These words, though none were ever spoken in the world that could be so little intended to perplex any worshipping Israelite, nevertheless must have strangely clashed with some of his most cherished and familiar thoughts. "Thou delightest not in burnt-offering." Why then was it said that the Lord smelled a sweet savour when Noah brought forth the clean beasts after the Flood? And supposing that, in some sense, the heart was a better offering than the bullock or goat, must it not, according to all symbols and analogies, be a whole heart in order to be accepted?
I. The fiftieth Psalm exhibits the chosen race as summoned to answer for itself before its Divine King. It is assumed that the nation is holy, and that God has claimed it as holy by taking it into covenant with Himself. The covenant cannot be separated from sacrifice. This principle was embodied in the institution of the Passover; every part of the service testified that the Israelites were a dedicated, devoted, sacrificed nation. The animal was a dead offering; they were a living offering. The great trial or judgment then which the Lord of the land is making of His subjects has this issue: Have they acted as if this were their state, as if they were dedicated, sacrificed creatures? They had fancied Him altogether such a one as themselves, One who could be bribed as they were bribed. Here indeed was a wonderful exposition of that falsehood which was leading the Israelite astray in all the periods of his history. He supposed that God's toleration of his sins was to be purchased, and that sacrifice was the purchase-money.
II. No one could have taught his countrymen these lessons who had not learned that heneeded to be judged and reformed; that he could not judge and reform himself; that the Searcher of hearts, the King of his land, was doing that work for him; that to submit frankly and freely to that process was the man's part of the covenant, was the sacrifice which God, above all others, demanded of him. And this is the link between the fiftieth and the fifty-first Psalms.
III. Here was the explanation of the strange fact that a broken heart was better than a whole one; that the maimed offering might be presented by the Israelite, who was to bring only of the firstlings of his flock. The sacrifice was a more complete, a more entire, one than David had ever yet presented. The discovery that he had nothing to present, that he was poor and worthless, was the discovery that he belonged wholly to God, that he was His, and that his sin had consisted in withdrawing from his allegiance, in choosing another condition than his true and actual one.
F. D. Maurice, The Doctrine of Sacrifice,p. 86.
References: Psalms 51:16; Psalms 51:17. W. M. Punshon, Sermons,2nd series, p. 283, and Old Testament Outlines,p. 117; C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times,p. 292.Psalms 51:16-19. R. S. Candlish, Gospel of Forgiveness,p. 422.