Thomas Aquinas, on Ps 39:7

“Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not require:”

“"Then I said, Behold, I come." Here he assigns the cause of the preaching of divine works from his own side, showing his resolve. And first he shows his resolve. Second, he shows it to be in conformity with the divine will, at "In the head of the book." These words someone might wish to explain of David, and connect them thus: as if to say, behold, I come, by a spiritual approach to you; and, "In the head of the book it is written of me." "As head among the tribes of Israel I have established you." But because the Apostle explains this of Christ, let us also explain it of him. And therefore when he says "Then," he designates the cause and necessity of Christ's coming: because the sacrifices of the old covenant were not acceptable to God: because Heb. 7: "The law brought nothing to perfection." And "it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins," Heb. 10. And therefore it was necessary that the true sacrifice come and be manifested. And therefore he says, "Behold, I come," namely through the incarnation. And he says "Behold," as if to say, I am at hand because of the nearness: Is. 14: "His time is near to come": Ps. 79: "Stir up your might and come." And this resolve is in conformity with the divine will; hence he says, "In the head of the book." The book is Christ. A book is an instrument in which the conceptions of the heart are contained; in Christ, however, are the conceptions of the divine intellect: Col. 2: "In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God." The head of the book is God the Father: 1 Cor. 11: "The head of Christ is God." Therefore, "in the head of the book," that is, in the will of God the Father, "it is written," that is, it is ordained "of me" that I should come. Or otherwise: there is the book of predestination, which is the book of life: Ps. 68: "Let the condemned be blotted out of the book of life, or of the living." In this book all who are to be saved are written, but in order: because at the head of this book the Savior is written, and all are written through him: Rom. 8: "Whom he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son," etc. Eph. 1: "He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy"; as if to say, it is not written of Christ as of others, but "in the head of the book." Or, "in the head of the book" of the Psalms, because the first Psalm was written about Christ: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly," etc. Thus he shows his resolve to come.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.