JESUS AND THE SABBATH. -- Matthew 12:1-14. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day._ -- Matthew 12:12. TIME. --A. D. 28. It must have been the early summer, as the ripe ears of corn (wheat) were in the field. PLACE. --Capernaum and its vicinity. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Mark 2:23-28... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE PHARISEES SAW IT. The Pharisees were ever around, watching for some error or mistake on the part of Jesus. Matthew, in his "_ began_ to pluck," shows how eagerly and instantly the Pharisees clutched at the chance of finding fault. We must picture then, to ourselves, the Savior going along... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE LORD OF THE SABBATH. 3. HAVE YE NOT READ? Many of our mistakes would be rectified, and our unjust censures of others corrected, if we would but recollect what _we have read_ in the Scripture; appeals that are most convincing.--_ M. Henry._ DAVID... AN HUNGERED. Necessity freed him from f... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HE ENTERED THE HOUSE OF GOD. The account will be found in 1 Samuel 21:1. AND DID EAT THE SHEW-BREAD. This consisted of twelve loaves placed fresh every Sabbath day on the table in the sanctuary (Exodus 25:23-30; Exodus 39:36). It could be eaten only in the sanctuary and by the priests (Levitic... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE YE, NOT READ... THE PRIESTS... PROFANE THE SABBATH? Christ adds another argument, that every Sabbath the priests in the temple break the ordinary Sabbath law, the Sabbath being their busiest day; and yet it was right, "because the greater duty of temple service set aside the law of Sabbath res... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT. SAY UNTO YOU, THAT IN THIS PLACE IS ONE GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE. The reference, though they probably did not understand, is to himself, the Lord of the temple. 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 discip... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE HAD KNOWN WHAT THIS MEANETH. They ought to have known, for they professed to be interpreters of the law, but in their slavery to forms and traditions, they had been blind to the spirit of the Scriptures. I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE. The argument is, that mercy toward these hunge... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SON OF MAN IS LORD OF THE SABBATH DAY. Because the Sabbath is made for humanity, the Lord of humanity is Lord of the Sabbath. Observe, _is_ 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. Tha... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS DEPARTED THENCE. From the place in the fields where this conversation occurred. 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
III. DOING GOOD ON THE SABBATH. 10.. MAN WHICH HAD HIS HAND WITHERED. That is, dried up from. deficient absorption of the nutriment. Luke says his "right hand." The disease here indicated results in. loss both in size and in power of the arm; for it there is no remedy known to man.--_ Abbott._ Bre... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, WHAT MAN... SHALL HAVE ONE SHEEP? ETC. Such an act of mercy to. beast was allowed and usual then, but the Rabbins afterward, perhaps on account of this reply, forbade anything more than "to lay planks" so that the animal could come out of itself. The Talmud teaches: "An animal which ha... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW MUCH THEN IS. MAN BETTER THAN. SHEEP? If. sheep can be lifted out of its suffering on the Sabbath, why not much more. man? WHEREFORE IT IS LAWFUL TO DO GOOD ON THE SABBATH DAY. If the Sabbath day would preclude one from doing good, then it would be an evil. Christ assumes that if. man does no... [ Continue Reading ]
STRETCH FORTH THINE HAND. As the cure is wrought only by. word, the Pharisees have no ground of accusation; there has been no infraction of the letter of even their own regulations. These two cases determine what may be done on the Sabbath. The one was. case of _necessity,_ the other of _mercy._ Th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE PHARISEES... HELD. COUNCIL... DESTROY HIM. These hypocrites, who, in their superstitious zeal for the Sabbath, were unwilling that our Lord should work. cure on that day, had no scruple whatever to take counsel for the murder of the innocent, and with that view to form. league with the dec... [ Continue Reading ]