Matthew 12:7

7 And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.

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 have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame?

6 But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.

7 And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.

8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.

9 And when he had passed from thence, he came into their synagogues.