Mar 12:28 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Mark 12:28-34: 12:28-34 After the three hostile challenges of 11:27–12:27 , the reader might expect the next question to Jesus to be hostile (see 11:28 ; 12:13 , 15 , 19-23 ), but this was not a hostile counter. Earlier references in Mark to the teachers of religious law have portrayed them as antagonistic (2:6-7 , 16 ; 3:22 ; 7:1 , 5 ; 8:31 ; 9:14 ; 10:33 ; 11:18 , 27 ), and Jesus will warn the crowds against their hypocrisy (12:38-40 ), but this teacher was positively inclined toward Jesus (12:28 , 32 ) and praised him (12:32-33 ). Jesus described the man’s answer to his question as having understanding, and Jesus said that the man was not far from the Kingdom of God (12:34 ). 12:28 Of all the commandments: The Torah (Genesis—Deuteronomy) contains 613 separate commandments, and Jewish teachers frequently debated about which were more important than others. No command was considered unimportant, but some were recognized as more fundamental than others (see Matt 22:40 ). Rabbi Hillel’s answer to this question was, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” ( Babylonian Shabbat 31a; see also Tobit 4:15). Other suggestions included Prov 3:6 ; Isa 33:15-16 ; 56:1 ; Amos 5:4 ; Mic 6:8 ; and Hab 2:4 .

Summary for Mark 12:28-34: 12:28-34 ^a After the three hostile challenges of 11:27–12:27 ^b, the reader might expect the next question to Jesus to be hostile (see 11:28 ^c; 12:13 ^d, 15 ^e, 19-23 ^f), but this was not a hostile counter. Earlier references in Mark to the teachers of religious law have portrayed them as antagonistic (2:6-7 ^g, 16 ^h; 3:22 ⁱ; 7:1 ^j, 5 ^k; 8:31 ^l; 9:14 ^m; 10:33 ⁿ; 11:18 ^o, 27 ^p), and Jesus will warn the crowds against their hypocrisy (12:38-40 ^q), but this teacher was positively inclined toward Jesus (12:28 ^r, 32 ^s) and praised him (12:32-33 ^t). Jesus described the man’s answer to his question as having understanding, and Jesus said that the man was not far from the Kingdom of God (12:34 ^u). 12:28 ^v Of all the commandments: The Torah (Genesis—Deuteronomy) contains 613 separate commandments, and Jewish teachers frequently debated about which were more important than others. No command was considered unimportant, but some were recognized as more fundamental than others (see Matt 22:40 ^w). Rabbi Hillel’s answer to this question was, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” (Babylonian Shabbat 31a; see also Tobit 4:15). Other suggestions included Prov 3:6 ^x; Isa 33:15-16 ^y; 56:1 ^z; Amos 5:4 ^aa; Mic 6:8 ^ab; and Hab 2:4 ^ac.