Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Hender Williamshot]

Why did Jesus tell His disciples to obey Mosaic Law and then defend them for working on the Sabbath?

In Exodus 31:12-15 God commands the death penalty for doing any work on the Sabbath.

In Exodus 16:22-30 we see this includes gathering manna to eat.

In Numbers 15:32-36 God commands Moses to stone to death a man found gathering sticks on the Sabbath.

Under Mosaic Law, reaping grain and/or separating chaff or debris from grain is considered work and is forbidden on the Sabbath.

In Matthew 23:2-3 Jesus tells the crowd AND HIS DISCIPLES to obey Mosaic Law and specifically says to do everything the scribes and Pharisees say to do.

In Matthew 5:19-20 Jesus says to keep Mosaic Law even better than the scribes and Pharisees do.

In Matthew 12 & Mark 2 we see Jesus and His disciples gathering grain to eat on the Sabbath. They are called out by the Pharisees. Jesus defends the actions of His disciples.

The standard defenses for this “desecration” of the Sabbath are usually focused on why the Messiah would not technically be guilty.

I’d like to focus on why the disciples should not be considered guilty of working on the Sabbath.

[jimwalton]

This action was in and of itself not against the Mosaic law, but instead was explicitly legal (Dt. 23.25). Sort of "end of story." Jesus is able to defend his disciples and the law.

Dr. David Flusser writes, "According to the general opinion of Jesus’s day, it was permissible on the Sabbath to pick up fallen ears of grain and rub them between the fingers. And according to Rabbi Jehuda, also a Galilean, it was also permissible to run them in one’s hand. In other words, Jesus was following the Galilean tradition that allowed Him and His disciples to rub the corn in one’s hand and thus was not guilty under the oral tradition in the breaking of the Sabbath Law."

[Hender Williamshot]

Then why didn’t Jesus simply say that everyone can reap grain on the Sabbath and the scribes and Pharisees are incorrect in ever thinking it was forbidden?

Why did Jesus later tell His disciples to be careful to do everything the scribes and Pharisees say (just not what they do)?

And also, why did Jesus resort to a claim of authority over the Law as Messiah in order to excuse Himself from that Law as opposed to just saying that isn’t God’s Law?

[jimwalton]

Jesus was making a point about his identity, and the Sabbath observation was his platform of the day. The point was not that everyone can reap grain on the Sabbath but rather that Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath. He was its creator, He is more important than Temple rituals, He is interested in relationship and not petty rules, and He is entitled to use the Sabbath for the benefit of humanity (eating food and healing people).

> Why did Jesus later tell His disciples to be careful to do everything the scribes and Pharisees say (just not what they do)?

Context, context, context. One day I'll tell my daughter she's not allowed to go to the mall, and the next day I give her permission. One day I don't want pizza, and the next day I do. I'm not contradicting myself. The context matters. In Mt. 16.11 he warns his disciples to beware of their teaching. Here (23.2) he tells his disciples to obey their teaching. What gives?

He is here (23.2) affirming their exposition of the Torah and their halakhic teachings *in principle*. They teach the people a lot of good things. They are qualified as teachers of the Law of Moses. At the same time he has been habitual and consistent about condemning all their petty rules that actually interfere with people's relationship with God, and their horrible hypocrisy in their own lives.

Jesus is always respectful of authority, and he encourages his disciples to do the same. These men sit in the seat of Moses and deliver a lot of good teaching. He is affirming Dt. 17.11.

It's the same in many areas of life. We are to respect those in governmental authority over us (Rom. 13.1-7), but not to the detriment of our godliness (Acts 5.29). We honor our parents, but not to the detriment of our godliness (Lk. 14.26).

> And also, why did Jesus resort to a claim of authority over the Law as Messiah in order to excuse Himself from that Law as opposed to just saying that isn’t God’s Law?

He's not excusing Himself from that Law. It's not a law, it's not Mosaic, but rather one of the add-ons the Pharisees imposed on the people. But again, His real objective here is not to clarify the Law, but instead to clarify his identity.

[Naugahyde]

> Dr. David Flusser writes, "According to the general opinion of Jesus’s day, it was permissible on the Sabbath to pick up fallen ears of grain and rub them between the fingers.

The passage explicitly says that isn't what the disciples were doing. The text uses the word "pluck", they were actually plucking the ears of grain, not just picking up windfalls. And that was considered work.

[jimwalton]

Deuteronomy 23.25 explicitly allows plucking the grain, not just picking up the windfalls. That action was therefore not contrary to the Law. What was allowed was plucking them or picking them up, rubbing them in one's hands, and eating them. What was not allowed was using a sickle (harvesting) to the standing grain.

[Hender Williamshot]

Exodus 16:22-30:

22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

This Commandment concerning gathering food on the Sabbath was given by God before the Ten Commandments and way before scribes and Pharisees existed, much less had the opportunity to add on laws.

[jimwalton]

This particular command and incident occurred before the Ten Commandments, as you have observed. It pertains particularly to the gathering of manna and they foreshadow what is coming. The "Ten Words" of Exodus 20, elaborated in Deuteronomy, become the official covenant. This text (Ex. 16.22-30) doesn't pertain to the issue at hand in Matthew 12, which is more about Jesus's identity that it is about picking grain. And, as I have already established, Deuteronomy 23.25 explicitly allows plucking the grain. Also remember that Deuteronomy is an explication of the covenant given in Exodus.

[Naugahyde]

> Deuteronomy 23.25 explicitly allows plucking the grain, not just picking up the windfalls.

Read it in context. That passage is about stealing from a neighbour's field, not about sabbath law.

[jimwalton]

That's correct. I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up.

First, and possibly small: the Deuteronomy passage isn't about stealing, but about landowners providing for the poor.

Second, it still applies. We take the whole Law as a set. The Law (Dt. 24.25) says it's OK for the poor to glean fields by picking the grain with their hands. There is nothing in the Sabbath section of the Law (Ex. 20.8-11; Dt. 5.12-15) stipulating that picking grain is considered "work" that is forbidden. Certainly people were allowed to prepare food and eat it on the Sabbath. It was later that the Sabbath laws went haywire with all sorts of preposterous and trifling rules.

This is the law that Jesus and His disciples were operating under when they picked the grain and ate them. Jesus justifies the action:

1. They certainly weren't stealing, because such gleaning was allowed. [And we note that the Pharisees didn't accuse him of stealing].

2. They weren't breaking the Sabbath, because the Law doesn't define "work". A safe assumption is that the word meant "work" (doing your job), not picking grain. The Pharisees had made the Sabbath laws into something they were never intended to be, and they were complicated and detailed. (Even now on the Sabbath, certain Jews won't even push an elevator button, considering that as "work".)

3. Even if they were somehow breaking a sacred custom in the eyes of the religious leaders, Jesus was asserting (in his reference to David) that the claims of human need took precedence over their man-made ritual rules. it is notable that the Scriptures don't condemn David for his action.

4. The Gospel text is really about Jesus using the opportunity to reveal something about His identity (Lord of the Sabbath).

The Deuteronomy text, though it is not strictly about Sabbath law, is still the motivation for the legality of what Jesus's disciples are doing, and nothing in the Sabbath law abnegates that.