“The Mercy and Knowledge of God Are More Important than Ritualistic Sacrifices”
Hosea 6:4–7
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
Dr. Monte S. Nyman and Farres H. Nyman wrote:
“In [Hosea] chapter 6, the Lord laments over Israel and Judah’s transgressions of the covenant they had made with Him. In this lamentation, one of the more well-known verses in Hosea is recorded: ‘For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings’ (Hosea 6:6). The Savior quotes it twice during His ministry to refute the self-righteous Pharisees [see Matthew 9:13; 12:7]. The Lord is more interested in how people relate to each other and come to a knowledge of Him than He is in their going through ritual in an attempt to worship Him (compare 1 Samuel 15:22–23). This verse also demonstrates that Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, is a God of mercy as well as justice, something not always understood by readers and teachers of the Old Testament.”
(The Words of the Twelve Prophets: Messages to the Latter-day Saints [1990], 31.)
