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. 23:10). The Sabbath immediately after Passover was a “high day” (John 19:31), and was the first of the series of seven Sabbaths to be reckoned before the “offering of the wave-loaves (Lev. 23:15-17). 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. 23:25). 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 6:1 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. 20:10), 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 1:10), 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. 14:3) 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 11:2; “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 12:26; 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. 21:4).
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.