26/10/2026
Matthew 22.34-46
The Greatest Commandment and the Question about David's Own Son
These two interactions between Jesus and the Pharisees seem unrelated at first glance, but they make more sense as a pair when you explore the scriptural context they come from, and the Hebrew translation of the Old Testament quotes.
The quote that Jesus makes in answering the Pharisees question on the Law, in which he states the ‘greatest commandment’, comes from Deuteronomy 6.4-5. Here, Moses says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This, known as the ‘Shema Israel’, is at the heart of the Jewish faith, and a foundation of the monotheism under-pinning Christianity too.
Here ‘our God’ (‘Eloheinu’ in Hebrew) and ‘the Lord’ (‘Adoni’ in Hebrew, also translated ‘Messiah’ or Saviour) are ‘one’.
The next quote is from Psalm 110.1, one of the psalms attributed to King David. “The Lord said to my Lord” in English translation seems obscure, but in Hebrew it makes more sense: it is ‘Yahweh said to Adoni’ – in other words, ‘God said to my Lord/the Messiah’. The implication is that if the Messiah is ‘the Lord’ and the Lord is God, how could the Messiah be David’s own son?
It may be convoluted for us to follow, but the Pharisees, absolutely steeped in scripture, would have been able to put two and two together. Later in the same chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses continued, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” Jesus and the Pharisees would have been aware of this sub-text. It may have been an unspoken warning to the Pharisees which, it seems, they heeded.
And if that was not a strong enough warning, the second commandment Jesus refers to comes from Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord."
