Ver. 26.—St. Mark is here careful to state that what St. Matthew describes as “the word spoken by God” was to be found in the book of Moses (Exod. iii. 5), in the place concerning the Bush (én) rs Barov), as it is correctly rendered in the Revised Version. Our Lord might have brought yet clearer
roofs out of Job, Daniel, Ezekiel, ete.;
ut in his wisdom he preferred to allege this out of Moses and the Pentateuch, because, whatever the views of the Sad- ducees may have been as to other parts of the Old Testament, these books of Moses they readily acknowledged. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The force of the argument is this, that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Their souls are still alive; and if these patriarchs are still alive, there will be a resurrection. If men are to live for ever, they will, sooner or later, live again in the comp.eteness of their being, namely, of body and soul and spirit. Our Lord would, therefore, say this: “In a few days you will put me to death; but in three days I shall rise again from the dead. And after that, in due time I shall raise them from the dead at the last day, and bring them in triumpb with me into heaven.” The Sadducees and the Epicureang denied the resurrection, because they denied the immortality of the soul; for these two doctrines hang together. For if the soul is immortal, then, since it naturally depends upon the body, it is necessary that the body should rise. Otherwise the soul would con- tinue to exist in a dislocated state, and would only obtain a divided life and an imperfect existence. Hence our Lord here distinctly proves the resurrection of the body from the immortality of the soul, When he speaks of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he does not speak of their souls ouly, but of their whole being. Therefore, though they are for a time dead to us, yet they live to God, and sleep, as it were, because ere long God will raise them from death, as from @ sleep, to a blessed and endless life. For all, though they have passed out of our sight, still live to him.
Ver. 27.—Ye therefore do greatly err. The Greek is, omitting the ody, simply jucts word wAavacbe, Ye greatly err. The omission is more consistent with St. Mark’s usual style. The Sadducees entirely mis- understood the meaning of their own Sorip- tures.
Ver, 28,—St. Matthew (xxii. $4) saya here
on. xn. 1—44,) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. ———————
that the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together, and that then one of them, who was a lawyer (voufvos), that is, *@ scribe,” asked him this question, What commandment is the first of all? It appears here from St. Mark that this soribe had been present at the discussion with the Sadducees, and he had probably informed the others of what had taken place, and of the wisdom and power of our Lord's answer; so he was naturally put forward to try our Lord with another crucial question. It does not necessarily appear that he had an evil intention in putting this question. He may, in his own mind (seeing the wisdom and skill of our Lord), have desired to hear what Christ had to say to a very difficult question on # matter deeply interesting to all true Hebrews. The question was one much mooted amongst the Jews in the time of our Lord. “For many,” says Bede, “thought that the first commandment in the Law related to offerings and sacritices, with regard to which so much is said in Leviticus, and that the right worship of God consisted in the due offering of these.” On this account the Pharisees encouraged children to say “ Corban” to their parents; and hence this candid and truth-loving seribe; when he heard our Lord’s answer about the love of God and of our neighbour, said that such obedience was worth “ more than all whole burnt offerings and sacri- ficez.” With regard to the love of God, St. Bernard says, “The measure of our love to Ged is to love him without measure; for the immezise goodness of God deserves all the leve that we can possibly give to him.” Ver. 31.—Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. God is to be loved above every- thing—above all angels, or men, or any created thing. But after God, amongst created things, our neighbour is above all to be loved. And we are to extend to our neighbour that kind of love with which we love ourselves. Onur love of ourselves is not a frigid love, but a sincere and ardent love. In like manner we should love our neigh- bour, and desire for him all those good things both for the body and for the soul that we desire for ourselves. This is what our Lord himself teaches us. “ All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, even so do unto them.” ‘There is none other commandment greater than these. St. Matthew (xxii. 40) says, “On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the prophets.” ‘There is no commandment greater than these, hecause all the precepts of the Divine Lew are included in them. So that our Lord here teaches us that we ought continually to have these two pre- eepts in our minds and before our eyes, and
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direct all our thoughts and words and actions by them, and regulate our whole life according to them.
Ver. 32.—The first words of this verse should be rendered thus: Of a truth, Master, thou hast well said that he is one. In the remainder of the scribe’s answer we find e different word used in the Greek for “ mind,” or “understanding,” from that just used by our Lord. In our Lord’s answer the word is Sidvowz. Here it is civeors. Both words are well rendered by “understanding.” It is an act of understanding. Itis the thought associating itself with the object, and “standing under” it so as to support it. (See Dr. Morison on St. Mark.)
Ver. 33.—Is more (sepicodtepdv)—accord- ing to the most approved reading, much more—than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. ‘This scribe was evidently emerg- ing out of the bondage of ceremonial things, aa perceiving the supremacy of the moral
Ww.