With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Read Chapter 6
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
For what is asked of you, O man? Only that you fear God: seek for him, walk after him, follow in his ways. “With what shall I win over the Lord? Shall I win him over with burnt offerings?” The Lord is not reconciled, nor are sins redeemed, with tens of thousands of young goats or thousands of rams or with the fruits of unholiness, but the grace of the Lord is won with a good life.
Is everyone who is turning from sin to faith, turning from sinful practices (as if they were his mother) to life? I shall call in evidence one of the twelve prophets, who says, “Am I to make an offering of my firstborn son for my impiety? Should I offer the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?” Can the mother buy her way to God by giving up her firstborn? This must not be taken as an attack on the words “increase in numbers.” Micah is naming, by using the word impiety, the first impulses after birth, which do not help us to knowledge of God. If anyone misuses this as a basis for saying that that birth is evil, he should also use it as a basis for saying that it is good, in that in it we come to know the truth. “Come back to a sober and upright life and stop sinning.” But the sinner knows nothing of God. “We are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against spiritual beings, potent in temptation, the rulers of this dark world,” so there is forbearance. This is why Paul says, “I ...
What shall I offer This is spoken in the person of the people, desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God. (Challoner)
They can answer nothing in their own defence.
