John Calvin Commentary Psalms 51:19

"Then will thou delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, In burnt-offering and in whole burnt-offering: Then will they offer bullocks upon thine altar." — Psalms 51:19 (ASV)

Then you will accept sacrifices of righteousness. In these words, there is an apparent, but only an apparent, inconsistency with others he had used in the preceding context. He had declared sacrifices to be of no value when considered in themselves, but now he acknowledges them to be acceptable to God when viewed as expressions or symbols of faith, penitence, and thanksgiving.

He distinctly calls them sacrifices of righteousness, right, legitimate, and offered in strict accordance with God's commandment. This expression is the same one used in Psalm 4:5, where David employs it with a tacit condemnation of those who took pride in the mere outward form of ceremonies.

We find him again stirring himself and others by his example to the practice of gratitude and to its open expression in the solemn assembly.

Besides sacrifices in general, two particular kinds are specified. Although some consider כליל, calil, and עולה, olah, to have the same meaning, others more correctly maintain that the first is understood to mean the priest’s sacrifice, because in it the offering was entirely consumed or burnt with fire.

In the enumeration he makes, David intends to teach us that none of the legal rites can find acceptance with God unless they are used with reference to the proper purpose of their institution.

Some have figuratively applied this entire verse to the kingdom of Christ, but the interpretation is unnatural and too speculative. Thanksgivings are indeed called by Hosea “the calves of the lips” (Hosea 14:2), but it seems evident that in the passage before us, solemn ceremonies—part of the ancient worship—are joined with the disposition of the heart.