Matthew 12:1

CHAPTER XII.

Jesus and his disciples go through the cornfields on the

Sabbath, and the latter pluck and eat some of the ears, at

which the Pharisees take offence, 1, 2.

Our Lord vindicates them, 3-8.

The man with the withered hand cured, 9-13.

The Pharisees seek his destruction, 14.

He heals the multitudes, and fulfils certain prophecies, 15-21.

Heals the blind and dumb demoniac, 22, 23.

The malice of the Pharisees reproved by our Lord, 24-30.

The sin against the Holy Ghost, 31, 32.

Good and bad trees known by their fruits-evil and good men by

their conduct, 33-37.

Jonah, a sign of Christ's death and resurrection, 38-40.

The men of Nineveh and the queen of the south shall rise up in

the judgment against the Jews, 41, 42.

Of the unclean spirit, 43-45.

Christ's mother and brethren seek him, 46-50.

NOTES ON CHAP. XII.

Verse Matthew 12:1. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath-day through the corn] "The time is determined by Luke in these words, εν σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω, that is, on the Sabbath from the second-first.

"1. Provision was made by the Divine law that the sheaf of first-fruits should be offered on the second day of the pass-over week, Leviticus 23:10-3. On the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall shake (or wave) it. Not on the morrow after the ordinary Sabbath of the week, but the morrow after the first of the pass-over week, which was a Sabbatic day, Exodus 12:16; Leviticus 23:7. Hence the seventy, επαυριον της πρωτης, the morrow of the first day; the Chaldee, the morrow after the holy day. The rabbins, Solomon and Menachen, have it, On the morrow after the first day of the pass-over feast; of which mention had been made in the verses foregoing.

"But now, from the second day of the pass-over solemnity, wherein the sheaf was offered, were numbered seven weeks to pentecost: for the day of the sheaf, and the day of pentecost did mutually respect each other; for on this second day of the pass-over, the offering of the sheaf was supplicatory, and by way of prayer, beseeching a blessing upon the new corn, and leave to eat it, and to pot in the sickle into the standing corn. Now, the offering of the first-fruit loaves on the day of pentecost, (Leviticus 23:15-3,) did respect the giving of thanks for the finishing and housing of the barley-harvest. Therefore, in regard of this relation, these two solemnities were linked together, that both might respect the harvest; that, the harvest beginning; this, the harvest ended: this depended on that, and was numbered seven weeks after it. Therefore, the computation of the time coming between could not but carry with it the memory of that second day of the pass-over week; and hence pentecost is called the feast of weeks, Deuteronomy 16:10. The true calculation of the time between could not otherwise be retained, as to Sabbaths, but by numbering thus: this is σαββατων δευτεροπρωτον, the first Sabbath after the second day of the pass-over. This is δευτεροδευρερον, the second Sabbath after that second day. And so of the rest. In the Jerusalem Talmud, the word שבת פרוטוגמייא shebeth protogamiya, the Sabbath, προτογαμιας, of the first marriage, is a composition not very unlike." Lightfoot.

His disciples were an hungered] Were hungry. The former is a mode of expression totally obsolete. How near does the translation of this verse come to our ancient mother-tongue, the Anglo-Saxon! - [Anglo-Saxon] - The Healer went on rest-day over acres: truly his learning knights hungred, and they began to pluck the ear and eaten. We may well wonder at the extreme poverty of Christ and his disciples. He was himself present with them, and yet permitted them to lack bread! A man, therefore, is not forsaken of God because he is in want. It is more honourable to suffer the want of all temporal things in fellowship with Christ and his followers, than to have all things in abundance in connection with the world.