NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part I

NOTE: If the Jewish teachers and Pharisees accepted the things done in the Temple to honor and obey God, how much more should they have been open to receive the things done by Christ for the same reason? If Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, how much more should they have repented at the preaching of the Anointed One? If the queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, how much more should they have been impressed to hear the wisdom of the Messiah? The judgment day spoken in this chapter are different from those pronounced on cities that rejected Him as the Savior. Those warnings were condemnations on centers of society and commerce which have already been carried out and documented by history. But here Jesus speaks of individuals and their future day of judgment when all flesh will appear before the judgment seat of God. A representation of Christ’s three-fold ministry is also seen here in this chapter. As it relates to the Temple: Christ is our High Priest. As it relates to Jonah: Christ is our Prophet. As it relates to Solomon: Christ is our King. In each case, He declares that greater things can be seen in Him, since the Temple, Jonah and Solomon were all earthly and temporal, while His is spiritual and everlasting.

Verse 1: About that same time of year, Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were with Him, and they were hungry. So they began to pick up seeds of grain and eat them.

There is nothing in this narrative that suggests that Jesus has left the area around Capernaum in Galilee. So the crops being grown there are the ones we find in this story. Based on the agricultural cycle in Israel, this most likely took place sometime between April and June. As to the type of seeds, according to ancient records, they could have been wheat, barley or flax seeds.

One Hebraic scholar however, finds a possible discrepancy in the way the text is written as to how the disciples retrieved the grain, and the way it really happened. He says: “It seems fairly clear that when the original Hebrew account (written by Matthew who knew the customs and even the local differences in interpretation) was translated into Greek, the translator, not knowing these customs, and perhaps trying to make the scene more colorful, added the statement about plucking the wheat, and thus introduced the one and only act of transgression of the Torah recorded in the synoptic Gospels.”¹

By picking up the grain the disciples were abiding by the law: “When you go through another person’s field of grain, you may eat all the grain you can pick up with your hands. But you cannot use a sickle to cut that person’s grain and take it with you.”² That’s why I have incorporated this understanding in the translation of this verse as rendered above. So the Pharisee’s objection to what the disciples were doing was not a violation of the law on how they obtain the seeds, but that it was a violation of the Sabbath.

So they were not breaking any laws as far as Jesus was concerned. Luke adds that once they picked up the grains they began “rubbing them in their hands and eating them.”³ This, of course, was their way of getting rid of the husks so they could chew on the whole grain. I’m sure the Jews surmised that these Jewish followers of Jesus knew what was being taught by the Rabbis by which they declared: “If a person is aware that it is the Sabbath but forgets that certain works are forbidden, each labor is a separate fact, and he is liable for each one separately.”⁴ And among these were: “Reaping, including the picking of fruit from trees.”⁵

Nevertheless, when they confronted Jesus that what His disciples were doing was wrong on the Sabbath. Jesus specifically says that it was because His disciples were hungry. Here Our Lord is referencing that part of verbal tradition that says: “If someone is seized with illness due to extreme hunger he may be fed even with prohibited foods until his appearance is restored when it may be assumed that the danger to his life has passed.”⁶

Another scholar comments about the fact that the disciples were hungry. He says: “The key to understanding this difficult passage and its Synoptic parallels ought to be an analysis of the circumstances in which the incident took place. The text, however, does not provide a clear picture of those details which would be determinative from a legal point of view. The words ‘His disciples were hungry’ — a vital fact — appear only in the version of Matthew; they are absent in Mark and Luke. If Jesus’ disciples indeed profaned the Sabbath, as it might seem at first glance, was it because they were starving? That this was so would seem to be confirmed by verse 3, for the fact that David was hungry — which appears in all three Synoptic accounts as part of Jesus’ argument — is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament version of the episode. If it is added here as an explanation and justification of David’s action, then it presumably also explains and justifies the action of Jesus’ disciples, and this (rather than some other legal argument, or a Christological argument) is apparently the crux of Jesus’ reasoning.”⁷

Early Church father Chrysostom interjects this thought into the passage. He writes: “How could He who foreknew all things be unaware of the consequences of this action, unless it had been His will that the Sabbath law had to be reinterpreted? That was His will indeed, but not in a simple sense. He never broke the law without adequate cause, and always by giving a reasonable justification. His purpose in doing so was to bring the old law to an end, yet not in a defiant manner. There are indeed occasions in which He repeals the old law directly and without any fanfare, as when He anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay, and when He said, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’⁸ He does this to glorify His own Father and to soothe the enmity of the Jews. His appeal is to the necessity of nature in this case, since His disciples were hungry.”⁹

This must not only have irritated the Pharisees because in their eyes it violated the laws of the Sabbath, but it may have also made them wonder why Jesus had not provided the traditional Sabbath delight for His followers. Jewish Rabbis tell us what is meant by “Sabbath delight.” They say: “This refers to our Sages’ statement that a person must prepare a particularly sumptuous dish and a pleasantly flavored beverage for the Sabbath. All of this must be done within the context of a person’s financial status. The more one spends both financially, in expenses undertaken for the Sabbath and in effort, in the preparation of many good foods, the more praiseworthy it is. If, however, this is not within one’s [financial] capacity, even if one merely stews food or the like in honor of the Sabbath, this is considered to be Sabbath delight.”¹⁰

This idea of Sabbath delight, comes from the teachings of the Rabbis. They taught: “He who delights in the Sabbath is granted his heart’s desires, for it is said, Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.¹¹ Now, I do not know what this ‘delight’ refers to; but when it is said, and thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight, you must say that it refers to the delight of the Sabbath.”¹² Someone then asked the Rabbi: “Wherewith does one show his delight therein?” — [He answered]: “With a dish of beets, large fish, and heads of garlic.” Another Rabbi stated: “Even a trifle, if it is prepared in honor of the Sabbath, is a delight. What is the trifle?asked a Rabbi: A pie made of fish-hash.”¹³

While, as far as I know, my family was not Jewish, but this concept must have found its way into our Prussian/British heritage, because our Sunday meals were always the biggest and best of the whole week. This just gave the Pharisees one more reason to criticize this misguided entourage of the prophet from Galilee and the way they conducted themselves.

Verse 2: When the Pharisees saw this. They said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the law to do on the Sabbath day.”

The Pharisees obviously saw things differently than Jesus and His disciples. To them this was work, and work was forbidden on the Sabbath. They certainly had plenty of ammunition for their charges. The Jews taught: “There are 39 primary categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath: seeding, plowing, reaping, gathering, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, bleaching it, combing it, dyeing it, spinning it, mounting the warp of the loom, setting two looped wires in preparation for weaving, weaving two threads, unraveling two threads, tying a knot, untying a knot, sewing two stitches, tearing in preparation of sewing two stitches, trapping a deer, slaughtering it, skinning it, salting it & tanning its hide, smoothing the hide, cutting the hide into useful shapes, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a flame, kindling a fire, completing production of an object, transferring an object from place to place.”¹⁴

Of course, this all goes back to what we find in Exodus.¹⁵ Later, this was elevated to include a penalty: “There are six days for working, but the seventh day will be a very special day of rest for you. You will honor the Lord by resting on that special day. Anyone who works on the seventh day must be killed. On the Sabbath you should not even light a fire in any of the places where you live.”¹⁶ We find a chilling story about this in the book of Numbers: “While the Israelites were in the desert, some of them saw a man gathering firewood on the Sabbath day. The people who saw him gathering the wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community of Israel. They kept a close watch on them because they did not know how they should punish him. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must die. All the people must throw stones at him outside the camp.’ So the people took him outside the camp and killed him with stones. They did this just as the Lord commanded Moses.”¹⁷

As a matter of fact, one prophet told the people of Israel how to get rid of their misery, “That will happen when you stop sinning against God’s law about the Sabbath and when you stop doing things to please yourself on that special day. You should call the Sabbath a happy day. You should honor the Lord’s special day by not saying and doing things that you do every other day of the week.”¹⁸ So these were serious charges being made against Jesus and His disciples. In fact, according to verbal tradition Jesus and His disciples were not only violating the Sabbath by picking the grain, but also that they walked far enough away from town to beyond the prescribed limits for a Sabbath walk. As such, according to Exodus 16:29 “they should be punished with lashes.”¹⁹

One early church patriarch gives us this commentary: “For where nothing great or noble happens, the Pharisees remain quiet. But where they see certain people being healed, they are more offended than anyone else. In this way they are the enemies of humanity’s salvation and without understanding of the sacred writings. If the new covenant announced of old by Jeremiah differs from the first covenant, it ought by all means not to make use of old laws but of new ones. But the Pharisees, not willing to comprehend this, lay snares for the holy apostles and say about them to Christ: ‘Look here, we see those you’ve schooled opposing themselves to the stipulations of the law. For where the law commands everyone to rest on the sabbath and to touch no manner of work, your disciples pluck ears of wheat with their hands.’ But tell me, O Pharisee, when you have set the sabbath table for yourself, don’t even you break the bread? Why then do you blame others?”²⁰

So, Matthew in sharing this incident only touches on the surface of the Sabbath restrictions these Pharisees may have brought up, such as: “There is no shoot, and no branch, and no leaf even which it is allowed to be cut or to plucked on that day, nor any fruit which it is lawful to gather.”²¹ Seeing that Jesus purposely walked through the fields of grain on the Sabbath was not a case of Him unknowingly entering a trap set by the opposition, but an act on His part to bait them into asking a question or offering a criticism that they might otherwise have never asked. And when they did, our Lord was ready with an answer. It also allows us to see why Jesus was sent from the Father to remove the impossible task of obeying every letter of the Law in order to work out one’s own salvation.

Verses 3-4: Jesus said to them, “You have read what David did when he and those with him were hungry. David went into God’s tent. He and those with him ate the bread that was offered to God. It was against the law for David or those with him to eat that bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat it.”

This story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:1-9. As He did so often, Jesus refers to the Scriptures where the Pharisees will find their answer. He points to His most celebrated and revered royal ancestor, king David. Now the tables are turned on these complaining Pharisees. Even king David was able to override the restrictions of eating the showbread²² because of dire hunger. Therefore, since His disciples were hungry, then why should they starve just because it was the Sabbath? Furthermore, even their own scholars stated that the making of the dough for this showbread was done outside the Temple court and then brought in to be baked. So even the work of kneading the dough and baking the bread after transporting it to the Temple was not considered a violation of Sabbath laws.²³

So in looking at the fine line of interpretation here: if this grain grew on the Sabbath, just like the showbread was made on the Sabbath, then eating it should be of no consequences. After all, this is exactly what their own Rabbis had to say.²⁴ What the Pharisees didn’t know was that they were talking to the New High Priest, and His followers who were the first in the priesthood of all believers, therefore they were eligible to eat the showbread.²⁵ But, as we will see, our Lord was not finished with the defense argument for His disciples, because both they and the Pharisees still have plenty to learn about what God thought of the Sabbath which He created.