Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 12:28

"And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the first of all?" — Mark 12:28 (ASV)

Mark seems to suggest that this next question was a sincere one. A teacher of the law had been impressed by Jesus’ answer to the previous question and so ventured one of his own. The rabbis counted 613 individual statutes in the law, 365 negative and 248 positive. Attempts were made to differentiate between the “great” and “little” commandments. The rabbis also made attempts to formulate great principles from which the rest of the law could be deduced.