What Does Psalms 40:7 Mean?

Verse 7 gives the response-speech to verse 6's opened-ears-not-ritual-sacrifice declaration: "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.'" The then-I-said-behold-I-come (az amarti hinneh bati, then I said behold I have come: the hinneh-bati of the dramatic-self-presentation : the speaker who has heard with opened ears/verse 6 now announces their arrival before YHWH: "here I am, I have come") and the written-about-me-in-the-scroll-of-the-book (bimlel sefer katuv alay, in the scroll of the book it is written concerning me: the megillat-sefer/scroll-of-the-book and the katuv-alay/written-about-me : the divine-writing of the appointment, the predestination in the scroll that defines who the psalmist is and what they are to do). The hinneh-bati-bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay is the self-understanding of the one who has been appointed: the scroll speaks of me; I have come to fulfill it.

The bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay (in the scroll of the book it is written about me) is the theological self-consciousness of the Messianically-applied speaker: who am I? The one about whom the scroll speaks. This is the prophetic-fulfillment identity: not inventing a role but discovering the role written about oneself in the divine scroll. Ezekiel 2:9-10's scroll containing "words of lamentation and mourning and woe" that the prophet is commanded to eat (Ezekiel 3:1-3) uses the same scroll-of-divine-appointment: the prophet is defined and appointed by the divine-scroll. The Messianic application of verse 7 is Hebrews 10:7's highest point: Christ says these words as the one about whom the entire scroll (Torah, Prophets, Writings) speaks.

Luke 4:21's "today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" is verse 7's hinneh-bati-bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay in the Nazareth synagogue: Jesus reads Isaiah 61:1-2 and says "today this Scripture is fulfilled" : the bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay (the scroll of the book is written about me) enacted in real-time. John 5:39's "you search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that Bear witness about me" is verse 7's bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay stated by Jesus to the Jewish leadership: the scroll bears witness about me, and I have come (hinneh-bati). Luke 24:44's "these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" is verse 7's entire bimlel-sefer-katuv-alay scope: the entire Hebrew canon speaks of Christ (Law, Prophets, and Psalms including Psalm 40:7 itself).