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It is certainly noticeable that this truth should be expressed by Solomon. For the one great work of his life was the erection of the temple wherein sacrifice should be offered to the Lord. He might have been excused if his leaning had been toward the ceremonial rather than the moral. But he was not the first Hebrew thinker to give utterance to the idea. It is interesting to trace -

I. ITS HISTORY IN HEBREW THOUGHT. We find:

1. Samuel holding this view, and declaring it in firm and powerful language (1 Samuel 15:22).

2. David filled with a deep sense of it as he humbled his soul before God (Psalm 51:10, 15-19).

3. Asaph powerfully affected by it as he wrote his sacred song (Psalm 50:8-15).

4. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah insisting upon this truth in strong and fervent words (Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:22, 23; Micah 6:6-8).

5. John the Baptist making nothing of ceremonial religion, and making everything of a true and genuine repentance.

6. Our Lord himself; by his teaching and his attitude, preferring the penitent publican and harlot to the much-sacrificing but hard-hearted Pharisee; while by his own sacrificial death he removed forever the need of any further offering on any altar whatsoever.

7. His inspired apostles declaring the needlessness of any sacrifice except those which are of a spiritual order (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 13:15, 16).

II. ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO OURSELVES. We naturally ask - What is the relation of devotion to duty or righteousness? and we answer:

1. No measure of devotion can make up for moral laxity. We might be worshipping in the house of the Lord day and night; but if we were false, or cruel, or dishonest, or impure in our daily practice, we should certainly incur his righteous anger.

2. Moral probity by itself will not take the place of the direct approach of our hearts to God. It is much that a man should be just in all his dealings, kind in his various relationships, blameless in his bearing and behaviour - very much. But it is not everything; it, leaves out one essential thing. God desires and demands of us that we ourselves come into close and living union and communion with himself, that we look to him and address him, and trust and love him as our Divine Father and Redeemer. And no propriety of behaviour, no excellency of life, will take the place of this.

3. Devotion and duty must coexist, and will sustain one another.

(1) We should so worship God that we shall be stronger to obey his commandments in the home and in the school and in the shop - everywhere. We may safely conclude that our sacrifice on the sabbath is altogether imperfect and unsatisfactory if it does not lead to a worthier life in the week.

(2) And we should so act in all the various paths of life that" with clean hands and a pure heart" we can go up to the house of the Lord, and render acceptable service of prayer and praise as we bow before him in the sanctuary. They are complementary one to the other; and no wise man will disregard or disparage either. - C.

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KJV: To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

WEB: To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.