Mark 12:28

The Greatest Commandment

28 And one of the scribes came up [and] heard them debating. [When he] saw that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"

Mark 12:28 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 12:28

And one of the Scribes came
Matthew calls him a lawyer, ( Matthew 22:35 ) , an interpreter of the law, as a Scribe was:

and having heard them reasoning together;
being present at the dispute between Christ and the Sadducees, which he diligently attended to:

and perceiving that he had answered them well:
in a most beautiful manner. The Jews have adopted the very Greek word here used, and make use of it in the same sense as (Mwlaq hyl rma) ^F14, "he answered him well": or, as the gloss upon it, "praise worthily"; in a manner deserving praise; and is the same with (trmaq rypv) ^F15, "thou hast said well", or beautifully; and so the answer here was with great solidity, and judgment, and strength of argument, to their utter confusion and silence; whereby he understood he had considerable knowledge in the law, and yet was willing to try if he could not puzzle him with a question relating to it:

asked him, which is the first commandment of all?
of all the commandments in the law, moral and ceremonial.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 108. 1.
F15 Zohar in Lev. fol. 2. 3. & 15. 1.

Mark 12:28 In-Context

26 Now concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses {in the passage about the bush} how God spoke to him, saying, 'I [am] the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?

27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are very much mistaken!"

28 And one of the scribes came up [and] heard them debating. [When he] saw that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?"

29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.'

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("came up") has been translated as a finite verb
• [b]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("saw") which is understood as temporal