Matthew 9:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Only Matthew has this verse. In the Lord’s mind this quotation from Hosea 6:6 sums up in few words what is wrong with the Pharisees’ whole approach to religion. He later (Matthew 12:7) reminds them again of these words and tells them that a further failure of judgment on their part stems from the same problem. They had not done as he said, and gone away and thought about this Scripture, and so the same error had been seen in them again. In fact this failure to understand what God wants characterised their whole lives and so many of the conflicts they had with Christ arose from ignorance about this principle. What then is the connection between this verse from Hosea and the Pharisees’ criticism of Christ? How does the verse shed light on their error, and how does it show what they should have done? They had lost sight of mercy which is always far more important than any of the law’s positive commandments – commandments to regulate behaviour in a specific area. The entire sacrificial system was given to Israel for a specific purpose: to teach Israel the nature of Christ’s atoning work, and the only way in which we can approach God. But the ceremonial law was temporary; the sacrificial system was only in place as long as this instruction was needed. When the Lamb of God came into the world, it was no longer appropriate to teach through symbols, for they had the reality before their eyes. If they could not learn from that, then they could not learn at all. But Israel misunderstood what God was doing. The Pharisees strove for strict obedience to the ceremonial law because they thought that by doing so they were earning righteousness before God. But this was to pervert God’s real intention in giving these laws, and to make them what he never intended it to be. Of course, it was God who gave the sacrificial system, and he certainly required his people to keep it, but not in the way they were doing. Hosea’s statement is elliptical; it expresses a truth in condensed form. In Old Testament times God required mercy and he required sacrifices also, but he did not require sacrifices as a substitute for true righteousness in the heart. False religion always plays his trick: it elevates the importance of some duty that is outwardly within reach, because it is easier to do that – albeit with a bad spirit – than to offer God an obedience which comes from the heart. It was the mind of the Pharisee that had created the contrast between sacrifice and mercy, and they did it to excuse themselves, and therefore the prophet addressed using their own categories.. The end result was that sacrifice went with self-righteousness, and mercy went with true faith. Of course there was another way of looking at the sacrifices – as pledges of God mercy and insight into his solution to the problem of sin – but they could not see this. So mercy became more and more alien to them. The result was then in a situation like this feast given by Matthew that they were incapable of admiring and giving thanks for the mercy of God at work in the lives of these tax collectors. Instead their self-righteousness produced all manner of evil thoughts within them: readiness to take offence, oversensitivity, jealousy, comparative righteousness, despising of others. Their pride could not stand to see anything threatened their superior standing in the eyes of the people. They lived for the praise of men. All this went hand in hand with a religion that rejected grace, and wanted to earn God’s favour and have something to boast about. It was the religion of Cain.