Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice— (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8, etc.). See on Matthew 9:13.
ye would not have condemned the guiltless—that is, Had ye understood the great principle of all religion, which the Scripture everywhere recognizes—that ceremonial observances must give way before moral duties, and particularly the necessities of nature—ye would have refrained from these captious complaints against men who in this matter are blameless. But our Lord added a specific application of this great principle to the law of the sabbath, preserved only in Mark: "And he said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). A glorious and far-reaching maxim, alike for the permanent establishment of the sabbath and the true freedom of its observance.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Matthew 12:7:
Hosea 6:6
Matthew 12:1
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