CHRONOLOGY. Mark and Luke place the events of this section just before the choice of the Twelve, which occurred during our Lord's retirement. The season of the year may have been April, at which time the barley would be ripe. It has been inferred from Luke's account (Matthew 6:1: ‘second Sabbath after the first,') that the second Sabbath was in the second week after the passover; but this is not even probable (see Luke). The supposition that a Passover intervened at this time, rests mainly on that phrase, which is rejected by many modern critics. It seems quite certain that the Sermon on the Mount had not yet been delivered; also that the controversy in regard to the Sabbath had already begun (John 5:16) at Jerusalem. The connection of thought seems to have occasioned the order of Matthew. The easy yoke of Christ and the burden laid upon the people by the Pharisees are strikingly illustrated by the conduct of the latter; the sovereignty He claimed (chap. Matthew 11:27) is exemplified by His words respecting the temple and the Sabbath.

THE SABBATH CONTROVERSY. The misunderstanding of our Lord's teachings in regard to Sabbath observance arises mainly from overlooking the circumstances in which He spoke. (1) The observance of the Sabbath had been the great outward mark of distinction, while the Jews were in exile ; the strict observance of it afterwards became an expression of national Jewish feeling. As spirituality decreased, formality increased; during our Lord's ministry the Fourth Commandment was made the basis of over refined distinctions and petty minutiae. Here then was the stronghold both of Jewish exclusiveness and Pharisaical formalism. To this our Lord must be antagonistic. (2) The Sermon on the Mount was delivered after these Sabbath controversies. This is one reason for the omission of any reference to the Fourth Commandment in that discourse. (3) There is no evidence that the Fourth Commandment was abrogated, or that its requirements were curtailed. Our Lord's arguments are drawn either from Old Testament facts and principles, or from Jewish practice. He gave a spiritual character to the whole Decalogue, and His opposition was to the unspiritual observance of the Sabbath. To keep the Christian Sabbath as Christ would have us do it, also ‘exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.' (4) The two discussions, recorded by three Evangelists, point to the lawfulness and even duty of performing on the Sabbath, works of necessity (first Sabbath) and of mercy (second Sabbath). The accounts differ in a number of points: one Evangelist omitting an argument rendered prominent by another; but the principles laid down are essentially the same.

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Old Testament