NT Text: Hebrews 10:5-9
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): Typology + Contrast
Significance: Put in mouth of Christ at incarnation ("when he comes into the world"). Old covenant sacrifices insufficient; Christ's obedient offering of his body fulfills God's will. LXX's "body you prepared" instead of MT's "ears you have dug" fits incarnation theology. "Then" (tote) shows temporal sequence—annuls first to establish second. Climax of superiority of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. The psalm's critique of sacrificial system (God desires obedience not offerings) finds ultimate fulfillment in Christ whose incarnation and obedient death accomplish what the law's sacrifices could never do—decisively remove sins.
Prosopological Shift: Speaker (David offering himself in worship → Christ entering the world at the incarnation). David's first-person prayer about open ears and ready obedience becomes the Son's own speech at the moment of his incarnation. Hebrews uses the LXX rendering ("a body you have prepared for me") prosopologically to identify Christ as the true sacrificer who replaces the Levitical system.
NT Use Pattern: Alternate Textual — Same as Heb 10:5-7: the LXX "body" reading is what makes Hebrews's incarnation-sacrifice argument work. The Hebrew text does not contain the "body" reference.
Anchor Text: Ps 40:6-8 — A Body You Have Prepared