The Sabbath and the Shewbread

Matthew 12:1-8

The Ten Commandments include a prohibition against working on the Sabbath Day (Ex. 20:8-10).The word sabbath means “cessation” or “rest.” The term is first used in the Bible in Exodus 16:23. Therefore the Law of Moses forbade work on this day under the penalty of death (Ex. 31:14-15). Sabbath violations were one of the reasons given for the Babylonian exile (2 Chron. 36:20,21; Jer. 17:27).

Breaking the Sabbath was considered a serious offense. The Pharisees had set up a series of Laws to keep fellow Jews from breaking Sabbath. Spitting on the ground would turn over a bit of soil which is plowing. To plow on the Sabbath was wrong. Carrying clothing was work but getting dressed on the Sabbath was not. If one’s house was on fire, he could not carry out his clothing. But he could wear several layers of clothing out of his burning home. No one could travel more than two fifths of a mile from home of the Sabbath. Soon these safety rules became traditions and then equal to the Laws of Moses.

Several times Jesus would come into conflict with the Pharisees and the scribes, because of what He did on the Sabbath Day. In this passage Jesus is rebuked for “doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” (12:2). This same event is also recorded in Luke 6:1-6 and Mark 2:23-28.

When the disciples out of hunger “began to pluck heads of grain and to eat” (12:1), the Pharisees viewed this as Jesus permitting His disciples to reap, thresh, winnow, and prepare a meal. Jewish rabbi Maimonides said, “To pluck ears is a kind of reaping.” The Talmud said, “If a person rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is sifting. If he rubs the heads of wheat, it is threshing. If he cleans off the side adherences. It is sifting. If he bruises the ears, it is grinding. And if he throws it up in his hand, it is winnowing.”

Jesus defends Himself against this serious accusation by giving six arguments to show that the Pharisees, not His disciples, are in err with regard to the proper use of the Sabbath.

▸ David and His Men Eating the Shewbread

To begin His first argument, Jesus starts with a rather cutting sarcasm: “Have you not read…?” This is a rhetorical question. Of course, the Pharisees of all people have read these passages. But did they really understand them. He goes on to remind them of an event in 1 Samuel 21:1-6 in regard to David when he too was hungry. “…he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” (12:3,4).

David and his men were running from King Saul. They came to the village of Nob about a mile north of Jerusalem to the tabernacle. It is here that David asked the priest Ahimelech for the twelve loaves of shewbread to feed him and his men. The bread was holy and only to be eaten by the priests (Lev. 24:9). However, the Pharisees did not condemn David’s actions or Ahimelech’s. Joseph Fletcher author of Situation Ethics, explains, “The plain fact is that love is an imperious law unto itself. It will not share its authority with any other laws, either natural or supernatural. Love is even capable of desecrating the Holy of Holies, the very tabernacle of the altar, if human hunger cries for help…The periscope Matt. 12:1-8…left no doubt about Jesus’ willingness to follow the radical decisions of love. He puts his stamp of approval on the trans legality of David’s …act” (Fletcher 85).

Fletcher believes that hunger outweighs the Laws of God. This same argument of necessity of the situation over the Law could be used to justify fornication, murder, lying, abortion, adultery, instrumental music in worship to God. But there are several problems with this interpretation of David’s actions. First, Jesus was not supporting David’s choice by way of situation ethics. He claimed his disciples were “guiltless” because they did not break the Law of Moses. Furthermore, the old shewbread was removed and replaced with fresh every Sabbath Day. And consider the time when the priest Samuel gave his portion of a sacrifice to King Saul to eat (1 Sam. 9).

“The Jews did not criticize David for eating the shewbread under such trying circumstances, why criticize the disciples when they were but breaking the Pharisees interpretation of the Sabbath law?” (RC Foster, Studies in the Life of Christ, 457). But they were not breaking the Law of Moses.

▸ The Priests Work on the Sabbath

While on the subject of the priests, Jesus focuses the Pharisees’ attention on another argument. “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?” (12:5). Every Sabbath in the tabernacle or the Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses, Priests had to work harder than on any of the other days of the week. They had to burn incense (Lev. 24:7), change out the old shewbread for the new (Lev. 24:8), and sacrifice a double brunt offering (Num. 28:9,10); etc. The essence of Jesus argument: if you do not condemn God’s servants the Priests for working on the Sabbath in Temple service, why rebuke me for having my servants working for Me – the Messiah, the Son of God.

▸ Jesus Is Greater Than the Temple

The previous argument about Temple service by the priests on the Sabbath enables Jesus to smoothly transition into His next defense. “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple” (12:6). Since the only one greater than the Temple was the one who “dwelt” in it, Jesus is clearly claiming to be God (Matthew 23:21). Jesus had His servants just like the Temple in Jerusalem. They are serving something greater than the Temple. If the priests could work on the Sabbath, the disciples should be able to serve as well.

▸ Hosea 6:6 – “I desire not only sacrifice but also mercy.”

Jesus once again uses sarcasm to point out their failures to understand basic well-known passages like Hosea 6:6. God has said, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ (12:7a). Sacrifices were connected with God’s mercy. To show mercy to others was to be like God who shows mercy to those who sacrifice. Jesus along with His disciples were out and about showing mercy to the sick, possessed, sinners. The Pharisees were not willing to show mercy to the hungry disciples on the Sabbath day.

▸ The Disciples were Guiltless

If the Pharisees truly understand Hosea 6:6, they “would not have condemned the guiltless” – disciples of Jesus (12:7b). The Law of Moses provided for the poor to pick grain from their neighbor’s fields when hungry (Lev. 19:9-10). The Law even made a distinction between using a sickle to harvest the grain in their neighbor’s field and just plucking a few grains with their hands (Deut. 23:25). Reaping was forbidden on the Sabbath day (Ex. 34:21), but Jesus’ disciples were not reaping grain they were plucking grain. The disciples were only guilty of violating the traditions of men.

▸ Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Jesus’ final argument is rather bold: “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (12:8). First, He is greater than the Temple and now Master over the Sabbath day. Jesus was on an equal footing with God. He had the right or authority over the Sabbath and how it was observed. He made the Sabbath Laws as God. Just as a police officer can direct a parade going the wrong way on a one-way street, so Jesus can direct men on what is permissible on the Sabbath.

As if these six arguments are not enough, in Mark’s gospel it includes a seventh. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Jesus did not violate the Sabbath. Jesus did not let His disciples violate the Sabbath. Jesus’ disciples were guiltless. Jesus did not approve of Situation Ethics. The Pharisees do not respond. The debate is over! Or is it?

– Daniel R. Vess