Using the language of caricature, he dramatically emphasized that the entire world is his anyway. To the contrary, the essence of worship was not in the sacrifices at all, but in thanksgiving, in paying vows to God, in acknowledged dependence on him, and in honoring him (Ps. 50:14–15). The sacrificial system was simply “an avenue through which the worship and thanksgiving of the covenant people could be directed to God.70 The covenant was the heart of worship. Keil and Delitzsch have commented on
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