Psalms 102:6-8

Psa. 40:6-8. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened (or bored): burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." God often declared that willing obedience was better than sacrifice: the psalmist is here declaring his giving of it the preference in his practice according to God's mind: he did not rest in sacrifices, or look upon his duty as consisting mainly in them, but was willingly obedient; he delighted to do God's will; he loved his service; God had bored his ear, alluding to the law, Exodus 21:5, by which it was appointed that if the servant loved his master's service, and freely chose it, his master should bore his ear with an awl. Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required; then said I, Lo, I come, as a willing servant says to his master when he is called: in the volume of the book it is written of me, that is, it is written in the public records, that I voluntarily chose my master's service, and that my ears were bored, alluding still to that law and custom. If the servant loved his master and chose his service, he was to be brought unto the judges, and was to declare his choice, and his ear was to be bored before them, and because the end of bringing of him to them, was that they might take notice of it, and be witnesses of it, that the servant might afterwards be obliged by his act. We may conclude that there was a record written of it, it was not merely trusted to their memories; for then if the judges should forget it, or should die, the servant might go free; or if it was not the custom at first to record it, yet very probably it was in David's time. It seems they used to convey lands at first without writings; Ruth 4:7; but not afterwards. Jeremiah 12:10. I subscribed the evidence, or as it is in the Hebrew, I wrote in the book. But the psalmist also speaks here prophetically, and is representing Christ. Christ freely and willingly became God's servant by becoming incarnate, and therefore, instead of the words, "Mine ear hast thou bored," has these, "A body hast thou prepared me;" and as the servant that had his ear bored, learned obedience by what he suffered; it was a testimony of his real desire to serve him, that he was willing to suffer this in order to it. So did Christ learn obedience by the things that he suffered by the sacrifice of his body; so that when it is said, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, but a body hast thou prepared for me;" it is as much as if he had said, These sacrifices of beasts, etc. are insignificant in themselves, but my crucifixion is the true sacrifice that God delights in.