Matthew 12:1

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; Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:1-11. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. The Sabbath Day; 2. The Lord of the Sabbath; 3. Doing Good on the Sabbath.

INTRODUCTION.

The plucking of the ears of corn follows close after the healing of the paralytic and call of Matthew, for it must have been while the grain was growing in the early summer. If the time given by Luke (6:1), "the second Sabbath after the first," means the first Sabbath after Pentecost (Andrews), then it occurred the 19th May, A. D. 28. The healing of the withered hand was soon after.

The storm of opposition was gathering against Jesus, even in the height of his popularity. The new teacher disappointed the false hopes of the Pharisees as to the Messiah. He smote their prejudices right and left with his clear words of truth. He trampled on their rules and customs, in which they had intrenched and smothered their religion. These Pharisees, therefore, were watching closely that they might find some way of stopping his prosperous career. The found every fault possible: they searched carefully for some mistake or error of his which would put him under the ban of Jewish or Roman law, or the passions of the mob, and thus put an end to this dangerous teaching. The lesson for to-day furnishes further examples of this increasing storm of opposition.

1. THE SABBATH DAY.

1. Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn.

It is said that the incidents which follow took place "at that time." No particular time is mentioned, but it was probably several weeks before the above conversation with John's disciples, and in the early summer during the ripening harvest (see Time). The narrative seems to imply that the ears which the disciples plucked and rubbed were ears of wheat, not of barley. Now, the first ripe sheaf of barley was offered at the passover (in spring), and the first ripe wheat-sheaf at Pentecost, fifty days later (middle of May).-- CambridgeBible. Through the corn. We see Jesus walking along by the margin of extensive stretches of standing grain. These stretches, spreading far and wide over the plain of Gennesaret, come down, on either side, close to the path on which our Lord and his disciples, and. miscellaneous troop of others, are leisurely and gravely walking along in the stillness of the Sabbath. It is an unenclosed path,. mere track, such as is common in the same district at the present day. It leads right through the standing grain.-- Morison.

Corn.

Grain, wheat, or barley. Indian corn, which we call corn, was not known to them.

On the Sabbath day.

The Jewish Sabbath--now our Saturday.

His disciples... began to pluck the ears of corn.

Literally, began to make their way, plucking the ears of corn.--Alford. "Pluck the ears of corn." Because, as Matthew says, they were hungry. It was no wonder both he and the disciples were hungry; for no Jew could break his fast till, after the morning service at the synagogue, or take supper till after the evening service.-- Geikie.