⁸ After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

Repetition in condensed form for emphasis, the passage today continues to stress the dilemma of the Law. The plural form of the “sacrifices and offerings” conveys that none of them satisfied God. Paul gave further elucidation to this when he wrote, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh…” (Rom 8:3).

Psalm 40 from which these verses are drawn, provides some context that is helpful. Written by David, the occasion was deliverance from some difficult situation, possibly a battle or sickness. He extolls the Lord’s blessing in his life ending with, “How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust… (vss. 1-4) and follows with praise, “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count” (Ps 40:5).

It is then that the psalmist pens the words which we find quoted in Hebrews 10:5-9 twice (see Psalm 40:6-8a). The heart of David understands that worship of God is a matter of the heart, for he caps his thoughts with, “Your Law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8b). It is hard not to remember the antithesis of David’s action and heart, namely King Saul, to whom the prophet Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22). Saul had disobeyed the Lord’s command and offered up sacrifices which he was not allowed to do. He thought his actions would somehow appease God because of their supposed efficacy, and that would take precedence over the clearly revealed will of God. In reality he was using sacrifices as a means of manipulating or bribing God to action.

David, on the other hand, “…proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation …“  (Ps 40:9–10).

Just as God took away Saul and established David as King, so now God has taken away the OT worship system and established a new one in Christ.

Thank You, Lord, for taking away the old life and giving me new life in Christ.