Proverbs 15:8 Commentary and Bible Study

The contrast has greater force because a sacrifice is a gift to God and stands for all the service which a person may perform in worshipping the Lord. This may include many things that are costly, for David says, ‘neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.’ Because it was the apex of Israel’s worship, it is often made to stand for the whole as when David, in praying for a blessing on an individual, requests God to, ‘Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice’ (Psalm 20:3). But prayer is the beginning of worship and should rise higher to the point of offering spiritual sacrifices to the Lord. Nevertheless, in the proverb the sacrifice is refused as an abomination and the prayer is accepted and delighted in by the Lord.This same idea is found in the words of Christ, ‘Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’ (Matthew 9:13), and in Isaiah’s warning to his nation, ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting’ (Isaiah 1:11-13).The proverb teaches that externals count for nothing if the heart is not right, indeed they may even provoke God to more anger than if the worshipper had not come at all. The reason is that the sacrifice of the wicked is a mask for his hypocrisy and what he really says by this compound act is that he believes that God is one who can be deceived and taken advantage of. He is a God who does not realise the difference between sincere and insincere worshippers and can be fobbed off with a little outward performance, while the wickedness of the heart goes undetected by him. This is the reverse of the real situation, for the truth is that what God sees first of all is the heart of man. It is only because grace has found a way to pardon the sin that is present in an individual – for sin is found in every heart – and to justify that one on the basis of the atoning death of Christ that he is accepted by God. But until we are accepted in his sight, we cannot come to worship him at all. Having been justified, then our token sacrifices can be accepted by the Lord, even though they are nothing to him, and he has ordained the offering of them only to provide sinful man with a means of worshipping him.But the prayer of the upright is a humble thing and is brought before the Lord by one who knows himself to be deeply unworthy. And yet, it is his delight because his mercy delights to bring near to him the repentant sinner in spite of his unworthiness.