Mark 12:28

Mark 12:28-29 . One of the scribes came — So Luke also, Luke 20:19 ; but Matthew, εις εξ αυτων νομικος , one of them being a lawyer. In this diversity of words, however, there is no difference in sense. For the scribes not only transcribed the Scriptures, but were generally, also, teachers of the law, from which they had the name of lawyers: Having heard them reasoning together — Having attended to the discourse between Jesus and the Sadducees; and perceiving that he had answered them well — Had confuted their degrading doctrine of materialism, and proved, even from the books of Moses, the divine authority of which the Sadducees themselves could not but acknowledge, the certainty of a future state; asked him another question, with a view to make a further trial of his skill in the sacred volume. Which is the first commandment of all — The principal, and most necessary to be observed? See the note on Matthew 22:34-36 . Jesus answered, The first of all the commandments — And the foundation of all the rest, is, The Lord our God is one Lord — One Jehovah, one self-existent, independent, infinite, eternal Being: one in essence; inclusive, however, of three, υποστασεις , subsistences, generally termed persons. See on Matthew 28:19 , and note on Exodus 3:14 . Dr. Campbell translates this clause, The Lord is our God: the Lord is one; in Deuteronomy, Jehovah is our God: Jehovah is one; and not as one sentence, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.

Among other reasons for rendering the words thus, he gives the following: 1st, That “it appears to have been the purpose of their great legislator, to establish among them these two important articles, as the foundation of that religious constitution he was authorized to give them. The first was, that the God whom they were to adore, was not any of the acknowledged objects of worship in the nations around them, and was therefore to be distinguished among them, the better to secure them against seduction, by the peculiar name Jehovah, by which alone he chose to be invoked by them. The second was, the unity of the divine nature, and consequently, that no pretended divinity (for all other gods were merely pretended) ought to be associated with the only true God, or share with him in their adoration. 2d, That in the reply of the scribe, Mark 12:32 , which was approved by our Lord, and in which he, as it were, echoes every part of the answer that had been given to his question, there are two distinct affirmations with which he begins; these are, There is one God, and there is only one, corresponding to The Lord is our God, and the Lord is one. The first clause, in both declarations, points to the object of worship; the second, to the necessity of excluding all others. Accordingly, the radical precept relating to this subject, quoted by our Lord, Matthew 4:10 , from the LXX., is exactly suited to both parts of this declaration. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

Mark 12:28-34 . See on Matthew 22:34-40 . Mark, however, has much that is peculiar, especially through the characteristic and certainly original amplification in Mark 12:32-34 . The participles are to be so apportioned, that ἀκούσας is subordinated to the προσελθών , and εἰδώς belongs to ἐπηρώτηρεν as its determining motive. εἰδώς ] not inappropriate (Fritzsche, de Wette); but the scribe knew from his listening how aptly Jesus had answered them ( αὐτοῖς , emphatically placed before ἀπεκρ .); and therefore he hoped that He would also give to him an apt reply. πάντων ] neuter . Compare Xen. Mem. iv. 7. 70: ὁ δὲ ἥλιος … πάντων λαμπρότατος ὤν , Thucyd. vii. 52. 2. See Winer, p. 160 [E. T. 222]; Dorvill. ad Charit. p. 549. Mark 12:29-30 . Deuteronomy 6:4-5 . This principle of morality, which binds all duties into unity (see J. Müller, v. d. Sünde , I. p. 140 f.), was named pre-eminently קריאה , or also from the initial word שׁמע , and it was the custom to utter the words daily, morning and evening. See Vitringa, Synag. ii. 3. 15; Buxtorf, Synag. 9. ἰσχύος ] LXX. δυνάμεως . It is the moral strength, which makes itself known in the overcoming of hindrances and in energetic activity. Comp. Beck, bibl. Seelenl. p. 112 f., and on Ephesians 1:19 . Matthew has not this point, but Luke has at Mark 10:27 .[150] Mark 12:32 . After ΔΙΔΆΣΚΑΛΕ there is only to be placed a comma, so that ἘΠʼ ἈΛΗΘΕΊΑς (comp. on Mark 12:14 ) is a more precise definition of ΚΑΛῶς.ὍΤΙ ΕἿς ἘΣΤΙ ] that He is one .

The subject is obvious of itself from what precedes. As in the former passage of Scripture, Mark 12:29 , so also here the mention of the unity of God is the premiss for the duty that follows; hence it is not an improbable trait (Köstlin, p. 351), which Mark has introduced here in the striving after completeness and with reference to the Gentile world. Mark 12:33 . συνέσεως ] a similar notion instead of a repetition of ΔΙΑΝΟΊΑς , Mark 12:30 . It is the moral intelligence which comprehends and understands the relation in question. Its opposite is ἈΣΎΝΕΤΟς ( Romans 1:21 ; Romans 1:31 ), Dem. 1394, 4 : ἈΡΕΤῆς ἉΠΆΣΗς ἈΡΧῊ Ἡ ΣΎΝΕΣΙς . Comp. on Colossians 1:9 . ὉΛΟΚΑΥΤ. ] “Nobilissima species sacrificiorum,” Bengel. ΠΆΝΤΩΝ ΤῶΝ applies inclusively to ΘΥΣΙῶΝ . Krüger, § 58. 3. 2. Mark 12:34 . ἸΔῺΝ ΑὐΤῸΝ, ὍΤΙ ] Attraction, as at Mark 11:32 and frequently. ΝΟΥΝΕΧῶς ] intelligently , only here in the N. T. Polybius associates it with φρονίμως (1:83. 3) and ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚῶς (2:13. 1, 5:88. 2). On the character of the word as Greek, instead of which the Attics say ΝΟΥΝΕΧΌΝΤΩς (its opposite: ἈΦΡΌΝΩς , Isocr. Mark 5:7 ), see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 599. οὐ μακρὰν κ . τ . λ .] The (future) kingdom of the Messiah is conceived as the common goal . Those who are fitted for the membership of this kingdom are near to this goal; those who are unfitted are remote from it. Hence the meaning: There is not much lacking to thee, that thou mightest be received into the kingdom at its establishment.

Mark 12:28-34 . The great commandment ( Matthew 22:34-40 ). The permanent value of this section lies in the answer of Jesus to the question put to Him, which is substantially the same in both Mt. and Mk. The accounts vary in regard to the motive of the questioner. In Mt. he comes to tempt, in Mk. in hope of getting confirmation in a new way of thinking on the subject, similar to that of the man in quest of eternal life—that which put the ethical above the ritual. No anxious attempt should be made to remove the discrepancy.

28–34 . The Question of the Scribe 28 . one of the scribes ] From Matthew 22:34-35 , it appears that he was a Pharisee, and a Master of the Law. Which is the first commandment of all? ] This question, on which the schools of Hillel and Shammai were disagreed, the Lawyer put, tempting our Lord ( Matthew 22:35 ), hoping that He would commit Himself as an enemy of the Traditions. The Rabbinical schools taught that there were important distinctions between the Commandments, some being great and others small, some hard and weighty, others easy and of less importance. Great commands were the observance of the Sabbath, circumcision, minute rites of sacrifice and offering, the rules respecting fringes and phylacteries. Indeed, all the separate commandments of the ceremonial and moral Law had been carefully weighed and classified, and it had been concluded that there were “248 affirmative precepts, being as many as the members 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 in the Decalogue.”