Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
To what purpose, etc. "What have I to do" - The prophet Amos has expressed the same sentiments with great elegance: -
I hate, I despise your feasts;
And I will not delight in the odour of your solemnities:
Though ye offer unto me burnt-offerings
And your meat-offerings, I will not accept:
Neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatlings.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
And the melody of your viols I will not hear.
But let judgment roll down like waters;
And righteousness like a mighty stream.
Amos 5:21-24.
So has Persius; see Sat. 2 v. 71-75: -
\ri720 " Quin damus id Superis, de magna quod dare lanae ," etc.
The two or three last pages of Plato' s Euthyphro contain the same idea. Sacrifices and prayers are not profitable to the offerer, nor acceptable to the gods, unless accompanied with an upright life.
The fat of fed beasts, etc. - The fat and the blood are particularly mentioned, because these were in all sacrifices set apart to God. The fat was always burnt upon the altar, and the blood was partly sprinkled, differently on different occasions, and partly poured out at the bottom of the altar. See Leviticus 4.
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