St Mark Chapter XII : Verses 28-34
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| And there came one of the scribes... J-J Tissot |
[29] And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.
[30] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.
[31] And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
[32] And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him.
[33] And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.
[34] And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
[35] And Jesus answering, said, teaching in the temple: How do the scribes say, that Christ is the son of David?
[36] For David himself saith by the Holy Ghost: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool. [37] David therefore himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And a great multitude heard him gladly.
[28] Et accessit unus de scribis, qui audierat illos conquirentes, et videns quoniam bene illis responderit, interrogavit eum quod esset primum omnium mandatum. [29] Jesus autem respondit ei : Quia primum omnium mandatum est : Audi Israel, Dominus Deus tuus, Deus unus est : [30] et diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua, et ex tota virtute tua. Hoc est primum mandatum. [31] Secundum autem simile est illi : Diliges proximum tuum tamquam teipsum. Majus horum aliud mandatum non est. [32] Et ait illi scriba : Bene, Magister, in veritate dixisti, quia unus est Deus, et non est alius praeter eum. [33] Et ut diligatur ex toto corde, et ex toto intellectu, et ex tota anima, et ex tota fortitudine, et diligere proximum tamquam seipsum, majus est omnibus holocautomatibus, et sacrificiis. [34] Jesus autem videns quod sapienter respondisset, dixit illi : Non es longe a regno Dei. Et nemo jam audebat eum interrogare. [35] Et respondens Jesus dicebat, docens in templo : Quomodo dicunt scribae Christum filium esse David? [36] Ipse enim David dicit in Spiritu Sancto : Dixit Dominus Domino meo : Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. [37] Ipse ergo David dicit eum Dominum, et unde est filius ejus? Et multa turba eum libenter audivit.
Notes
Note. — From St Matthew we learn that the Pharisees , hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees , came together (xxii. 34). They held another consultation as to how they could defeat Jesus, and they decided to send a certain scribe, a doctor of the Law, to tempt Him with another question.
28. there came one of the scribes. St Matthew adds, a doctor of the law ; he was also a Pharisee, since he was one of them. The general opinion concerning the difference between a scribe and a doctor of the law is, that the scribe interpreted the traditions of the elders or the unwritten law, and the doctor of the law explained the written law.
heard them reasoning. Jesus and the Sadducees.
seeing that he had answered them well. From these words some commentators think that the scribe came forward and asked the question in all sincerity ; others judge, from St Matthew’s words, a doctor of the law asked him, tempting him, that it was another cunningly devised plot. A third solution (based on our Lord’s words, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God), is that the doctor of the law came with evil intentions, but that he was partly won over by Christ’s words. It is also possible that the Pharisees employed a conscientious scribe as their tool.
which was the first commandment of all. This was a vexed question among the Jews. It might mean, which kind of commandment was the greater, i.e. how were they to know which commandments were great and which were small, or it might mean “ which is the greatest of all the commandments ” ? From our Lord’s answer it would seem to bear the second meaning. The doctors were divided on this point, so it seemed that, however our Lord answered, He would offend some of them. This He avoided by referring the scribe to the commandment which embraces all the others, and which, therefore, must be the greatest. Many Rabbis taught that those commandments which regarded the observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, offerings, and other external ceremonies took precedence, from their very nature, of those which regulated men’s morals. The practical results of this theory are shewn in St Mark (vii. 11-13), where we see that the Rabbis allowed a man to neglect his parents in need, if he had pronounced the word “ Corban ” over his goods, even though he did not actually give them up for use in the Temple.
29. Hear , 0 Israel, etc. These words are quoted from Deut. vi. 4, 5, and are part of one of the four sets of verses, which were inscribed on the phylacteries [from ancient Greek ϕυλακτήριον watchman's post, safeguard, in Hellenistic Greek also amulet, tefillin: OED] or strips of parchment which were rolled up and worn on the left arm and on the forehead. These texts formed part of the Shema , a prayer which the Jews recited morning and evening. The phylacteries were placed in small leathern boxes containing four divisions. The Shema included —
(1) Exodus xiii. 2-10.(2) Exodus xiii. 11-17.(3) Deut. vi. 4-9.(4) Deut. vi. 13-23.
30. thou shalt love .... with thy whole heart , etc.
By heart we may understand — desire and will.By soul we may understand — sentiment and passion.By mind we may understand — intellect and reason.
In each of these respective spheres we must worship and love God with all our strength. This love must not be merely theoretical, but should be the mainspring of our daily actions.
31. the second is like to it. Because we prove our love of God whom we have not seen , by loving our neighbour whom we have seen. Man is to be loved, not for his own sake, since this is not always possible, but because —
(1) God commands us to love Him.(2) Man is created to God’s image.(3) All mankind are brethren.
as thyself. Not in the same degree , but in the same manner. The true love of our neighbour is to treat him, as we would that others should treat us.
no other commandment greater. Because they embrace all others ; on these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets (St Matt. xxii. 40). St Paul states also the same doctrine : he that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law (Rom. xiii. 8). Jesus here gives a positive answer, and places the observance of the moral law above those which regulate rites and ceremonies.
32. thou hast said in truth, etc. The scribe confirms our Lord’s decision by shewing that the prophets taught the same doctrine ; to love one's neighbour as oneself is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices. These words recall various passages of the Old Testament, among others —
Obedience is better than sacrifices (1 Kings xv. 22).
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit ; a contrite and humbled heart , O God, thou xoilt not despise (Ps. 1. 19).
For I desired mercy , and not sacrifice ; and the knoivledge of God more than holocausts (Osee vi. 6).
I will shew thee, 0 man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee : Verily, to do judgment , and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God (Micheas vi. 8).
34. Thou art not far , etc. He was very near becoming a disciple of Christ. Perhaps he was one of those of whom we read (St John xii. 42), Many of the chief men also believed in him : but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him.
no man after that durst ask, etc., — i.e. no cunning question to ensnare Him.
Additional Notes
Note on the Jewish Scribes.
Some idea of the minute distinctions and analogies drawn by the Rabbinical teachers may be gathered from the fact, that having carefully studied each separate precept touching the moral law, or rites and ceremonies, they concluded that there were “ 248 affirmative precepts, being as many as the bones in the human body ; and 365 negative precepts, being as many as the arteries and veins, or the days of the year ; the total being 613, which was also the number of the letters of the Decalogue. They also arrived at the same result from the fact that the Jews were commanded to wear fringes on the corners of their tallith, [post-biblical Hebrew ṭallīṯ, ṭallēṯ cloak, prayer shawl, of uncertain origin, perhaps < Hebrew ṭallēl to cover, to roof bound OED ] bound with a thread of blue ; and as each fringe had eight threads and five knots, and the letters of the word ‘ tsitsith ’ (fringes) make 600, the total number of letters in the commandments was, as before, 613” (Farrar).
The Scribes were a class of men which originated with “ the Great Synagogue.” This was a body of men appointed by Esdras to guard, study and interpret the law of Moses. They were charged “ to hedge ” it round with the “ traditions of the elders.” Hence they were chiefly occupied in three branches of study : —
(1) The Midrash , — i.e. the compilation of the law, involving the study of textual criticism.(2) The Halakhah : Interpretations of the law, and precepts based on it.(3) The Haggadah: The compilation of the oral teaching of the Elders or Rabbis.
As the law of Moses was also the civil code of the Jews, it was the duty of the Scribes to assist the Sanhedrin in its judicial duties, to seek for “ precedents ” to justify its decisions, and to solve difficult legal problems. It has been conjectured that the “ lawyers ” or “ doctors of the law ” were Scribes who devoted themselves to jurisprudence.
The Scribes ranked higher than the Pharisees, since the former held an office, while the latter were merely a religious sect. Most of the Scribes held the tenets of the Pharisees. They, like all other Jewish boys, became “ sons of the law ” at the age of thirteen, and were formally ordained Scribes at the age of thirty, provided their literary attainments justified their ordination. This ceremony consisted of the laying on of hands, and the delivery of a tablet and key to the candidate.
As the Scribes were charged to guard, transcribe, study and interpret the law, they were greatly reverenced by the people, and it was believed that their rank in the next world would equal their prestige in this.
Their teaching was not authoritative. They always invoked the name of some celebrated teacher, and prefaced their discourses with such formulas as, “ the rabbis have a tradition,” “ the wise men say.” As the Scribes taught in the synagogues, both in Palestine and wherever a colony of Jews was established, they had a great influence over the people. The names of the five “ Zugoth ” or “ couples ” of noted Scribes were held in great veneration. Hillel and Shammai (two great rivals) form the last couple ; they taught in the time of Herod the Great.
We constantly find the “ Scribes and Pharisees ” mentioned together. St Mark refers to them in his gospel frequently.
The following enumeration gives the chief occasions where they are mentioned by him : —
(1) At the healing of the paralytic, certain Scribes thought in their heart, “ Why doth this man speak thus ? he blasphemeth ” (ii. 7).
(2) When Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day, “They watched him . . . that they might accuse him ” (iii. 2). (From St Luke we learn that “ they ” refers to both Scribes and Pharisees.)
(3) They accused Jesus of casting out devils by Beelzebub (iii. 22).
(4) They were scandalized when the disciples ate with “ common hands ” (vii. 2).
(5) Twice they sought to kill Christ (see xi. 18, xiv. 1).
(6) They, with the chief priests and the ancients, questioned Christ’s authority (xi. 28).
(7) Jesus denounced them, in common with the Pharisees, for their ambition, vanity, hypocrisy and avarice (see xii. 38 and 40).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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