Passage To Study:

Ps. 50:10-13

[10] For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
[11] I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
[12] “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
[13] Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?

Flow of the Passage:

• (Verse 10) - God owns all of the animals that exist.

• (Verse 11) - He knows of every bad and wild beast.

• (Verse 12) - He is not dependent on man to provide sustenance for Him.

• (Verse 13) - The sacrifices were not for Him to eat anyway!

What Do I Think About It?

(Verse 10) - The overriding idea here is that even if God ''needed" the offering itself He was not dependent on man to get them for Him. He has plenty of animals to draw any needed from. The cattle is probably a reference to either numberless cattle or numberless hills. The idea here is that God doesn't to come to their particular hill for their particular cattle. The implication might even be taken that He already owned the cattle they were offering. It would be a legitimate implication!

(Verse 11) - The reference here is to the full knowledge God has of these wild beasts. He knows fully even the wild birds that flitter from place to place. This is full and complete knowledge indeed. God knows them well enough that, had He need, He could easily adapt them to suit that need. This is further evidence that there is no need on His part for the offerings of men.

The reference to the wild beasts says that they are "with me" and is a reference to their never being out of His presence. It is a more general reference speaking of any moving thing, not just of the beasts. Every thing is His and is ever before Him. There is no sense in which man, in sacrifice, brings God something He needs or does not already have in great abundance.

(Verse 12) - The "if" is not meant to imply that God does get hungry. It is a device to say that God is not in any way dependant upon man for anything. Even if He had a need (which He does not) it would not be needful to come to men for the meeting of that need. The reason for this is that His resources are unlimited and untaxed. Even that which is offered to Him is already His.

There is no point to the idea that, in sacrifice we are giving God something He needs. This is the reformed doctrine of impassability. The truth that God is in no fashion dependant upon man for anything necessary to His existence. He is entirely self-sufficient. All that He needs is already His. We bring nothing needful to God to the equation.

(Verse 13) - On top of all of this, the view that God has some need that is met by the sacrifice misunderstands the basic nature of God anyway. God has no physicality that could benefit from a physical offering. To think thus is to completely misunderstand the nature and intention of the offering process. It was never intended to be a physical mechanism by which man approached God. It was always to be simply a pointer to Christ and means by which God would bless His people, not the trigger of it.

What Difference Does This Make To  Me?

Privilege and stewardship are the key ideas here.  It is a great privilege for us to interact with God.  Of all of the people in the world, we are a part of those which He has chosen.  What could be greater and better than that?  Further, there is great stewardship in our relationship with Him.  Israel fell down badly in her stewardship of what God had entrusted to her.  They had the oracles of God and the prophets - great treasures indeed!  Yet, they strayed after foreign gods, and even after the captivity, refused to yield to God the obedience that was His and that their possession of the revelation of God dictated!  How sobering and even frightening an example they are!

Is There Anything For Me To Do?

 We, too, have great privilege before God.  We have been given great things and we must see to it that we uphold our privilege and live up to our stewardship!

God is Not Needy