Matthew 9:13

πορευθέντες μάθετε : a common expression among the Rabbis, but they never sent men to learn the particular lesson that God prefers mercy to sacrifice. καὶ οὐ, does not imply that sacrifice is of no account. ἔλεος (ἔλεον in T. R., a correction by the scribes), accusative neuter. Masculine nouns of 2nd declension are often neuter 3rd in N. T. and Sept [57] ἦλθον : Jesus speaks as one having a mission. ἁμαρτωλούς : and it is to the sinful, in pursuance of the principle embodied in the prophetic oracle a mission of mercy. The words ἰσχύοντες, Matthew 9:12, and δικαίους, Matthew 9:13, naturally suggest the Pharisees as the class meant. Weiss, always nervously afraid of allegorising in connection with parabolic utterances, protests, contending that it is indifferent to the sense of the parable whether there be any “whole” or righteous. But the point is blunted if there be no allusion. καλέσαι here has the sense of calling to a feast.

[57] Septuagint.