Author Description

Jesus cites Hos 6:6, "I desire mercy not sacrifice", in his response to the Pharisees' question in 9:10-13 and their objection in 12:1-8. The parallel accounts in the Gospel of Mark (2:13-17 and 2:23-28) and Luke (5:27-32 and 6:1-5) omit this use of Hos 6:6. Jesus's use of Hos 6:6 in Matt 9:13 would have been part of Jesus's teaching that Matthew first heard as a disciple of Jesus. Not only is it plausible that Matthew would have remembered and included this citation in his Gospel, Jesus's use of Hos 6:6 may have been significant in the shaping of Matthew's Gospel and his use of Scripture. A grammatical-historical and literary-critical approach that pays careful attention to the placement of Matt 9:9-13 and 12:1-8 in the flow of Matthew's narrative, the logic of Jesus's argument in these pericopes, and the context of Hos 6:6 in the book of Hosea and salvation history will help explain the meaning and significance of Jesus's use of Hos 6:6. This approach will demonstrate that Jesus uses Hos 6:6 typologically in Matt 9:13 and salvation-historically in Matt 12:7. The significance of this use of Hos 6:6 may be evident in some of the unique aspects of Matthew's Gospel--Matthew's exception for divorce in the case of adultery, the structure of the narrative account of Jesus's miracles in Matt 8-9, and the focus on Israel in the ministry of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus's use of Hos 6:6 may have also served as a model for Matthew's own use of Hos 11:1 in Matt 2:15