Matthew 12:7

7 And if ye knew, what it is, I will mercy, and not sacrifice, ye should never have condemned innocents.

Matthew 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 12:7

But if ye had known what this meaneth,
&c,] The passage of Scripture in ( 6:6 )

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;
of the sense of which, (See Gill on Matthew 9:13)

ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Our Lord taxes the Pharisees both with ignorance of the Scriptures, in which they pretended to be very knowing, and took upon them to be the interpreters of; and with inhumanity, for condemning innocent persons, the apostles, for rubbing a few ears of corn, for the refreshment of nature; which they would never have done, had they understood the word, and will of God; who prefers acts of humanity, compassion, and mercy, to the observance of rites and ceremonies; or had they the common affections of human nature, and those bowels of compassion which one man ought to show to another.

Matthew 12:7 In-Context

5 Or whether ye have not read in the law, that in the sabbaths priests in the temple defoul the sabbaths, and they be without blame?

6 And I say to you, that here is a greater than the temple. [Soothly I say to you, for this is more than the temple.]

7 And if ye knew, what it is, I will mercy, and not sacrifice, ye should never have condemned innocents.

8 For man's Son is Lord, yea, of the sabbath. [Truly man's Son is Lord also of the sabbath.]

9 And when he passed from thence [And when he passed thence], he came into the synagogue of them.