Matthew 22:34-35

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 22:34-40

The greater commandments. The Jews made many distinctions about the commandments of God, calling some "light," others "weighty," others "little," others "great." According to their estimating, therefore, some commandment must be "greatest." Some of them contended that the law of the sabbath was the greater commandment, some the law of sacrifice, some that of circumcision, and some pleaded for the wearing of phylacteries. They now referred the resolution of this vexed question to Jesus, who... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 22:34-46

The Pharisees. I. THE QUESTION OF THE LAWYER . 1 . The gathering of the Pharisees. The multitude were astonished at the wisdom, the deep and holy teaching, of the blessed Lord. He had answered the pretended difficulties of the Sadducees, and had proved the great doctrine of the resurrection from the very books which they prized most highly. The Pharisees heard that he had put their adversaries to silence. They came together. Their feelings, doubtless, were various: many of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 22:35

A lawyer; νομικο ì ς , called by St. Mark "a scribe"—a term of wider signification, which would include "lawyers." Vulgate, legis doctor, which gives the right sense; for such were teachers and expounders of the Mosaic Law. This man was put forth by the Pharisees as an expert, who would not be so easily discomfited as the Sadducees had been. Tempting him. Trying him; putting him to the test, not altogether maliciously, but partly from curiosity, and partly from a desire to hear... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus converses with a Pharisee respecting the law - See also Mark 12:28-34.Matthew 22:34The Pharisees ... were gathered together - That is, either to rejoice that their great rivals, the Sadducees, had been so completely silenced, or to lay a new plan for ensnaring him, or perhaps both. They would rejoice that the Sadducees had been confounded, but they would not be the less desirous to involve Jesus in difficulty. They therefore endeavored, probably, to find the most difficult question in... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 22:34-36

Matthew 22:34-36. When the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence Gr. οτι εφιμοσε , that he had stopped their mouths, or so confuted that he had confounded them, and rendered them unable to make any reply; they were gathered together It is not said with what design: but it is probable from Matthew 22:15-16, with a malicious one, namely, to try, though the Sadducees had been baffled in their attempt upon him, as they themselves had also been, when they united with... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 22:34-40

127. The greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34)When a teacher of the law asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment, Jesus gave an answer that went beyond what the questioner expected. All the commandments of the law could be summarized under the word ‘love’. A person’s first responsibility is to love God; the second is to love one’s fellow human beings. The fact that people are commanded to love shows that love is primarily a matter of doing, not feeling. It is an attitude... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 22:34

But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, gathered themselves together.Of course the Pharisees had already been routed too, but since they had maneuvered the Herodians into fronting for them, they decided to have a try at it in their own name. It is amazing that they should not have regarded Jesus' triumph over the Sadducees (their perpetual enemies) with jubilation. Their old enemies had been put to silence by Christ, in the presence of a multitude, and that... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 22:35

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?One of them means one of the Pharisees. The "first team" would now take up the challenge, and the Pharisees themselves would confront him with a question in a field wherein they imagined they had a vast superiority. Their strategy was to ensnare Christ in some technical fault regarding countless questions of the law. One of their best legal minds was put forward with a question... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 22:35

Matthew 22:35. Then—a lawyer asked, &c.— A scribe, or public teacher. See Luke 11:44. Tempting or trying him, here, does not mean that he did this with an insidious design; and indeed St. Mark's account, Mar 12:28 forbids such an interpretation; but he proposed the question with a view to make a farther trial of our Lord's skill in the sacred volume. Some of the doctors declared, that the law of sacrifices was the great commandment, because sacrifices, say they, are both the expiations of... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 22:18-46

C. Israel’s rejection of her King 21:18-22:46This section of Matthew’s Gospel presents Israel’s formal rejection of her Messiah. Jesus had made a formal presentation of Himself to the nation’s populace and leadership in the messianic capital with His triumphal entry (Matthew 21:1-17). Jesus’ earlier rejection had taken place in rural Galilee (ch. 12). Now Matthew recorded Israel’s response. [Note: For more light on the connections that unite this pericope with the previous one, see Mark... read more

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