The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Quotation
Later text
Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘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 mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Earlier text
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Earlier text
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Jesus combines the Shema (Judaism's fundamental daily confession declaring Yahweh's unity and demanding total covenantal loyalty) with Leviticus 19:18 to summarize Torah's essence. The fourfold "all your heart/soul/mind/strength" emphasizes unreserved devotion affecting every dimension of life. The scribe's enthusiastic agreement that these surpass sacrifices (citing 1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6) is significant in the temple context, and Jesus commends him as "not far from the kingdom" (12:34). This combination functions as Torah's summation—the "two tables" of the Decalogue—demonstrating Jesus' orthodox credentials even as he reinterprets Torah christologically.