Luke 6:1-121And 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. 2And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? 3And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; 4How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the showbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? 5And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 6And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. 7And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. 8But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. 9Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? 10And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 11And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. 12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:1‑12)
The sabbath day was the seventh day of the week, which we call Saturday. One sabbath day Jesus and the disciples walked by a field of ripe grain; the grain is here called “corn,” but that word long ago meant any grain; it may have been wheat or barley, as the disciples picked some and rubbed it in their hands to take off the chaff, and ate them as you may have done in a harvest time.
The people then were free to pick a small amount from thier neighbor’s fields, but the Pharisees saw what the disciples did and said they were wrong to do that on the sabbath day. The law of God to Israel was that no work should be done on the sabbath, and the leaders had made their own laws as to what was work.
Jesus answered them with a story from the Scriptures of what David once did: the men thought highly of David, and Jesus asked them,
The “showbread” was the bread put in the house of God, fresh each Sabbath, and the old bread could be eaten by the priests, but by no one else (Lev. 24:5-95And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. 7And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. 8Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute. (Leviticus 24:5‑9)). So it was not lawful for David to take the bread. But David was the anointed of God to be king, but King Saul was trying to kill him; so when he and his men were hungry they were kept alive by the holy bread.
Jesus was the Anointed by God, greater than David, all belonged to Him, yet people did not provide for Him and those with Him. If the Anointed One was not honored, the laws had no force or use. He told the men that He was Lord, or Master, also of the sabbath; so His disciples could take the grain for food on that day.
Another sabbath day Jesus was teaching the people in the synagogue, and there was a man with his right hand so withered that all could notice it, and the Pharisees, who said the disciples were wrong to take the grain on the sabbath, began to watch to see if Jesus would heal the man’s hand, so they could accuse Him of breaking the sabbath.
Jesus knew their thoughts against. Him, and He told the man with the withered hand to stand up before the people where all could see his need. then He asked the question, “Is it laul on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy?”
Jesus then told the man to stretch forth his hand; and as the man did so, his deformed hand became perfect as his other hand.
To see the Lord Jesus do this mircle by the power of His word, should have shown those men Who He was. But they still thought more of the koi of the sabbath day, than of the power of God, which only could do so wonderful a cure.
ML 01/28/1945