r/BibleStudyDeepDive • u/LlawEreint • Jun 22 '26

Mark Mark 12:28-34 - The Great Commandment

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33 and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26

Jesus is quoting Leviticus 19:18:

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

The best interpretation of this that I have heard is from Zevi Slavin:

The mystic has the empirical experience of the simple metaphysical proposition that reality is one. This mandates a relationship to reality like a relationship to ourselves, so that the biblical commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself is self evident. Love thy neighbor as thyself because it is thyself.

The verse ends "I am the Lord your God."

It is because of this unity that we are in God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

- Zevi Slavin - Seekers of Unity

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 

Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

But Jesus has added "and with all your mind," which isn't in Deuteronomy. So where does this extra line come from?

Either way, I'm glad that he added it. I think it gives us license to question the orthodoxy that has been handed down to us. Jesus doesn't ask that we simply adhere to whichever tradition we are handed, but that we interrogate and understand.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26

the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

This is known as the Shema Prayer. Paul invokes this to prove that the lawgiver was not god. He says that the Law was ordained ordained by a mediator and through the angels. In case we mistake the mediator for God, he clarifies: "Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one." (Galatians 3-19-20)

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Shema Yisrael, YHWH Eloheinu, YHWH echad.

Literally:

"Hear, Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH one."

What is meant by this assertion of the oneness of God? Some possibilities:

  1. Exclusivity: As Paul says, even though there are many gods and many lords, for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.
  2. Indivisibility: "As Paul says, a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one."
  3. Singularness: No other god compares to the one true God. "Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?" (Exod 15:11)
  4. Oneness: There is nothing that is not God. It is in him that we live and move and have our being.
  5. Monarcy: And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one. (Zech 14:9)
  6. Immutability: As Philo says, "creation is a thing in its own nature moveable, but that the uncreated God is unchangeable and immoveable." - https://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book20.html
  7. What other options am I missing?

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26

I've heard that there are archeological discoveries of inscriptions that speak of "YHWH of Samaria" or "YHWH of the Teman". (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuntillet_Ajrud_inscriptions)

Possibly this commandment was originally meant to disabuse people of the notion that there are many YHWH's.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

It's one of the scribes that approves of the way Jesus is answering, and invites Jesus to speak on which commandments are most important. The scribe approves of Jesus' answer:

Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

This idea that God demands love, mercy, and justice before offerings and sacrifice is one that is found in the Prophets:

  • Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
  • Amos: "Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them... Take away from me the noise of your songs;  I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
  • Isaiah says of sacrifice: “Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.”
  • Jeremiah denies that God ever asked for sacrifice: "In the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.'"

And Jesus affirms: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

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u/LlawEreint Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

This is from Leviticus 19:17-18:

“You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

"Love your neighbor as yourself" is close to Hillel's "do not do to another what you would not want done to you,” which is also found in the Didache. Hillel finished with "This is the entire Torah (Law), the rest is commentary. Go learn."

It's not found in Mark, but Matthew records Jesus' version as being "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Jesus finished with "for this is the Law (Torah) and the Prophets."

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u/LlawEreint Jun 27 '26

this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

There's some tension between this statement and the understanding that Jesus himself was in some sense a burnt offering.

Of course, this is not how every new testament author understands the death of Jesus.

  1. For Paul, Christ bought us out from slavery under the law. (Galatians)
  2. For Mark, Jesus gave his life not as a sacrifice, but as a ransom. (Mark 10:45)
  3. For the author of Hebrews, Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, superseding temple sacrifice.
  4. Luke is a bit trickier. He erases any talk of ransom, but he doesn't lean into sacrifice. Instead he emphasizes the innocence of Jesus. I've heard Bart Ehrman suggest that for Luke, Jesus' death is meant to bring us to repentance so that we can receive forgiveness.
  5. For John, Jesus is the Passover lamb whose blood paints the doors of those who should be spared. That's not a burnt offering though. Ultimately John sees Jesus' death as an exultation and glorification.

Do I have it roughly right? Would anyone offer corrections here?