Hebrews 10:5-7

 

 

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Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: Dio eiserchomenos (PMPMSN) eis ton kosmon legei, (3SPAI) thusian kai prosphoran ouk ethelesas, (2SAAI) soma de katertiso (2SAMI) moi
Amplified
: Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer]; 
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: That is why he says as he enters the world: “You did not desire sacrifice and offering; it is a body you have prepared for me. (Westminster Press)
NLT: That is why Christ, when he came into the world, said, "You did not want animal sacrifices and grain offerings. But you have given me a body so that I may obey you. (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Therefore, when Christ enters the world, he says: 'Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me.  (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest:  Wherefore, when coming into the world He says, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.  (
Erdmans
Young's Literal: Wherefore, coming into the world, he saith, 'Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not will, and a body Thou didst prepare for me,

References

Albert Barnes
John Calvin
Adam Clarke
Thomas Constable
Dan Fortner
Scott Grant
Dave Guzik
Matthew Henry
Jamieson, F, B
S Lewis Johnson
F B Meyer
Phil Newton
Phil Newton
A W Pink
A W Pink
John Piper
A T Robertson
Ray Stedman
Today in the Word
Marvin Vincent
Drew Worthen
Precept Ministries

Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10:1-10 Why Did Christ Come?
Hebrews 10:1-18 Doing God's Will - And Liking It
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10
Hebrews 10:1-10 The Shadow and the Reality

Hebrews 10:5: An Ancient Hebrew Custom
Hebrews 10:1-18 What Can Wash Away My Sins? (1)

Hebrews 10:1-18 What Can Wash Away My Sins? (2)

Hebrews 10:1-18 Perfected for all time

Hebrews 10 Word Pictures
Hebrews 10:1-10 A Willing Sacrifice
Hebrews 10:1-18 Hebrews 10:1-18
Hebrews 10: Word Studies
Hebrews 9:23 - 10:1-21 Draw Near To God
Hebrews Inductive Study Part 2

THEREFORE WHEN HE COMES INTO THE WORLD HE SAYS SACRIFICE AND OFFERING HE SAYS THOU HAST NOT DESIRED: dio eiserchomenos (PMPMSN) eis ton kosmon legei (3SPAI) thusian kai prosphoran ouk ethelesas (2SAAI): (7; 1:6; Matthew 11:3; Luke 7:19;) (Psalms 40:6-8; 50:8-23; Isaiah 1:11; Jeremiah 6:20; Amos 5:21,22)

Therefore (1352) (dio) hearkens back to the truths just recorded regarding the impotency and inadequacy of animal sacrifices to make the worshiper perfect and give them a clean conscience.

Not (3756) (ou) indicates absolute negation of what follows.

Desired (2309) (thelo) speaks of an active decision of one's will, implying volition and purpose. To have a desire for something.

At first glance this verse might seem confusing for was it not God Himself Who ordained the Levitical sacrificial system? Indeed, it was, but it was never intended to be a mere formality or external ritual without deeper meaning. And so we see the OT repeatedly  warning Israel that sacrifices as an external formality without internal change were not pleasing to God. God always desires obedience from a heart motivated by love not legalism.

Stedman observes that in Hebrews 10:5-7 the writer quotes...

Psalm 40:6-8 from the Septuagint (LXX). They describe, in words directly ascribed to Christ, His complete willingness to sacrifice Himself to remove our sins. His was a self-giving life, not self-loving, as animal sacrifices were. Though there are different wordings here than the Hebrew text presents, nevertheless the central point is clear. Jesus saw Himself described in the Suffering Servant passages of the Old Testament (it is written about Me in the scroll), and willingly set Himself to fulfilling that role in His incarnation (Here I am.... I have come to do your will, O God). Wholehearted obedience is the quality which God desires in sacrifices. He makes the point many times in the Old Testament, notably, in 1 Samuel 15:22 ("...to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams."); Isaiah 1:11-14 (see below); and Amos 5:21-22 (see below). As Morris rightly says, “God takes no delight in the routine performance of the ritual of sacrifice” (Hebrews. Bible Study Commentary. Lamplighter Books. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1983:91). Undoubtedly, he feels the same way about routine worship services today! Hebrews 10:1-39 Let Us Go On!)

William Cowper expressed this well in rhyme...

The Heart Healed and Changed by Mercy

Sin enslaved my many years,
And led me bound and blind;
Till at length a thousand fears
Came swarming o’er my mind.

“Where,” said I, in deep distress,
“Will these sinful pleasures end?
How shall I secure my peace,
And make the Lord my friend?”

Friends and ministers said much
The gospel to enforce;
But my blindness still was such,
I chose a legal course:

Much I fasted, watch’d and strove,
Scarce would shew my face abroad,
Fear’d almost to speak or move,
A stranger still to God.

Thus afraid to trust His grace,
Long time did I rebel;
Till despairing of my case,
Down at His feet I fell:

Then my stubborn heart He broke,
And subdued me to His sway;
By a simple word He spoke,
“Thy sins are done away.”

In Psalm 51 David declared...

Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17)

In Isaiah 11, in strong terms God ask faithless, rebellious Israel...

"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, And the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.
12 "When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?
13 "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them.
15 "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. (Note: even in the midst of God's diatribe, He offers the way of escape in the next two verses)
16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:11-17)

Mark records that...

AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:33)

Through His prophet Amos God declared...

21 "I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.
23 "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
24 "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 "Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?
26 "You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. (Amos 5:21-26) (Comment: Note verse 25 speaks of sacrifices to God but verse 26 indicates the duplicity of their hearts to run after vain idols!)

Samuel's words to disobedient King Saul (as God removes the kingdom from him) explain what God has always desired...

And 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. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king. (1Samuel 15:22-23)

God does not delight in external acts or ritual of worship. He always inspects the giver, before He inspects the gift, offering or praise. How can one who is unclean offer a clean sacrifice? The constant urging of Scripture is that God’s servants give their hearts and their lives in contrition and brokenness of spirit before they observe feasts, fasts, sabbaths, sacrifices, etc. Rote religion is never a substitute for purity of heart.

BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED FOR ME: soma de katertiso (2SAMI) moi: (
10; 2:14; 8:3; Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Jeremiah 31:22; Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 4:2,3; 2 John 1:7)

The original Hebrew of Psalm 40:6 reads as follows in the NAS...

Sacrifice and meal offering Thou hast not desired; My ears Thou hast opened; Burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required.

The LXX writers translated this verse as follows substituting soma (body) for otia (ear)...

Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me: whole-burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin thou didst not require.

In Exodus 21:6 when the master pierced a servant's ear with an awl, the servant was to serve the master permanently. Thereafter the servant was in a sense to hear and obey only the voice of his master. This OT picture is a foreshadowing of Christ, Who willingly became a bondservant (see notes Phil 2:5; 2:6; 2:7; 2:8), even to the point of death, in perfect obedience to His Father's will. But before Jesus hear and obey, He had to have a human body, with human ears.

Rienecker explains that...

The words (in Psalm 40:6) "a body you have prepared for me" were evidently taken from the LXX and are an interpretative paraphrase of the Hebrew text. It could have been that the Greek translators regarded the Hebrew words as an instance of "a part for the whole," i.e., the "digging" or hollowing out of the ears is part of the total work of fashioning a human body.

It may also have been that the "ears" were taken as a symbol of obedience in that they were the organ of reception of the divine will and the body was considered the organ of the fulfillment of the divine will.

Or finally there may be illusion to the custom of piercing a slave's ears showing that he had voluntarily refused his liberty (Ex 21:1-6, Dt 15:17).

Prepared (2675)  (katartizo from katá = with + artízo = to adjust, fit, finish, in turn from ártios = fit, complete) (Click word study of katartizo) conveys the fundamental idea of putting something into its appropriate condition so it will function well. It conveys the idea of making whole by fitting together, to order and arrange properly. When applied to that which is weak and defective, it denotes setting right what has gone wrong, to restore to a former condition, whether mending broken nets or setting broken bones.  To make fitted or equipped for a duty or function.  To make someone completely adequate or sufficient for something. To thoroughly prepare something to meet demands.

Wuest adds that katartízō

"has in it the idea of equipping something or preparing it for future use." (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos)

Katartízō was used in secular Greek to describe a trainer who adjusts parts of the body, as a surgical term of the setting of a broken bone or putting a dislocated limb back in place or of the repairing and refitting of a damaged vessel (ship).

Hebrews 11:3 uses katartizo for preparing the world...

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared (katartizo) by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

In short, the writer is saying that God formed the human body of His Son with the same mighty power and wisdom with which He formed the universe. This can only mean that the body of Jesus, like that of Adam, was a special creation, not formed by the normal process of genetic inheritance.

In Hebrews 13 the writer uses katartizo praying that the...

the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)

GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING OT QUOTES IN NT

In Hebrews 10:5-9, the quotation follows the LXX, with a minor variation, instead of the Hebrew text, as do many of the several hundred quotations of the OT found in the N.T. Quotations are used in various ways:

(1) Invariably the authors attribute unqualified divine authority to the OT, in some instances basing their argument on one word (Mt 2:15; 22:43-45; Jn 10:34; 19:36,37; Ro 4:3; etc.).

(2) The Septuagint is usually employed, as it is here in Hebrews, in the same way as an English translation may be quoted today (Mt 1:23; cp. Isa 7:14 in LXX).

(3) Variations in quotations may originate in the desire to translate the original Hebrew more accurately than the LXX (1Cor 14:21; cp. Isa 28:11-12 in LXX and Hebrew).

(4) Many quotations were not intended to be verbatim, but are paraphrases designed to bring out the meaning or particular application (Gal 4:30 cp. Ge 21:10).

(5) Some quotations are a summary of OT truth taken from several passages, giving the sense if not the exact words of the original (Ro 11:26,27 cp. Isa 59:20,21 27:9).

(6) In some cases the quotation is only an allusion and is not intended to be an exact quotation (Ro 9:27; cp. Isa 10:22,23).

(7) the Holy Spirit who inspired the OT was free to reword a quotation just as a human author may restate his own writings in other words without impugning the accuracy of the original statement (Mt 2:6; cp. Micah 5:2). The doctrine of plenary inspiration requires only that revelation be expressed without error.

 

Hebrews 10:6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: olokautomata kai peri amartias ouk eudokesas. (2SAAI)
Amplified: In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: You took no pleasure in whole burnt-offerings and in sin-offerings. (Westminster Press)
NLT: No, you were not pleased with animals burned on the altar or with other offerings for sin. (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest:  In whole burnt offerings also for sin you took no pleasure.  (
Erdmans
Young's Literal: in burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offerings, Thou didst not delight,

IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN THOU HAST TAKEN NO PLEASURE: kai peri hamartias: holokautomata ouk eudokesas (2SAAI): (4; Leviticus 1:1-6) (Psalms 147:11; Malachi 1:10; Matthew 3:17; Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18)

Whole burnt offering (3646) (holokautoma from hol- = whole + kaustos = burnt) describes a wholly-consumed sacrifice.  This word gives rise to our English word "holocaust", which is defined by Webster as a sacrifice consumed by fire. The modern term refers of course to the mass slaughter of European Jews by the Nazis during World War II, many of whom were in fact burned to death.

The only Offering in Whom God took perfect pleasure was His only Son, Matthew recording God's testimony that...

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased (Mt 3:17)

Writing to the Ephesian saints Paul exhorted them...

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (see notes Ephesians 5:1; 5:2)

 

Hebrews 10:7 "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.' "  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: tote eipon, (1SAAI) Idou (5628) eko, (1SPAI) en kephalidi bibliou gegraptai (3SRPI) peri emou, tou poiesai, (AAN) o theos, to thelema sou
Amplified: Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God—[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book. [Ps. 40:6-8.]
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: So then I said: ‘So then I come—in the roll of the book it is written of me—to do, O God, your will.’”  (Westminster Press)
NLT: Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God-- just as it is written about me in the Scriptures.'" (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Then I said, Behold, I have come - in the volume of books it is written of me - to do your will, O God'. (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest:  Then I said, Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it stands written concerning me, to do your will, O God. (
Erdmans
Young's Literal: then I said, Lo, I come, (in a volume of the book it hath been written concerning me,) to do, O God, Thy will;'

THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD I HAVE COME IN THE ROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME TO DO THY WILL, O GOD: tote eipon (1SAAI) idou en kephalidi bibliou gegraptai (3SRPI) peri emou tou poiesai (AAN) o theos to thelema sou: (9,10; Proverbs 8:31; John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38)

When was it written of Christ to do God's will. From the beginning it was written, Moses recording God's promise to Satan...

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed (all men born into Adam and never born again into Christ) and her Seed (Messiah). He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. (Genesis 3:15)  

Henry Morris makes an interesting comment:

"The book of God had been written in heaven long before it was transmitted to men on earth, and this certainly included God's great plan of redemption (Ps 119:89 139:16 1Pe1:18-20 Rev13:8)." (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)

The Lord Jesus Christ frequently confirmed the fact that He had come into the world specifically to do the will of His Father (Jn4:34 5:30 6:38)

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