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“O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51.15-17). This passage by David certainly has a connection to Hosea's statement that God desires mercy and not sacrifice. We will continue to explore the meaning of the term sacrifice in Hosea's statement, the same statement that Jesus cited on at least two occasions (Matthew 9.13 and Matthew 12.7).

As any casual reader of the scriptures would soon notice, the phrases sacrifice, offering, burnt offering, burnt sacrifice, and similar phrases are found hundreds of times in the Bible. In addition, the Old Testament is literally filled with details of sacrifices and offerings that were made by a literal host of characters. The establishment of the Levitical Priesthood revolved around the offering of sacrifices and the ways which God had ordained that such sacrifices be made. The minute details of just how, and when, and who should make such offerings fill page after page of Holy Scripture. Yet, we come to passages such as the ones just cited and we find God saying that He desires mercy over sacrifice. What are we to make of these facts?

They certainly do not mean that God never desired sacrifices under any circumstance, otherwise, why would He have gone to such pains to tell how and when they were to be made? Neither do these statements mean that God authorized sacrifices to be made, but He didn't really appreciate them under any circumstance. Rather, allow me to suggest one of two possible meanings. Perhaps God was simply saying through Hosea that sacrifice apart from mercy was not what He desired. It would be similar to God saying I do not desire baptism apart from a penitent heart. In other words, Hosea used an ellipsis in saying, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice [alone].” Another possible meaning is that the word sacrifice as used in Hosea 6.6 stands for all the overt acts of worship, sacrifice being the most prominent at the time. This being the case, God was merely saying that the formal acts of worship in which one engages were not nearly as important to Him as the attitude of a merciful heart that a person possesses day after day. It is my belief that the latter of these two meanings is exactly what God was saying through Hosea and which Jesus echoed when challenged by the Pharisees in Matthew 9.9-13.

When we elevate formal worship (a specific time and place in which acts of worship are planned and executed) above the day to day attitude of heart which we are to have, we go beyond that which is written. In fact, we explicitly contradict that which has been written. Like the Pharisees of Jesus' day who had all the rules down pat and who played judge and jury when anyone overtly breached their rules, we also strain out a gnat and swallow a camel when we fail to understand that NOTHING before God can be pleasing that does not begin with a merciful heart! After all, how can we expect to be forgiven of God when we refuse to display the same love toward our fellowman that we frequently take for granted from our Creator?

As for this segment of this study on God's desire for mercy and not sacrifice, we will close with a question to ponder. Suppose that two people are worshippers of God. One has a contrite and pure heart but is mistaken in how he is to worship. The second person is careful to follow all the rules for worship, but his heart is rotten to the core; he is unmerciful and down-right mean. Given what you know of God's character, which of the two would you prefer to be on judgement day, or would it make a difference? (Continued)

Questions:

1. Is it reasonable to believe that God never under any circumstances desired sacrifice? Why or why not?

2. What is an ellipsis? Can you find other biblical illustrations of an ellipsis (see John 6.27 & 1 Corinthians 1.17)?

3. My conclusion is that sacrifice as used in Matthew 9.13 was put for the entirety of formal worship activities. This is a synecdoche where the part is put for the whole. David used this same figure in Psalm 44.6a; can you spot it? Can you find other figures of speech where the part is put for the whole?

4. Why are overt acts of worship not of equal importance to a merciful heart?

"Word from Scotland" from Sandy Shaw

"Lord God, You Have a Funny Way of Working at Times"