Mat 22:34-40 | PNT | STEP | The Pharisees . . . were gathered together . Compare .

Matthew 22:34-40

The Pharisees . . . were gathered together. Compare Mr 12:28-34 Lu 10:25-28. A lawyer. An expounder of the law of Moses. A scribe (see Mr 12:32).

Tempting him. Trying him. Which [is] the great commandment? This was a question which, with some others, divided the Jewish teachers into rival schools, and was a constant bone of contention--one of "those strivings about the law", against which Paul warns Titus (Tit 3:9). The Jews divided their commandments into greater and lesser, but were not agreed in particulars. Some pronounced the law of circumcision the greater; others, that of sacrifices, or ablutions, or phylacteries. The Talmud reckoned the positive laws of Moses at 248, the negative at 365, in all 613. To keep so many laws, said the Jews, is an angel's work. So they had much question which was the great commandment, so that they might keep it in lieu of keeping the whole. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, etc. Freely quoted from De 6:5. A demand for supreme love for God. This is the first and great. First, in that it precedes the second that he is about to name; great, because it embraces all others; He who loves God supremely cannot live in disobedience to him. The second [is] like. The first command sums up what man owes to God; the second, what he owes to his fellow-man.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. See Le 19:18. One who loves God supremely, will not live in disobedience; one who loves his neighbor as himself, will seek the welfare of those around him.