We’ve all heard it. We’ve heard people pray it. We ourselves have prayed it. “The Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” That’s true! The Lord himself says this in Psalm 50. When we find ourselves in need we are reminded of God’s limitless resources. Every beast of the forest is his—as are the cattle on a thousand hills. That’s a lot of cows! The point, however, isn’t that there are 1,000 hills out there, each with a herd of cattle that belongs to the Lord. As he says later in Psalm 50, “for the world and its fullness are mine”. It’s all his. All the cattle, everywhere belong to the Lord.
Because the Lord loves us and he placed us in this world as stewards of what rightfully belongs to him, it is good and right to rely on him for our daily bread. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Why should we ask this of the Lord? If we are to eat bread—or anything else—we are necessarily eating something that rightfully belongs to the Lord. It is, therefore, a gift from the Lord even if he gives it to us through our own efforts. This is not the point of him owning cattle on a thousand hills, however.
A quick walk through the psalm reveals a profound truth, one that results in us being able to trust the Lord for owning the cattle on a thousand hills, even if the point of that statement is not to encourage us by recounting God’s limitless resources. In its opening verses the author describes God coming forth, and he appears for a frightening reason.
Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people: “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
Psalm 50:3-6 ESV
The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah
We’re immediately confronted with a courtroom scene, and Israel is not being called as witnesses. They themselves are on trial and God is the judge. He has issued a subpoena for his people to appear before him as defendants. He has, in fact, called witnesses: the heavens declare his righteousness. Creation itself witnesses to the goodness of God. It isn’t hard to figure out what the trial will reveal: God is proven righteous. He is the standard of holiness. Therefore, those on trial are in violation of God’s character. In verses 7–15 we see God’s first accusation in this trial of his covenant people.
“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
Psalm 50:7-15 ESV
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
He begins the trial by identifying himself with language of covenant. The first word, “Hear”, is the word used in Israel’s confession of faith: “Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is one”. He adds, “I am God, your God”. He is the God who has entered into a covenant with them. This is the same YHWH who gave to them the Torah, his self-revelation, including the instructions regarding sacrifices.
Notice that in addition to creation being a witness for the Lord, he says he himself will testify against Israel. What sort of cross-examination could Israel ever hope to offer? This Witness doesn’t even need to take an oath; whom would he swear by? Himself?
The actual accusation here is quite interesting. God says he is not testifying against them with regard to the sacrifices they were making. In fact, he acknowledges they’re sacrificing continually. They are, at great expense, offering him sacrifices. This is what a sacrifice is—a great cost. If there were no cost there would be no sacrifice. The very idea of sacrifice is something of value is lost. If there were no cost to a sacrifice, then I’ve been sacrificing liver to the Lord since I was 16, for I vowed at 16 to never eat that stuff again! I gladly walk past it in the supermarket, leaving it for the Lord. That’s not a sacrifice; there is zero cost to me.
This is why Deuteronomy 17:1 requires a perfect sacrifice. An animal that was sick or injured—that had any blemish whatsoever—was not a worthy sacrifice for there was no cost to the worshiper. As I said in last Sunday’s sermon, if your ox broke its leg, it was time for a new ox. Giving to the Lord your as-good-as-dead ox was no sacrifice. David understood this when he decided to purchase land for the Lord in order to build an altar.
In 2 Samuel 24 David asks to purchase a threshing floor from Araunah the Jebusite. A threshing floor is a flat place high on a mountain that is perfect for threshing, for there is always a breeze for separating the grain from the chaff. Araunah, recognizing the king, offers it to give it to him, for rarely is one in a position to give a gift to a king. He even offers oxen for the sacrifice and wood for the fire. He gladly gives this to David. David refused.
But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2 Samuel 24:24 ESV
A sacrifice is costly. When God puts Israel on trial, it isn’t for failing to sacrifice! They were sacrificing! God tells them their sacrifices are before him continually. But then he says he won’t accept a bull from them, or goats, or whatever they offer in sacrifice. This is when he declares, “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.” God does not receive a sacrifice from them because he is in need.
In the Ancient Near Eastern mind, the gods wanted sacrifices because they were hungry. Leo Oppenheim, an expert in Ancient Near Eastern culture, had a chapter in his book called “On the Care and Feeding of the Gods”. That title alone is quite revealing. This is not why YHWH God of Israel required sacrifices! When Israel offered sacrifices to him, they were not giving him anything that was not already his. All the beasts of the forest were his. He had so many cattle they covered a thousand hills! All the birds were his. Every creature that crawls in the field belongs to him. What on earth did Israel think they were giving him?
Then he offers his rebuke. If he were hungry, he wouldn’t tell Israel, “for the world and its fullness” belong to him. If he were hungry, where would Israel find food for him, animals that were not already his? Imagine someone stopping you on the street, taking your wallet and offering you the money inside so you can buy yourself lunch. Has he given you anything? No, of course not. Or here’s a more gentle analogy. Imagine your four-year-old offers you her Oreo. Has she given you anything? No, not really. since you’re the one who purchased the entire package of Oreos and you could, at any time, just go to the cabinet and grab one. And yet, you would be delighted when your four-year-old offers you her cookie. This is what offering sacrifices to God is! You give him what is already his, and he is delighted by this offering.
God doesn’t desire sacrifices because of his needs. He doesn’t eat the flesh of bulls. He doesn’t drink the blood of goats. They are not feeding him or providing to him anything he needs when they sacrifice, and they sacrifice continually. What is he after, then? He says in verse 14,
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Psalm 50:14-15 ESV
What a remarkable thing! God says the sacrifice he truly wants is a sacrifice of thanksgiving. That is, he wants his covenant people to express their gratitude to him. It is the acknowledgement of their dependence on him, rather than his dependence on them. To put this in more New Testament terms, a sacrifice of thanksgiving is an expression of faith. God desires faith from his people. The expression of thanksgiving is the outward expression of their reliance on YHWH God of Israel.
What is truly remarkable here is the offer! God wants their expressions of faith, seen through a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and for them to call on him in the day of trouble that he might deliver them. He says, essentially, I want you to trust me so that when you are in need, I will deliver you. This results in further sacrifices of thanksgiving, and further faith in him. What an amazing thing!
Yes, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and yes, this ought to cause us to trust him even more. It is because he owns the cattle on a thousand hills that we can trust him. This begins with recognizing there is nothing we can offer him that is not already his, and that includes our very lives. The author of Hebrews picks up this language of sacrifice and demonstrates it’s not really just about the words we say.
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:15-16 ESV
The author directly connects the words we speak with our actions. Yes, we must verbally praise the Lord with lips that acknowledge his name. The other side of the coin is not neglecting to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices—remember, a sacrifice costs us!—are pleasing to him. When God says he’s not really after the flesh and blood of bulls and goats but a sacrifice of thanksgiving, what he’s really after is us. God desires our faith, and our faith is seen both in our words and in our actions.
In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul wrote of the generosity of the Macedonians that they gave out of their poverty—their extreme poverty. He said they gave beyond their means. The truth is none of us has something to offer the Lord that we have not first received from him, and this includes our very lives. In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul asks the very pointed question, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
Every breath we take is a gift from God. Therefore God desires every breath be breathed for him. He desires the totality of our life and faith. The desire we have within us to praise him and thank him is the desire he himself has given us. God desires of us the very thing he gives us. God gives us an Oreo, desiring that we would want to share it with him. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. That’s a lot of cows! He doesn’t need anything. He desires us. Let’s give him what he wants.