Ver. 6, 7—“ In burnt-offerings and [sacrifices] for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.”
Two things are asserted in the foregoing verse in general: 1. The rejection of sacrifices for the end of the complete expiation of sin; 2. The provision of a new way or means for the accomplishment of that end. Both these things are spoken unto apart and more dis- tinctly in these two verses; the former, verse 6; the latter, verse 7: which we must also open, that they may not appear a needless repetition of what was before spoken.
Ver. 6. He resumes and further declares what was in general before affirmed, verse 5, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not.” Hereof we have yet a further confirmation and explication; which it stood in need of... For notwithstanding that general assertion, two things may yet be inquired about: 1. What were those “sacri- fices and offerings which God would not?” for they being of various sorts, some of them only may be intended, seeing they are only mentioned in general. 2. What is meant by that expression, that “God would them not,” seeing it is certain that they were appointed and commanded by him?
Wherefore our Lord Jesus Christ, whose words in the psalm these are, doth not only reassert what was spoken before in general, but
also gives a more particular account of what sacrifices they were which he intended. And two things he declares concerning them :—
1. That they were not such sacrifices as men had found out and appointed. Such the world was filled withal; which were offered unto devils, and which the people of Israel themselves were ad- dicted unto. Such were their sacrifices unto Baal and Moloch, which God so often complaineth against and detesteth. But they were such sacrifices as were appointed and commanded by the law. Hence he expresseth them by their legal names, as the apostle immediately takes notice,—they were “ offered by the law,” verse 8.
2. He shows what were those sacrifices appointed by the law
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466 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. X.
which in an especial manner he intended; and they were those which were appointed for the legal and typical expiation of sin. The general names of them in the original are 171 N2t, The first was the general name of all victims or sacrifices by blood; the other of all offerings of the fruits of the earth, as flour, oil, wine, and the like. For herein respect is had unto the general design of the context, which is the removal of all Jegal sacrifices and offerings, of what sort soever, by the coming and office of Christ. In compliance there- with they are expressed under these two general names, which com- prehend them all. But as unto the especial argument in hand, it concerns only the bloody sacrifices offered for the atonement of sin, which were of the first sort only, or 0°31. And this kind of sacri- fices, whose incompetency to expiate sin he declares, is referred unto two heads:—
(1.) “ Burnt-offerings.” In the Hebrew it is ndiy, in the singular number; which is usually rendered by éAcxaurduara, in the plural. And sacrifices of this kind were called niby, or “ascensions,” from their adjunct, the rising up or ascending of the smoke of the sacrifices in their burning on the altar; a pledge of that sweet savour which should arise unto God above from the sacrifice of Christ here below. And sometimes they are called DWN, or “ firings,” from the way and means of their con- sumption on the altar, which was by fire. And this respects both the 74, or the continual sacrifice, morning and evening, for the whole congregation, which was a burnt-offering, and all those which on especial occasions were offered with respect unto the expiation of sin. :
(2.) The other sort is expressed by NN8OO; which the Greek ren- ders by wep} cmaprins, “for” or “concerning sin.” For SDN, the verb in Kal, signifieth “to sin;” and in Piel, “to expiate sin.” Hence the substantive, 7800, is used in both these senses; and where it is to be taken in either of them, the cir- cumstances of the text do openly declare. Where it is taken in the latter sense, the Greek renders it by qep) &mapriag, “a sacrifice for sin;” which expression is retained by the apostle, Rom, viii. 8, and in this place. And the sacrifices of this kind were of two sorts, or this kind of sacrifices had a double use. For, [1.] The great anni- versary sacrifice of expiation for the sins of the whole congregation, Lev. xvi, was a NON, or wep? cwapriac, “a sin offering.” [2.] The same kind of offering was also appointed unto and for particular persons, who had contracted the guilt of particular sins, Lev. iv. This sacrifice, therefore, was appointed both for the sins of the whole congregation, namely, all their sins, of what sort soever, Lev. xvi. 21, and the especial sins of particular persons. The one offering of Christ was really to effect what by all of them was represented.
“Oroxavra- pure,
Tlep} apuprias.
ss
VER. 5-10.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 467
Concerning all these sacrifices it is added, Oix eddéxnous,—“ Thou hadst no pleasure.” In opposition hereunto, God gives testimony from heaven concerning the Lord Christ and his undertaking, “ This is my beloved Son, @ @ evdéxnou,’—*“ in whom I am well pleased,” Matt. ili. 17, xvii. 5. See Isa. xlii. 1; Eph. i. 6. This is the great antithesis between the law and the gos- pel: “Sacrifices and offerings for sin odx evdéanoag:” “This is my beloved Son, gy g ddéxqou.” The word signifies “to approve of with delight,” “to rest in with satisfaction;” the exercise of eddox/x, the divine good-will. The original word in the psalm is Fek¥ ; which sig- nifies “to ask, to seek, to inquire, to require.” Wherefore, as we observed before, although the apostle doth directly express the mind and sense of the Holy Ghost in the whole testimony, yet he doth not exactly render the words in their precise signification, word for word. Thus he renders A¥27 by 74anous, and FONw by eidéunous, when an exact translation would have required the contrary appli- cation of the words. But the meaning is the same, and the two words used by the psalmist are sie represented in these used by