Mat 12:1-14 | PNT | STEP | The Pharisees Take Counsel Against and Seek to Destroy Jesus SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 12: Jesus Accused of Sabbath Breaking. The Son of Man Lord of the Sabbath. Healing the Withered Hand. The Pharisees Take Counsel to Destroy Jesus. The Tenderness of Christ. A Dumb and Blind Demoniac Healed. Accused of Help from the Devil to Cast Out Demons. A Divided Kingdom. Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit. Shall Give Account for Idle Words. The Sign of Jonah. The Queen of the South. His Mother and Brethren. Who Are My Mother and Brethren?. At that time . Compare . About the time when grain begins to ripen in Judea, that is, not far from the first of May. Through the corn fields . Wheat or barley. The paths, the only roads, led and still lead through the grain fields in Palestine. Began to pluck . Permitted by Moses ( ).

Matthew 12:1-14

The Pharisees Take Counsel Against and Seek to Destroy Jesus SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 12: Jesus Accused of Sabbath Breaking. The Son of Man Lord of the Sabbath. Healing the Withered Hand. The Pharisees Take Counsel to Destroy Jesus. The Tenderness of Christ. A Dumb and Blind Demoniac Healed. Accused of Help from the Devil to Cast Out Demons. A Divided Kingdom. Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit. Shall Give Account for Idle Words. The Sign of Jonah. The Queen of the South. His Mother and Brethren. Who Are My Mother and Brethren?.

At that time. Compare Mr 2:23-28 Lu 6:1. About the time when grain begins to ripen in Judea, that is, not far from the first of May.

Through the corn fields. Wheat or barley. The paths, the only roads, led and still lead through the grain fields in Palestine.

Began to pluck. Permitted by Moses (De 23:25). But when the Pharisees saw [it].

See PNT Mt 3:7. Some of the sect were in attendance on the watch for a ground of accusation.

Not lawful to do upon the sabbath. They did not object to taking the ears of corn, but to gathering, rubbing out the grains of wheat in the hand, and eating them on the sabbath. To understand their position, it must be noticed that after the Law had said that the Jews were "to do no manner of work" on the Sabbath, the "Tradition of the Elders" had laid down thirty-nine principal prohibitions, which were ascribed to the authority of the Great Synagogue, and which were called "abhoth", "fathers", or chief rules. From these were deduced a vast multitude of "toldoth", "descendants", or derivative rules. Now, "reaping" and "threshing" on the Sabbath day were forbidden by "abhoth"; and by the "toldoth" it was asserted that plucking corn-ears was "a kind of" reaping, and rubbing them "a kind of" threshing. The vitality of these artificial notions among the Jews is extraordinary. Abarbanel relates that when, in 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain, and were forbidden to enter the city of Fez lest they should cause a famine, they lived on grass; yet even in this state ``religiously avoided the violation of their Sabbath by plucking the grass with their hands.'' To avoid this they took the much more laborious method of groveling on their knees, and cropping it with their teeth. We give one more example of their Sabbath requirements from "Milman's Jews" (Vol. 2, p. 480): ``If on the Sabbath a Jew put out a lamp from fear of the Gentiles, or robbers, or on account of an evil spirit, he was guiltless; if to save oil, he was guilty.'' Have ye not read. The Lord answers them by citing the case of David, who, under necessity, took, ate, and gave to his followers the show bread which it was lawful for priests only to eat. Necessity rose higher than ceremonial. See 1Sa 21:1-6. Entered into the house of God. The tabernacle at Nob (1Sa 21:1). The temple had not been built.

The shewbread. Twelve loaves placed upon a table in the holy place as a symbol of the communion of the twelve tribes, and a type of the Bread of Life to be given to the whole world. They were kept a week, renewed, and the old loaves eaten by the priests. If David could take these under necessity, so could Christ's disciples pluck corn under necessity. The priests . . . profane the sabbath. The Sabbath was the busiest day of the week for the priests in the temple service. In this they rightly broke the ordinary Sabbath law, because the temple service set aside the law. Compare Joh 7:22,23. But I say unto you, etc. The thought is: If priests in the service of the temple can break the letter of the law and be blameless, how much more can the disciples of him who is the Lord of the temple do so in his service and by his authority? But if ye had known what [this] meaneth. They ought to have known, for they professed to be interpreters of the law.

I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. The argument is that mercy toward these hungering disciples was more acceptable to God than sacrifices at the altar, though sacrifice was the crown of the Jewish rites. The quotation is from Ho 6:6, and is also quoted in Mt 9:13. It shows that all our forms, rites and ceremonies are worthless before God unless we have kind and merciful hearts. For the Son of man is the Lord even of the Sabbath day. Because the Sabbath is made for humanity, the Lord of humanity is the Lord of the Sabbath. Observe, "is" the Lord of the Sabbath. He does not, then, abolish it, but has the right to make any change in it, in the interest of mankind, that seems to him wise. Neither Moses, nor any other mortal, ever claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath. This is a declaration of Divinity. He went into their synagogue. Evidently he, his disciples and these Pharisees, were on the way to it when the conversation took place. It was probably at Capernaum. A man which had [his] hand withered. That is, dried up from a deficient absorption of the nutriment. Luke says his "right hand" (Lu 6:6). The disease here indicated results in a loss both in size and in power of the arm; for it there is no remedy known to man. Compare Mr 3:1-6 Lu 6:6-11.

And they asked him. Luke says it was the scribes and Pharisees.

Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? In the opinion of the Pharisees, to kindle or extinguish a fire on the Sabbath was a great desecration of the day, nor was even sickness allowed to violate rabbinical rules. It was forbidden to give an emetic on the Sabbath, to set a broken bone, or put back a dislocated joint. Of course, they had added all this to the law of Moses.

That they might accuse him. Not in the conversation merely, but before the local judge, the officers of the synagogue, or the council. What man . . . shall have one sheep? etc. Such an act of mercy to a beast was allowed and usual then. How much then is a man better than a sheep? If sheep can be lifted out of its suffering on the Sabbath, why not much more a man?

Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. If the Sabbath day would preclude one from doing good, then it would be an evil. Stretch forth thine hand. As the cure is wrought only by a word, the Pharisees have no ground of accusation. Then the Pharisees went out, etc. Their real motive was hatred of the Lord, while their pretext was that he had broken the Sabbath. While professing to be very religious, they were really the servants of the evil one.