For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Ver. 6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice] That is, rather than sacrifice: I prefer the marrow and pith of the second table before the ceremony and surface of the first.
I desired mercy] Heb. חפעתי I desired it with singular delight and complacency. Aurea certe sententia, saith Rivet. This is a golden sentence, twice quoted by Christ himself, Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7, which noteth the eminence of it. And with it agreeth that answer of the scribe so much approved of by our Saviour, Mark 12:38, "To love thy neighbour as thyself is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." And that of the author to the Hebrews, "But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased," Hebrews 13:16; a great deal better pleased than with all the outward services and sacrifices of the law, which yet were commanded by God, but not to be rested in. These be famous sentences indeed; such as a man would fetch upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem, as a reverend man saith of certain brave sayings of Luther, which he had recited (Mr Sam. Clark, Life of Luther). Mercy is here put for all the duties of charity; as the knowledge of God is for those other of piety, whereof it is the rise and foundation. Mercy is set first non ut potior sed ut notior, not as better, but as better known, and more noticed. They are set together, because they must not be sundered in our practice. Obedience must be universal, extending to the compass of the whole law. A man must not be funambulus virtutum, as Tertullian speaks, going in a narrow track of obedience, pinking and choosing what he will do and what not; following God in such duties as will suit with him and no farther. He must follow after God as Caleb, Numbers 14:14, have respect to all God's commandments, and do all his wills, as David, Acts 13:22, walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, as Zacharias and Elizabeth, Luke 1:6. These partial and perverse Jews walked in all the ordinances, but they cared not for the commandments; they were altogether for the ceremonial law, but neglected the moral. Or if they did anything that way, it was but the outward act of a commandment, which men may naturally perform. Thus Ahab humbled himself: and some think that Urijah which Isaiah calleth the faithful witness, Isa 8:2 the same with him that brought in the altar of Damascus, 2 Kings 16:10, yet reputed a faithful man of his word. A hypocrite may show mercy, but not love mercy, Micah 6:8, and know God, but not effectively, practically, according to that of St John, "Hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments,"1 John 2:28. This is that obedience which is better than sacrifice, 1Sa 15:22 Jeremiah 7:21; and no wonder, quia per victimas, aliena caro, per obedientiam voluntas propria mactatur, saith one; in sacrifices the flesh of another, but in obedience our own wills are offered up: and this the very heathen, by the dim rush light of nature, saw to be better. Hold thou it the fairest sacrifice and best service to keep thyself pure and upright, saith Isocrates. O Nicocles, θυμα καλλιστον και θεραπεια μεγιστη. Isoc. And, Ovid. Epist.,
“ Non bove mactato caelestia numina gaudent.
Sed, quae praestanda est et sine teste fides. ”