Matthew 12:7 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

I will have mercy, &c.— I delight in mercy (so θελειν signifies, ch. Matthew 27:43.), more than sacrifice; for this is the Hebrew form of comparison. See the note on ch. Matthew 9:13. Works of mercy, acts of kindness and beneficence, are essential duties, and preferable to all the ceremonial law, named here (from its principal act) sacrifice, when that comes in competition with them. As the sense of so many important scriptures depends upon it, it may be proper to observe, that, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, one thing seems to be forbidden, and another commanded, when the meaning only is, that the latter is greatly to be preferred to the former. The text before us is a remarkable instance; as likewise John 6:27. And it is evident, that Genesis 45:8. John 7:19 and many more passages, are to be expounded in the same comparative sense. See Doddridge, Heylin, and Beausobre and Lenfant.