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Mat_9:13. After having justified His holding intercourse with publicans and sinners, Jesus with the δέ proceeds to tell the Pharisees what they would have to do in order to their receiving His invitation to be healed: “but go and learn what is meant by that saying of the Scripture (Hos_6:6, LXX.), I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” You must understand that first of all, if you are to be of the number of those who are to be invited to enter the Messiah’s kingdom: “for I am not come to call righteous, but sinners” (1Ti_1:15). Through that quotation from the Scripture (mentioned only by Matthew here and Mat_12:7), it is intended to make the Pharisees understand how much they too were sinners. According to others, Jesus wishes to justify His conduct, inasmuch as the exhibition of love and mercy constitutes the Messiah’s highest duty (Ewald, Bleek). This, however, is less probable, owing to the πορευθέντες with which He dismisses them from His presence, the analogy of Mat_12:7, and the very apt allusion in οὐ θυσίαν to the Pharisees with their legal pride.
πορευθ . μάθετε ] corresponds to the Rabbinical form öà åìîã , which is used in sending one away, with a view to fuller reflection upon some matter or other, or with a view to being first of all instructed regarding it; see Schoettgen.
γάρ ] assigns the reason for the πορευθέντες μάθετε , through which μανθάνειν they are first to be rendered capable of receiving the invitation to participate in the blessings of the kingdom. This invitation is uniformly expressed by the absolute καλεῖν .
The masculine ἔλεος is the classical form; the neuter, which rarely occurs in Greek authors (Isocr. 18, p. 378; Diod. iii. 18), is the prevailing form in the LXX., Apocrypha, and the New Testament, although the manuscripts show considerable fluctuation. In the present instance, the neuter, though possessing the authority of B C* D à (like Mat_12:7), was naturally adopted from the LXX.
καὶ οὐ θυς .] The negative is absolute, in accordance with the idea aut … aut. God does not desire sacrifice instead of mercy, but mercy instead of sacrifice. The latter is an accessory (Calvin), in which everything depends on the right disposition, which is what God desires.