Mark 12:33

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Is more

General references

Proverbs 21:3

Matthew 22:36

1 John 4:21

Bible References

Is more

Samuel said,“Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed [is better] than the fat of rams.

“I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

To do righteousness and justice
Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice [for wrongs repeatedly committed].

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience];
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].

“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?
Is it only to bow down his head like a reed
And to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?
Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat.

For I desire and delight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice,
And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

“I hate, I despise and reject your [sacred] feasts,
And I do not take delight in your solemn assemblies.

With what shall I come before the Lord [to honor Him]
And bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?

Go and learn what this [Scripture] means: ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], and not [animal] sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call [to repentance] the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to change], but sinners [those who recognize their sin and actively seek forgiveness].”

And if you had only known what this statement means, ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress],

and not

[animal] sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction].

General references

To do righteousness and justice
Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice [for wrongs repeatedly committed].

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.