In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
David recalls how from many dangers, not one alone, he cried out to God and was heard. His deliverance from such perils filled his soul with admiration of God's providence, which extends to all mankind, and moved him to give himself wholly to God's service.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 40:1-17
Here we enter upon one of the most wonderful passages in the whole of the Old Testament, a passage in which the incarnate Son of God is seen not through a glass darkly, but as it were face to face. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. In themselves considered, and for their own sakes, the Lord saw nothing satisfactory in the various offerings of the ceremonial law.
The psalmist, being struck with amazement at the wonderful works that God had done for his people, is strangely carried out here to foretel that work of wonder which excels all the rest and is the foundation and fountain of all, that of our redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Commenting on Psalm 40:6-10