Bible Study series: Matthew 12:1-8. Did they really break the Sabbath or just the traditions built around it, functioning like a wall to protect it?
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 12:1-8
1 At that time, Jesus was going through a grain field on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the heads of grain and eat. 2 The Pharisees saw and said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath! 3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry and those with him, 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the Bread of Presentation, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those with him, except the priests alone? 5 And haven’t you read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests profane the Sabbath and are blameless? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you knew what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ [Hos. 6:6] you would not have condemned the innocent men, 8 for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:1-8)
Comments:
Matthew 12 is all about conflict with the Pharisees and the demands of the oral tradition or law (Osborne, p. 448).
1:
The law allowed for a man to walk through his neighbor’s grain field and pluck the heads with his hands for a little food, but not with a sickle (Deut. 23:25). But the disciples were doing this on the Sabbath. Apparently, the Pharisees strictly interpreted the Sabbath to exclude this activity even on the Sabbath. Jesus was more concerned about humanity than about the rules and rituals, while the Pharisees were focused on oral traditions that piled up over the centuries.
The Sabbath is the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:8-11 and Deut. 5:12-15), but those verses do not describe how to keep it. In Num. 15:32-38, people found a man gathering wood, and Moses ordered them to stone him to death. So what kind of interpretations can come from that illegal act and punishment? Was plucking heads of grain the same thing? But the disciples (not Jesus, incidentally) were eating them, so does ingesting the grain excuse them, since they were saving their own lives (if we stretch things)? Apparently not, because healing on the Sabbath was questionable behavior, too. In the next passage, maybe the man with the withered hand was not in a life-or-death situation, while the disciples were.
Here are the Mishnah’s thirty-nine categories of work that were not allowed. This comes from the second century, but it does reflect the times of Jesus:
- Sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, and baking.
- Shearing wool, bleaching, hackling, dyeing, spinning, stretching the threads, the making of two meshes, weaving two threads, dividing two threads, tying [knotting] and untying, sewing two stitches, and tearing in order to sew two stitches.
- Capturing a deer, slaughtering, or flaying, or salting it, curing its hide, scraping it [of its hair], cutting it up, writing two letters, and erasing in order to write two letters [over the erasure].
- Building, pulling down, extinguishing, kindling, striking with a hammer, and carrying out from one domain to another.
These are the forty primary labors, minus one.
(Source)
The rest of the tractate goes on to define the parameters more precisely.
As for healing on the Sabbath, France writes:
Healing in itself was not included among the thirty-nine forbidden acts and was less easy to associate with one of them, especially as Jesus’s method of usually involved little or no physical action, and in this case was simply a word of command. But Mishnaic discussions assume, as do the scribes and Pharisees in the gospel stories, that healing is not allowed on the sabbath and simply discuss when a exception might be permitted. This was normally only where there was imminent danger of death (m. Yoma 8:8), assistance in childbirth was also permitted (m. Sabb. 18:3), presumably because it could not be postponed until the next day (p. 464).
Religious teachers debated these issues endlessly. In effect, these strict teachers of the law said it was better that people should virtually do nothing on the Sabbath. It is better to be safe than sorry, to be severe and austere than risk too much questionable behavior before a holy God. The religious leaders’ motives may have been honorable because the Torah does not define the Sabbath clearly (except not gathering wood), so they built a fence around this particular law (and many others) so people would not break it, officially, in their ignorance. And plucking and rubbing and eating and walking on the Sabbath was just too risky, as if the disciples were harvesting, like the executed man had been gathering wood (Num. 15:32-36). Jesus and his crew were walking on the tightrope between breaking the Sabbath and breaking the interpretations of the religious leaders. Today we could perhaps argue over whether Jesus’s disciples really did break it from a human point of view, but not from a divine one, because he was Lord of the Sabbath.
“disciples”: BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative Greek lexicon of the NT, and it says of the noun (1) “one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice”; (2) “one who is rather constantly associated with someone who has a pedagogical reputation or a particular set of views, disciple, adherent.”
2:
Apparently, the Pharisees were following Jesus’s company around, or maybe the Pharisees saw them at the edge of the grainfield and were waiting for them to come out. Stalking, anyone?
“Look!” this translates the older “behold.” It signals the reader to pay attention or to observe a new development. Here the Pharisees are asking Jesus to pay attention to what his disciples are doing.
“Pharisees”: You can learn about them at this link:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
They were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). Overdoing righteousness, believe it or not, can damage one’s relationship with God and others. Too self-focused.
“Sabbath”: it is in the plural, but most translators just have it in the singular, “Sabbath.” We should not interpret the plural to mean he regularly tweaked the traditions of the Pharisees on all the Sabbath days.
“As these Pharisees well knew, a challenge to the behavior of the disciples was a challenge to the teacher who was responsible to train them in proper behavior … Disciples’ behavior reflected on their teachers” (Keener, p. 355).
3-5:
Just for your information, Jesus is about to draw principles from a story, this interpretation is called haggadic, an argument based on story. In v. 5, he will draw a lesson from the law and the priests working in the temples, so this method is halachic (halakhic) or an argument from a precept of law.
On the consecrated bread, see Lev. 24:5-9 and my post:
Death Penalty in Leviticus 24 from a NT Perspective (the chapter is not only about the death penalty)
It was the bread of the Presence (of the Lord). Twelve loaves were stacked up in two stacks of six, put out fresh each Sabbath. Indeed, only the priests were allowed to eat it.
The story of David and his men doing this is found in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and 22:9-10. In the first passage, David is not shown to have entered the tabernacle, but neither is he said to stand outside. Jesus is paraphrasing the scene in the OT. David did break the rule. The logic is obvious: David was the greatest king, and the Pharisees were much less than he, so they should stop judging Jesus and his disciples. If you condemn the disciples, you should condemn the greatest king. Jesus is greater than his accusers. It was David as David who took action, and now Jesus places his own authority on the same level as David’s. Jesus is acting outside of religious tradition, and the leaders of this tradition resented it. In Jerusalem, Jesus will say that he is greater than David (Matt. 22:41-46). Jesus had to go—be killed, eliminated.
In an extra-strict religious environment, like Jerusalem, this is a remarkable statement. In these few words, first he says that he is greater than David, because in 1 Sam. 21:1-6 David submitted to the priest Ahimelek and asked for food. Ahimelek gave the bread to David, who did not refuse it, even though he knew it was consecrated. However, David never said that he was the Lord of the consecrated bread and of Lev. 24:5-9. Second, Jesus proclaimed that he was the Lord of the Sabbath, when that sacred day is listed in the mighty Ten Commandments. He owned the Sabbath; it did not own him. He stood above the Sabbath, it did not hang over his head like the sword of Damocles.
“Jesus appeals instead [of an explicit legal text] to inspired narrative to show how God expected the legal statements to be qualified in practice, ‘a precedent for allowing hunger to override the law’” (Keener, p. 355, quoting from E. P. Sanders).
6-8:
“Something”: it is neuter (Greek has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter). So what does this neuter word refer to? Jesus and his whole message and miracles and person and calling and manifestation of the kingdom—the whole “megillah”—is greater than the temple.
His declaration must have stunned the Pharisees to silence. It is hard to overestimate the shock that this pronouncement made on the religious leaders. Nothing could be greater than the temple and its religious system, instituted by God in Exodus and practiced by Aaron and his sons in Leviticus. Something greater than the temple is here, so Jesus himself gives his disciples permission to pluck grain on the Sabbath.
“I tell you”: this clause denotes a solemn and authoritative pronouncement that may surprise his listeners and make them uncomfortable.
Jesus quotes this verse from Hosea 6:6 because the Pharisees were so enmeshed and bogged down in the finer points of the law.
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice”: This is the Semitic way of saying “mercy rather than sacrifice.” “A rather than B” or “A is much more important than B.” The negation (“not”) is not absolute (Carson). In Hosea’s cultural context, he was not absolutely denying sacrifice, just its over-emphasis. And so it goes with the righteous (in their own eyes). Jesus would like to reach them too. And many priests (different from Pharisees) converted to their Messiah (Acts 6:7). Saul the Pharisee also converted (Acts 9:3-9). Generalization always have exceptions.
Blomberg:
Jesus’ point is not that analogous circumstances exist to warrant exceptional practices but that “one greater than the temple is here” (v. 6). By implication the point of v. 4 is therefore also that “one greater than David is here” (cf. 22:41–45). It is not, therefore, the particular situation in which Jesus finds himself that justifies his disciples’ behavior but his very nature and authority which can transcend the law and make permissible for his disciples what once was forbidden. Thus the passage displays the same logic as 5:17–48. Verse 8 brings the dialogue to its logical climax. Jesus’ sovereign authority will determine how the Sabbath is now fulfilled in the kingdom age. (comment on 12:3-8)
“Son of Man”: it both means the powerful, divine Son of man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human.
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
Let’s discuss this verbal sparring match between Jesus and these religious leaders on a cultural level.
As I noted in other chapters, first-century Israel was an honor-and-shame society. Verbal and active confrontations happened often. By active is meant actions. Here the confrontation is both verbal and acted out. Jesus won the actual confrontation, and this victory opened the door to his verbal victory with religious leaders who were binding people up with traditions. They needed to be loosed from them. Jesus shamed the leaders to silence. It may seem strange to us that Jesus would confront human opponents, because we are not used to doing this in our own lives, and we have heard that Jesus was meek and silent.
More relevantly, for many years now there has been a teaching going around the Body of Christ that says when Christians are challenged, they are supposed to slink away or not reply. This teaching may come from the time of Jesus’s trial when it is said he was as silent as a sheep (Acts 8:32). No. He spoke up then, as well (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:32; Luke 23:71; John 18:19-23; 32-38; 19:11). Therefore, “silence” means submission to the will of God without resisting or fighting back physically. But here he replied to the religious leaders and defeated them and their inadequate theology. Get into a discussion and debate with your challengers. Stand toe to toe with them. In short, fight like Jesus! With anointed words!
Of course, caution is needed. The original context is a life-and-death struggle between the kingdom of God and religious traditions. Get the original context, first, before you fight someone in a verbal sparring match. This was a clash of worldviews. Don’t pick fights or be rude to your spouse or baristas or clerks in the service industry. Discuss things with him or her. But here Jesus was justified in replying sharply to these oppressive religious leaders.
GrowApp for Matt. 12:1-8
1. Have you ever broken down religious traditions to follow Jesus?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 