46 – The Disciples Pick Grain on the Sabbath, Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5

Matthew 12:1 At that [a]time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the [b]consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [c]break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this [d]means, ‘I desire [e]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the [a]consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath [b]was made [c]for man, and not man [d]for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Luke 6:1 Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the [a]consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5 And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Footnotes (Matthew)

a. Matthew 12:1 Or occasion

b. Matthew 12:4 Or showbread; lit loaves of presentation

c. Matthew 12:5 Or profane

d. Matthew 12:7 Lit is

e. Matthew 12:7 Or mercy

Footnotes (Mark)

a. Mark 2:26 Or showbread; lit loaves of presentation

b. Mark 2:27 Or came into being

c. Mark 2:27 Lit because for the sake of

d. Mark 2:27 Lit because for the sake of

Footnotes (Luke)

Luke 6:4 Or showbread; lit loaves of presentation

Commentary

Setting

All the passages open with the location of Jesus and the disciples in a grain field. Old Testament law generally allowed hand-picking grain from another person’s field (Deut 23:25), but specifically forbade gathering or preparing food on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:22-30). The question is whether plucking a few heads of grain can be considered ‘gathering’. As we’ve talked about in previous studies, the Pharisees had determined to persecute Jesus and followed Him endlessly to try to catch Him in some sin and thereby discredit Him. This is surely (in my opinion) the reason the Pharisees are present in the grain field where Jesus and His disciples are meandering and snacking on the heads of a few grains.

The timing of this event is, once again, on the Sabbath. The King James Version of the passage in Luke begins with the phrase “the second Sabbath after the first,” which is an expression not found in all ancient manuscripts. It may be “a reference to the second of the seven Sabbaths between Passover and Pentecost (Lev 23:15-16). If it is… then it helps to fully establish Christ’s ministry as being about three and a half years in duration” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1272). John mentions 3 Passover festivals in 2:13, 6:4, and 12:1. If this passage in Luke refers to another Passover, it would fall between the ones in John 2:13 and 6:4, making 4 Passover celebrations altogether (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1272).

Old Testament References

The first Old Testament reference Jesus makes in these passages is to 1 Samuel chapter 21, when David ate the show bread. “These loaves were placed on the table in the holy place in the Tabernacle each Sabbath. They were to be eaten only by the priest and his family (cf. Lev 14:5-9; Num 28:9). The priests prepared the sacrifices on the Sabbath in spite of the general prohibition of work. If the necessities of temple worship permitted the priests to ‘profane the sabbath’, there was all the more reason why the service of Christ would allow a similar liberty” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1197). After all, Jesus and His disciples were in full-time ministry.

The context of the story in 1 Samuel was that David was fleeing from Saul, who was trying to kill him. He found himself in the city of Nob, where the priest Ahimelech recognized him. Believing that David was on the king’s errand, Ahimelech gave David the only food he had, which was the leftover showbread. Although Ahimelech did not know David was running from Saul, Saul interpreted Ahimelech’s kindness to David as treachery to the king and had all the priests in Nob executed, along with many of the other residents and livestock. Later when David became king, he appointed Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son, as his high priest.

Jesus’s point with the story of David and the ceremonial showbread is that necessity can supersede ceremonial law at times. David knew he had been anointed by Samuel to be the next king and that God’s favor was with him, despite Saul’s crazed pursuit. His survival was God’s desire, as well as his own, and justified the means he used.

The second Old Testament reference is to the fact that priests are able to break Sabbath law without punishment. The Jewish people revered the temple and its service, so priests were allowed to minister in the temple and perform many of the duties of their position on the Sabbath day without rebuke from the leaders.

The final Old Testament reference Jesus makes is from Hosea in the passage that says “I desire compassion and not sacrifice,” His point is that He values ethics over rituals and observes the spirit of the law, rather than the literal application (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1197). Jesus has also already referred to this Hosea passage in Matthew 9:13, so we can see it’s growing in importance. As we discovered in a previous study, Jewish people committed long sections of scripture to memory, and Jesus’s short statements were typically understood by His audience to imply the context of the entire passage. In the case of Hosea, the theme of the book includes the condemnation of legalism:

Hos 5:1-2; 6:9 Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor. 2 The revolters have gone deep in depravity, But I will chastise all of them. 6:9 And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime.

If this accusation were not enough to put the Pharisees in their places, Jesus then asserts His position as equal with God. He had begun to build His case with the illustration of David and the show bread, demonstrating that God can choose when it is appropriate to deviate from the letter of the law. Then, in an overt statement of His own deity, He says, “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”. “By definition He must be above any law which He establishes” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1241).

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2020/01/24/healing-a-withered-hand/

Scripture References

Matthew 12:1

Deuteronomy 23:25 When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Matthew 12:2

Matthew 12:10 and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Luke 13:14 But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”

Luke 14:3 So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

John 5:10 so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”

John 7:23 If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath?

John 9:16 Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was division among them.

Matthew 12:3

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Matthew 12:4

Leviticus 24:9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD–his portion forever.”

1 Samuel 21:4 “There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread–provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Hebrews 9:2 A tabernacle was prepared. In its first room were the lampstand, the table, and the consecrated bread. This was called the Holy Place.

Matthew 12:5

Leviticus 24:8 Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a perpetual covenant.

Matthew 12:6

2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

Isaiah 66:1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

Isaiah 66:2 Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being, declares the LORD. This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.

Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 12:7

1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 12:33 and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Matthew 12:8

Matthew 8:20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

Matthew 12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.

Matthew 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Mark 2:23

Deuteronomy 23:25 When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Mark 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”

Mark 2:25

Matthew 4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

Mark 2:26

Leviticus 24:9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD–his portion forever.”

1 Samuel 21:1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

2 Samuel 8:17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was the scribe;

1 Chronicles 24:6 The secretary, Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded their names in the presence of the king and the officers Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites–one family being taken from Eleazar, and then one from Ithamar.

Mark 2:27

Exodus 23:12 For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident.

Deuteronomy 5:12 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work–neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do.

Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a festival, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

Mark 2:28

Mark 3:1 Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there.

Luke 6:1

Deuteronomy 23:25 When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Luke 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'”

Luke 6:6 On another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

Luke 6:2

John 5:10 so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”

Luke 6:3

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Matthew 4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

Luke 6:4

Leviticus 24:9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the LORD–his portion forever.”

1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Luke 6:5

Luke 6:6 On another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

Commentary

Ex 16:22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, This is that which Yahweh has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath to Yahweh: bake that which you will bake today, and boil that you will boil; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Ex 16:27 And it came to pass, that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, and they found none. 28 And Yahweh said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, For Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days; every man of you abide in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.