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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Mark 12:28 - 12:28
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Heard them questioning together (akousas autōn sunzētountōn). The victory of Christ over the Sadducees pleased the Pharisees who now had come back with mixed emotions over the new turn of things (Mat 22:34). Luk 20:39 represents one of the scribes as commending Jesus for his skilful reply to the Sadducees. Mark here puts this scribe in a favourable light, “knowing that he had answered them well” (eidōs hoti kalōs apekrithē autois). “Them” here means the Sadducees. But Mat 22:35 says that this lawyer (nomikos) was “tempting” (peirazōn) by his question. “A few, among whom was the scribe, were constrained to admire, even if they were willing to criticize, the Rabbi who though not himself a Pharisee, surpassed the Pharisees as a champion of the truth.” That is a just picture of this lawyer.
The first of all (prōtē pantōn). First in rank and importance. Mat 22:36 has “great” (megalē). See discussion there. Probably Jesus spoke in Aramaic. “First” and “great” in Greek do not differ essentially here. Mark quotes Deuteronomy 6:4f. as it stands in the lxx and also Lev 19:18. Mat 22:40 adds the summary: “On these two commandments hangeth (krematai) the whole law and the prophets.”