After reading this psalm several times, it hit me: These are the literal words of YHWH, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I mean, his speech is presented in quotation marks, from verse 5 to verse 23 at the very end of the psalm. This isn’t some disembodied voice in a primordial garden; or from a burning bush; or from the midst of a whirlwind. This is a fiery god who has a lot to say.
I wonder how this psalmist decided it was OK to put so many words in the Mighty One’s mouth.
His first topic is the blood sacrifice, specifically burnt offerings — and he’s talking animals here, not humans. Let’s see now. He lists bulls and goats, in particular, but he also says he owns all the animals on earth — all the cattle, birds and wild beasts — and so this kind of offering is not accepted unless the penitent also gives thanks and begs for pardon. Roast beast isn’t enough.
I wonder why burning another being’s flesh and drinking its blood was ever seen as an offering.
YHWH goes on to say he lets wicked people make meaningless sacrifices all the time, and that they are as bad as thieves, adulterers, liars, and slanderers — you know, all the rotten, stinking things that even hypocritical leaders seem to get away with doing. Their followers just hold their noses. “I will rebuke you,” YHWH finally tells them, “and set [things straight] before your eyes.”
I wonder why YHWH had those laws — eat this, drink that — but wasn’t quick to enforce them.