by gameld » November 15th, 2006, 1:51 am
ummm.... a point that i don't see made: the lawyer did not quote that passage in deuteronomy. that was Jesus words. He is the one who said, "love God... and love your neighbor as yourself. i, as a christian, have a hard time believing that Jesus, God incarnate, was 'influenced' by hillel. instead, i believe that hillel understood what God actually wanted. of course, luke does not record a piece of the conversation that matthew does: 'all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.' (matt 22:40)
remember to take all of this in context: the lawyer was asking Christ (who by now is well known in his area) what the greatest law was, what law to follow to the utmost in order to enter into eternal life (therefore not a saducee and not likely to simply respect a quote from hillel). Christ response was love God and love people. at this point any man would be humbled unless he be a lunatic or liar (or Lord) because of failure to this. if these commandments are not kept, then all the others are useless. 'all the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.'