# 639 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 12:28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"
A scribe (an expert on the Laws of God) overhears Jesus comments about the resurrection and evidently was greatly impressed that Jesus took them back to the source and repeated God's declaration to Moses that He is the God of the living!
Good lawyers are like that, they look for precedents. Now like a good lawyer, he asks Jesus which commandment, (and we could say here,) which Law takes precedence? There were quite a few to choose from.
The rabbis of Jesus' day counted a total of 613 commandments, 248 were positive and 365 were negative. One of the methods that they used to determine the order of importance involved the severity of the penalty attached to the breaking of the Law. This method makes perfect sense. For instance, the penalty for murder in our court system is greater than the penalty for shoplifting.
Jesus, then goes on to tell the scribe the commandment that takes precedence is; 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
(The commandment of precedence)
The penalty for not keeping this commandment is found in De 6:15 '(for the LORD your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.
That's a pretty strong penalty, and it will be carried out against all those who reject Jesus.
Still another aspect to consider in the precedence of this command, is that all other commands, including the love of neighbor flow from it. No wonder God says, Pr 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
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