience to any external rites and forms, to all the rites and forms of religion prescribed by the law. They were of no value without obedience; they could not be substituted for obedience.

This sentiment often occurs in the Old Testament, showing that the purpose of all the rites then prescribed was to bring people to obedience, and that they were of no value without obedience. See the notes at Isaiah 1:10-20; (Compare to 1 Samuel 15:22); Psalms 51:16–17; Hosea 6:6. See also the notes at Hebrews 10:5.

My ears you have opened – Margin: “digged.” The Hebrew word—כרה kârâh—means “to dig,” as, to dig a well (Genesis 26:25) or to dig a sepulchre (Genesis 50:5). As used here, this would properly mean, “my ears you have dug out;” that is, you have so opened them that there is a communication with the seat of hearing; or, in other words, you have caused me to hear this truth or have revealed it to me. , The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious. The meaning here would be that the ear had been opened, so that it was quick to hear.

An indisposition to obey the will of God is often expressed by the fact that the ears are “stopped” (Zechariah 7:11; Psalms 58:4–5; Proverbs 21:13). There is clearly no allusion here—though that has been supposed by many to be the reference—to the custom of boring through the ear of a servant with an awl, as a sign that he was willing to remain with his master (Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:17). In that case, the outer circle, or rim, of the ear was “bored through” with an awl. Here the idea is that of “hollowing out,” digging, excavating—that is, of making a passage “through” so that one could hear—not the mere piercing of the outer ear. The essential idea is that this truth had been communicated to him—that God preferred obedience to sacrifice—and that he had been made attentive to that truth, “as if” he had previously been deaf and his ears had been opened.

The principal difficulty in the passage relates to its application in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:5). That difficulty arises from the fact that the Septuagint translates the phrase here with the words “a body hast thou prepared me;” and that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews bases an argument on that translation, with reference to the work of the Messiah. On this point, see the notes at Hebrews 10:5. It is perhaps not now possible to explain this difficulty in a way that will be entirely satisfactory.

Burnt offering – See the notes at Isaiah 1:11. The uniqueness of this offering was that it was entirely consumed by fire.

And sin offering – A sin offering was an offering or sacrifice made specifically for sin, with a view to expiate either sin in general or some specific act of sin. In the Mosaic law, there are two kinds of these offerings prescribed: “trespass offerings,” or offerings for guilt or fault, denoted by the word אשׁם 'âshâm; and sin offerings, denoted by the word used here. They are offerings which were consumed by fire (Leviticus 5:1–19; Leviticus 6:1–7; Leviticus 14:10). But the essential “idea” was that they were for “sin,” or for some act of guilt. In a general sense, this was true of all bloody offerings or sacrifices; but in these cases, the attention of the worshipper was turned particularly to the fact of sin or transgression.

You have not required – That is, You have not required them as compared with obedience; in other words, You have preferred the latter.

These offerings would not meet the case. More was necessary to be done than was implied in these sacrifices. They would not expiate sin; they would not remove guilt; they would not give the conscience peace.

A higher work, a work implied in an act of “obedience” of the most exalted kind, was demanded in order to accomplish the work to be done. .