But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
But if ye had known what [this] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8, etc.) See the note at Matthew 9:13.
Ye would not have condemned the guiltless: - q. d., '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.