The Broken Offering That God Wants

Psalm 51 and the Exception to the Sacrifices of Israel

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Because of sin, we are not whole. And because we’re not whole, God told the Israelites that their sacrifices must be whole, unblemished. Let’s think this through.

Outside a union with Christ, the corruptive and corrosive effects of sin have left us with malformed hearts, disordered affections, a rebellious bent, and idolatrous instincts. The blemishes (or stains) of sin are many. And the depth of their reach means that we are unable to cleanse ourselves.

In order to approach the Lord at the designated sanctuary, the Israelites were to bring offerings that were unblemished. This requirement symbolized what the worshiper should be but, because of sin, wasn’t. The Lord is worthy of untainted worship from an unblemished life.

Yet sin pollutes. It stains and corrupts. It mars. So, through Moses, the Lord told the Israelites:

“You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it” (Lev. 22:20–21).

What kinds of things counted as blemishes that would exclude an offering?

“Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the LORD or give them to the LORD as a food offering on the altar. . . . Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the LORD; you shall not do it within your land, neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you” (Lev. 22:22, 24).

The Lord would reject blemished offerings because broken and damaged sacrifices were unfit in his presence at the sanctuary.

The background for the nature of sacrifices in Leviticus 22 is important for how we understand David’s words in Psalm 51.

David said, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering” (Ps. 51:16). The Lord had certainly instituted the sacrificial system, as well as regulating its many offerings and feasts, but the point of the whole institution was the heart of the worshiper drawing near to God.

If the worshiper despised the Lord, the sacrifices were futile. If the worshiper lived in rebellion against the Lord, the various offerings were a mere ritual that lacked substance. God’s delight was in the repentant image-bearer, not in the ox or the lamb or the bird or the grain. He wanted the worshiper to trust him.

When David penned Psalm 51, he had committed sexual sin and had experienced the exposing and chastising hand of God. The superscription of the psalm makes this clear, and the reference is to what happened in 2 Samuel 11–12.

David needed to repent of his sin, for God receives the penitent worshiper. Psalm 51 is part of the fruit of David’s repentance. When you read David’s words in this famous psalm, you come across a reference to a broken offering. Given what we know from Leviticus 22, we would reasonably expect broken offerings to be rejected. But God doesn’t reject this one. This one is different.

According to David, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:17).

A broken spirit and broken heart—that’s what God wants. A heart that is broken from what, though? This heart is distressed over sin and is grieved over how such disobedience has offended the Lord. This heart is “broken and contrite” because the sinner is remorseful. This sinner sees the heinousness of sin and knows that judgment is deserved. This sinner feels the conviction of the Spirit and is ready to turn from folly and to hope in God.

The Israelites were not to bring any broken sacrifices other than their own broken hearts. If a stiff-necked Israelite brought an unblemished animal, such an outward act did not fool the Lord or please the Lord.

The Lord knows the heart. Therefore, the Israelites needed to approach the Lord with the offering he would welcome and delight in: a broken and contrite heart.

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