This week we begin worship with:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
The first two words of this verse in Hebrew are a construct (zeḇaḥ ĕlōhîm). The equivalent in English would be a hyphen to convey connection rather than possession. “God-sacrifices” rather than “sacrifices of God” (ESV) or “My Sacrifice” (NIV). They are what would be appropriate to give over and devote to God.
The second two words are the construct “broken-spirit” (šāḇar rûaḥ) and, yes, broken means broken and suitable to be discarded. The word “contrite” does not mean voluntarily humble. It means crushed under the weight of one’s guilt (dāḵâ).
And the last word “despise” (bāzâ) is what Cain thought of his birthright (Genesis 25:34), when he valued an immediate serving of soup more than his future inheritance.
So, the Psalmist wants us to know that when we approach God with our worst-self and give that heap of failures and short-comings to Him, we are acceptable. Not “acceptable” meaning a barely passing grade, but rather as a sacrifice worthy to be given to the Almighty God.
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