Read Psalm 40 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph:
40:1-17 {p} Messianic Psalm: The transition from sacrifices to righteousness through the coming Messiah
Psa 40:1-17 Chiastic Structure:
Sacrifice and grain offering You did not desire; ears You have dug for me; {n} Burnt offering and sin offering You did not request. Psa 40:6
The 1C pair makes a mini substructure:
1A) 40:6a Sacrifice and grain offering YOU DID NOT DESIRE;
CENTRAL AXIS) 40:6b EARS YOU HAVE DUG FOR ME; {n}
2A) 40:6c Burnt offering and sin offering YOU DID NOT REQUEST.
1A describes the generic blood sacrifice, and the bloodless sacrifice of the grain offering; 2A describes the whole burnt offering—the voluntary offering—and the sin offering—the mandatory offering. Sandwiched between them is the unusual central axis, ‘ears You have dug for me.’
To dig is Strong’s H3738, כרה karah, with the ancient pictographs of kaph + resh + hey.
kaph כ ך = open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame
resh ר = head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The parable being told by the Hebrew Root Word, is of the palm (kaph) of a man (resh) which makes a hollow, so that one can look deeply (hey, as to examine).
David Stern in the Jewish New Testament Commentary writes, “[The phrase in Ps. 40:6] is usually understood to mean that God has opened (dug the wax out of) the ears so that he will be able to hear the Torah better, and thus be better able to carry out its commands.”
True obedience to the Law is not bringing an endless string of sacrifices, because its commandments are constantly broken. Thus blood sacrifices, grain offerings God does not desire. Which leads us to 2C:
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly: behold, I do not restrain my lips, {n} O YHVH, You know. 10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; {n} I have not concealed Your steadfast love and Your truth from the great assembly. Psa 40:9-10
What God does desire, is righteousness, steadfast love, and truth, so that there is no need for sacrifices.
How does a person transition from bringing a constant string of sacrifices because the heart is unchanged (1C), to righteousness, steadfast love, and truth because the heart is changed (2C)? The central axis reveals it. Messiah Yeshua came as it was written of Him in the scroll of the book:
Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luk 24:46-47
He became the sacrifice for sin, opening the door for our heart transplant from a heart of stone, which can only bring a constant string of sacrifices (1C), to a heart of flesh, walking out righteousness, steadfast love, and truth (2C).
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