ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, etc.: this monotheistic preface to the great commandment is not given by Mt. Possibly Mk. has added it by way of making the quotation complete, but more probably Jesus Himself quoted it to suggest that duty, like God, was one, in opposition to the prevailing habit of viewing duty as consisting in isolated precepts. Mt. compensates for the omission by preserving the reflection: “On these two commandments hangeth the whole law and the prophets”. In Mk. the bond of unity is God; in Mt. love.

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Old Testament