Chapters 2:23-28.
23 AND it came to pass that he was passing on the Sabbath (day) through the cornfields; and his disciples began, as they walked on, plucking the ears (of corn). 24And the Pharisees said to him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath (day) that which is not lawful? 25 And he said to them, Have ye never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and those with him? 26 How he entered into the house of God, at [the place of] Abiathar [? the] high priest, and ate the Show-bread which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and gave also to them that were with him? 27 And he said to them, The Sabbath was made on account of man, and not man on account of the Sabbath: 28 so that the Son of man is lord of the Sabbath also.
Notes and Suggestions.
Verse 23. — Sabbath. This is called in Luke 6:1 The “second-first” Sabbath, and it was the first occurring after the offering of the wave-sheaf (Lev. 23:1010Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: (Leviticus 23:10)). The Sabbath immediately after Passover was a “high day” (John 19:3131The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (John 19:31)), and was the first of the series of seven Sabbaths to be reckoned before the “offering of the wave-loaves (Lev. 23:15-1715And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15‑17)). The one in the text was the second of that series. The order therefore would be as follows: —
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NISAN
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14
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Passover.
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15
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Sabbath (the “high day”). Feast of unleavened bread begins.
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16
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Offering of wave-sheaf.
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21
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Last day of feast of unleavened bread.
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22
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Second Sabbath (“second-first”).
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SIVAN
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5
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Seventh Sabbath.
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6
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Offering of wave-loaves. Day of Pentecost.
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Many explanations have been given of the peculiar term (second-first); but the above seems to accord best with its known usage by Greek writers. The word is omitted in the Revised Version, but, it is believed, there is not sufficient reason for the omission, which was probably due to its difficulty.
Plucking the ears. They were permitted to pluck their neighbor’s corn with their hands, but not to use a sickle (Deut. 23:2525When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing corn. (Deuteronomy 23:25)). The act of the disciples was not objected to on the ground that they helped themselves to the property of others.
Verse 24. — Not lawful. In Luke 6:11And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. (Luke 6:1) we read the disciples rubbed the grains of corn out of the husks in their hands. This operation the Pharisees in their eagerness to condemn the Lord denominated “work.” And as the law expressly said no work must be done on the Sabbath day (Ex. 20:1010But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (Exodus 20:10)), they congratulated themselves on the smartness of their supposed capture.
Verse 25. — What David did. There was a striking similarity between the circumstances of David and those of the Lord. David was the anointed king of Israel but was obliged to fly from the wrath of Saul. And when hungry and in desperate need he applied to the high priest who gave him the shewbread. The Lord was among the Jews as the anointed of Jehovah (Mark 1:1010And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: (Mark 1:10)), but disowned by them and outcast. They would exonerate David because he had need and was hungry; but were the Lord’s disciples, in a similar case, to starve because it was the Sabbath? Whose fault was it that the Lord’s disciples were obliged to seek food in the cornfields?
Verse 26. — Abiathar the high priest. There is a difficulty here, since in 1 Sam. 21. we read that Ahimelech (also called Ahiah, 1 Sam. 14:33And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, I-chabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. (1 Samuel 14:3)) gave David the shewbread. Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, escaped at the massacre of his relatives, and became a companion of David in his wanderings. The difficulty remains because there is nothing in the sacred history to explain why the Lord mentions Abiathar and not Ahimelech or Ahiah. Reading as the A.V. here, “the days of Abiathar,” it means in the time of Abiathar who afterward became high-priest. Or, possibly Abiathar acted for his father, as Hophni and Phinehas did for Eli. Even if quite inexplicable to us, we might be certain (1) that if we knew all the circumstances, the explanation would be simple, and (2) that the Lord made no mistake. But the explanation indicated in the above translation seems highly probable. There the phrase is taken to be a reference to that section of the inspired history relating to Abiathar. A similar instance may be seen in Romans 11:22God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, (Romans 11:2); “Wot ye not what the scripture saith in [in the section, or history of] Elijah?” And, again, the Lord, when speaking to the Sadducees, says, “Have ye not read in the book of Moses in [the place concerning] the bush?” (Mark 12:2626And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? (Mark 12:26); Luke 20:3737Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (Luke 20:37)). This mode of reference to the Old Testament scriptures is known to have been practiced by Jewish teachers; thus, they called 2 Samuel 1 “the Bow,” and Ezekiel 1 “the Chariot.”
Show-bread. Twelve unleavened loaves were placed on the table in the holy place each Sabbath, 24:5-9) representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The loaves when removed, were eaten by the priests (Aaron and his sons). Hence the bread is called “hallowed” (1 Sam. 21:44And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. (1 Samuel 21:4)).
Verse 27. — Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, and not, as the Pharisees would have it, that man was made for the rigid observance of a pitiless law.
Verse 28. — Lord of the Sabbath. In the title, “Son of man,” the Lord takes a place outside the narrow range of Judaism, of which system, the Sabbath was a distinctive mark. He was not in bondage to the legal claims of the Sabbath; and as He had power on earth to forgive sins, so He was Lord of the Sabbath also. If He is rejected (and Son of Man is His title as such) He has power even over the Sabbath.