John Calvin 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)

In sacrifice and oblation you have not taken pleasure. Here David offers not only the sacrifice of praise, or, as the prophet Hosea calls it (Hosea 14:2), the calves of the lips, but, as a token of his gratitude, offers and consecrates himself entirely to God; as if he had said, I am now wholly devoted to God, because, having been delivered by his wonderful power, I am doubly indebted to him for my life.

At the same time, discussing the true worship of God, he shows that it does not consist in outward ceremonies, but rather that it is spiritual. Accordingly, the meaning is, that he came into the presence of God not only with the outward pomp, ceremony, and figures of the law, but that he brought with him the true devotion of the heart.

We know, indeed, that all men have some sense of religion impressed upon their hearts, so that no one dares to withdraw openly and wholly from God’s service, and yet most men turn aside into winding and crooked paths. Hence it happens that in serving God in a perfunctory manner, their worship is scarcely anything else than a mockery of him.

We see then the reason why David, on this occasion, shows what the true worship of God consists of; it is so that he may distinguish between himself and hypocrites, who draw near to God with their lips only, or at least seek to pacify him with cold and meaningless ceremonies.

We now come to the explanation of the words. I have no doubt that David, under the four different kinds of sacrifices that he enumerates here, includes all the sacrifices of the law.

His meaning, to express it briefly, is that God does not require mere ceremonies from those who serve him but is satisfied only with sincerity of heart, faith, and holiness of life; and that He takes no pleasure merely in the visible sanctuary, the altar, the burning of incense, the killing of beasts, the lights, the costly apparel, and outward washings.

From this, David concludes that he ought to be guided by another principle and observe another rule in the service of God than mere attention to these—that he should yield himself wholly to God.

You have bored my ears. Some think that in using this expression, David refers to the ordinance under the Law found in Exodus 21:6. If any bondservant, when the time for his release from servitude arrived, did not value his freedom, he was brought to the public place of judgment. There, after declaring that he wished to continue in servitude, his master pierced his ear with an awl as a mark of perpetual bondage.

But this interpretation seems too forced and refined. Others more simply consider it to mean to make fit or qualify for service, for David mentions not only one ear but both. Men, we know, are naturally deaf because they are so dull that their ears are stopped until God pierces them.

Therefore, this expression denotes the docility to which we are brought and molded by the grace of the Holy Spirit. I, however, apply this expression more closely to the scope of the passage before us. I explain it in this sense: David was not slow and dull of hearing, as men usually are, so that he could discern nothing but what was earthly in the sacrifices. Instead, his ears had been cleansed, making him a better interpreter of the Law and able to refer all the outward ceremonies to the spiritual service of God.

He encloses the sentence, You have bored my ears, as it were, in parenthesis while he is professedly discussing sacrifices, so that the sentence might be explained in this way: Lord, you have opened my ears so that I may distinctly understand whatever you have commanded concerning the sacrifices—namely, that of themselves they afford you no pleasure.

For you, who are a Spirit, take no delight in these earthly elements and have no need of flesh or blood; and therefore, you require something of a higher and more excellent nature.

If, however, it is objected that sacrifices were offered by the express commandment of God, I have just said that David here distinguishes between the spiritual service of God and that which consisted in outward types and shadows. And in making this comparison, it is no great wonder to find him saying that the sacrifices are of no value, since they were only aids designed to lead men to true piety and tended to a far higher end than what was at first apparent.

Seeing, then, that God used these elements only to lead his people to the exercises of faith and repentance, we conclude that he had no delight in being worshiped by sacrifices. We must always bear in mind that whatever is not pleasing to God for its own sake, but only insofar as it leads to some other end, is rejected and cast away by him if it is put in the place of his true worship and service.