And to love him with all the heart
That is, the one God, with a sincere hearty love and affection;
and with all the understanding;
of his being, perfections, and works, which will serve to draw
the affections to him: this clause answers to that, "with all thy
mind", in ( Mark 12:30 ) ;
and with all the soul;
with all the powers and faculties of it;
and with all the strength;
a man has, or is given him; with all the vehemency and fervency
of soul he is master of:
and to love his neighbour as himself;
which are the two great commandments of the law:
is more than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices;
that is, more excellent in their nature, more acceptable to God,
and more useful among men, than all the rituals of the ceremonial
law, than any sacrifice whatever: for the two words here used,
"burnt offerings and sacrifices", include all offerings; as those
which were wholly consumed upon the altar, and those of which
part was given to the priests; and all sin offerings, meat
offerings, and peace offerings, and whatever else. This man had
now at least a different sense of things, from the rest of his
brethren; who placed religion chiefly in the observance of the
rituals of the law, and the traditions of the elders; and
neglected the duties of the moral law, respecting God and their
neighbour: things which are to be preferred and attended to,
before any ceremonial institutions, and especially the inventions
of men. This entirely agrees with the sense of the passage in (
Hosea 6:6 ) .
"For I desired mercy and, not sacrifice"; that is, willed and
required, that men should show mercy to one another; or that
every one should love his neighbour as himself, and attend to
this, rather than to the offering of any ceremonial sacrifice:
this being more delightful and well-pleasing to God, than that:
"and the knowledge of God"; of his unity, perfections, and glory:
"more than burnt offerings"; which were entirely devoted to him:
and it also agrees with the ancient sentiments of the people of
God; so Samuel says to Saul, "Hath the Lord [as great] delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifices, [and] to
hearken, than the fat of rams", ( 1 Samuel
15:22 ) . And yet it may be observed, that there is some
likeness between these things, burnt offerings and sacrifices,
and the love of God and love to our neighbour; though the latter
are greatly preferable to the former; true love to God being no
other than the offering up of the soul, as a whole burnt offering
to God, in the flames of love to him; and love to the neighbour,
or doing good and communicating to him, is a sacrifice
well-pleasing to God.