Sayings of Jesus: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”
This saying of Jesus is in Matthew 9:13. Along with the preceding chapter, Matthew 9 is structured as a quick-fire compilation of short pericopes, in which we find a number of well-known Jesus sayings. Here Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6 (as he also does in another conversation in Matthew 12:7). The context of the saying is in verses 10–13:
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’
Matthew 8 and 9 bring together a series of short episodes in Jesus’ ministry that are not necessarily in chronological order (i.e., not describing events that occurred one after the other in straight historical sequence). In this instance, however, I don’t think that’s a problem; we have all the context we need in the verses above (though it must be said, if we read the rest of the chapter we certainly see some similar themes emerging, for the same reasons).
Whenever an Old Testament verse or story is cited in the New Testament via a brief reference (such as here) it’s inviting the reader or hearer to recall the entire original text and context in which that appeared: the larger story, if you like. Given the time and cost involved in writing and copying ancient manuscripts—no “copy and paste” option in those days—the more economical use of words the better. Hence, we should also look to Hosea 6:6 and its context alongside our passage. Firstly, the verse itself:
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.”
The context in Hosea is the prophet’s denunciation of Israel’s repeated unfaithfulness and lack of heartfelt repentance. Chapter 6 begins with “Come, let us return to the Lord.” Verse 7 references breaking the covenant relationship, though to what, precisely, God is likening Israel’s behaviour is unclear. Consider how three translations render it:
“As at Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.” (NIV)
“But like men they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with me.” (NKJV)
“But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” (ESV)
To what is “Adam” referring? The NIV takes it to be a reference to the city of Adam, informed by the addition of the word “there”—indicating a geographic place. The NKJV, along with its predecessor, takes it to be not a proper name but a reference to the initial meaning of the Hebrew word 'āḏām in the creation account (before it ever was used as a personal name): so, humanity. The ESV (a Reformed translation, remember) takes it as a reference to Adam himself—a reading that conveniently lends support to the Reformed doctrine of an original “Covenant of Works” between God and Adam (I don’t personally buy that doctrine, but that’s by the by).
How we should understand the word translated “there” (Hebrew: šām) in this verse is key: it can mean there or from there, as a place, or thence or from thence, with the sense of a time (from then or thence). It’s translated in these ways in other OT verses.
But I digress!
The point is that when we’re interpreting the meaning of Hosea 6:6, the prophet is not critiquing (still less, stating the worthlessness or ineffectiveness of) the sacrifices prescribed in Torah in themselves—he’s not placing them in opposition to “mercy” as God’s preferred alternative. Still less is he saying that God doesn’t want or never wanted sacrifices; after all, it was God who gave Israel the Torah in the first place, as commandments! But, of course, if we simply quote the first part of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 9:13 in isolation (“I desire mercy, not sacrifice”), and decontextualise it from Hosea 6, the phrase could, misleadingly, come across that way.
We need to say a couple of things about the word ‘sacrifice’.
The word’s contemporary meaning of selfless personal giving, or virtuously going without something for some greater purpose, is not its original biblical meaning, which at its root was a ‘gift to God’ within the provisions of Torah. Read Romans 12:1 in that light to get its proper sense.
And, for the avoidance of doubt, Jesus is not saying anything here about ending the temple sacrificial system or in any way relating that to his future death. He is speaking within the context of Israel’s relationship with God—a covenant relationship that (however exactly we read Hosea 6:7) Israel was violating in Hosea’s time. Jesus is saying that the religious leaders who critique him for sharing hospitality with “tax collectors” and “sinners” are being similarly unfaithful to the covenant when they do that.
So the first takeaway is “Do not interpret an extracted phrase such as ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ on its own, in a decontextualised way.” It’s way too easy to read meaning into a phrase that was not there in the first place to be read out of it.
And here’s another one. Be careful in attributing too much to a translation of a single word into English. I have heard rather too many sermons over the years in which the speaker has taken for granted that what a modern English word means is what the original biblical word must have meant and then builds their talk around that assumption. In other words, they exegete the Oxford English Dictionary rather than Scripture (a rookie error). A classic example would be the Hebrew word shalom, often rendered into English as “peace” and then inadequately assumed to be referring to an inward personal calmness and serenity. That meaning is not excluded, but it’s very far from an adequate definition of shalom.
In this case, the Hebrew word that the NIV translates as “mercy” is ḥeseḏ. It's used with either God or people as its subject, and its meaning reaches well beyond mercy. This is relevant not least because it’s easy to think of mercy primarily in a judicial sense: being more lenient in sentencing than a criminal deserves. By way of contrast, consider the ways that different translations render ḥeseḏ just in Psalm 63:3:
“Your love (ḥeseḏ) is better than life” (NIV)
“Your favour (ḥeseḏ) is better than life” (NASB)
“Your lovingkindness (ḥeseḏ) is better than life” (NKJV)
Other versions translate it as ‘steadfast love’, ‘faithful love’, ‘kindness’, and ‘loyalty’.
These ways of translating ḥeseḏ (along with ‘goodness’ and ‘compassion’) are found throughout the Old Testament in the 250 or so places the word appears.
Now, since the word is used in Scripture in the context of both God and people, of whom is it speaking in our verse? Does God desire ḥeseḏ from us towards him, or towards other people? It would be slightly bizarre for God to be asking for our mercy towards him, though love or loyalty would certainly make sense.
But perhaps that’s debating a distinction that God doesn't make. Just as Jesus refuses to separate loving God from loving our neighbour in the ‘great commandment’, so too our ḥeseḏ towards God cannot be separated from our ḥeseḏ towards others. And—especially when we view it in the context in which Jesus uses it in Matthew 9:13—it's clear that he's concerned with how these religious leaders are (mis)treating people. Jesus is saying that God desires ḥeseḏ—love, favour, kindness, mercy, goodness and compassion—to be shown towards the people that they write off as “sinners.” Jesus’ hospitality towards such people is itself fulfilling Hosea 6:6.
How, then, should we read what the verse is saying God desires ḥeseḏ in contrast to? I don’t think it means “as the alternative to” in a “the one, rather than the other” sense. I think we see that in the second part of Hosea 6:6, which acts as an ‘echo’ of the first part—the same thing stated slightly differently to enhance its intended meaning:
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.”
In other words, the sacrifices themselves are not the thing; the relationship with God within which those sacrifices play their part is the thing. If, as the beneficiary of that covenant relationship, we are failing to practice the ḥeseḏ towards people that God desires from us, then we’ve missed the point of the sacrifices—we’ve missed the point of the covenant relationship, and we’re violating it. All the sacrifices in the world mean nothing to him if there is no ḥeseḏ towards the people God loves.
Finally, I mentioned that Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 again in Matthew 12:7. It’s a different context—this time in response to the disciples being condemned for picking grain on the Sabbath—but there’s a common theme: religious leaders failing to practice the ḥeseḏ that God desires.
God’s priorities are not defined by loving the commandments of the Lord but by loving the people of the Lord (for whose well-being the commandments were given in the first place).