What is the Meaning of Matthew 12:1-8?
by Kelly McDonald, Jr.
Matthew 12:1-8
“1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. 3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; 4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? 6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. 7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”
In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field on the Sabbath. They were on their way to Sabbath service at the synagogue. They were hungry and picked some heads of grain to eat. The Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath even though they did not violate anything in the Scriptures. They violated a man-made rule.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish leaders had developed a large body of oral laws. Many of these were first codified in a book called the Mishnah, which was finished around the third century. In it, we learn that there were thirty-nine categories of work in the oral law. These were rules added to obedience to the commandments of God which sought to add more detail to what God meant when in fact they made obedience more complex and harder to obey (see Matthew 23:1-4).
One of those rules restricted any kind of activity that could be considered reaping (Mishnah, Shabbat, 7.2). It also limited how much food one could carry on the Sabbath (ibid, 7.4). Because Jesus came to fulfill the Law, meaning to give it the full meaning, this means that He will explain what God originally intended when He imparted understanding of the Sabbath.
As we will see, Jesus gave us a teaching on how to properly apply the Torah in the context of the disciples walking through the grain field on the Sabbath.
In Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus connects two stories from the Old Testament to this situation – when David ate the shewbread and the priestly service in the Temple on the Sabbath. We will look at each of these examples and connect it to Jesus and his disciples.
In Leviticus 24:5-9, God told the male descendants of Aaron, who are the priests, to make fresh loaves of bread every Sabbath and place them on the golden table of shewbread, which is also called the table of presence. This consecrated table was located in the holy place of the Tabernacle and Temple. This bread was originally commanded by God to be eaten only by the male descendants of Aaron.
I Samuel 21:1-8, we learn that David and some of his men were running from Saul. They traveled to Nob, where the Tabernacle of God was located at that time. These men were hungry, and David asked the priest if he had any bread. The priest gave him some of the consecrated bread from the previous week even though it was not lawful for them to have that bread.
Why was God not angry with the priest or David’s company for this action? First of all, the priest gave them the bread from the previous week. By giving the older bread, the priest did not take away from the bread that was in the presence of God on the golden table. In other words, God was honored. The ultimate purpose of the shewbread was to honor God in the Tabernacle and Temple; using older bread did not affect the worship of God.
Secondly, though the priests did not know that David’s life was in danger, God knew that they were running for their lives.
Third, keep in mind that the priest took a risk here. God gave the shewbread to the priests, and this particular priest chose to share with a man who was in need. He ended up paying with his life to help them (see I Samuel 21:9-19).
We can see that the priest’s actions were an example of the first and second greatest commandments at work. The priest continued to honor God by leaving the fresh shewbread in the presence of God, but he honored others by sharing older bread with those in need. He unknowingly kept them alive from certain danger. David was known as an obedient man (I Samuel 22:19). He was going through a difficult time. He needed mercy, and it was shown to him and his friends.
The second example Jesus uses in Matthew 12:1-8 was the priests who served on Sabbath. In the Torah, we learn that the priests had extra duties on the Sabbath. Among them were making the shewbread (Leviticus 24:5-9) and extra sacrifices (Numbers 28:9-10). Even though it was the Sabbath and they performed extra labor, God did not hold them guilty of any transgression. Why is that?
Keep in mind that the earthly tabernacle was a reflection of the heavenly one. In Hebrews 8:1-5, we read:
“Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. 4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”
The priests were asked to do extra work on the Sabbath to convey the spiritual weight of the Sabbath in the heavenly realm above all other days of the week. Because God consecrated the Sabbath and made it holy, set apart, and different from the other days of the week (Genesis 2:1-3), then it was necessary to have the priests perform more holy work on the Sabbath.
What God was conveying through their extra activities on the Sabbath was of such great weight to Him that their behavior was not held against them. Also keep in mind He asked them to undertake these extra tasks to honor Him. But God did not hold them guilty for doing this extra work, it was how they honored Him. He commanded it to be done, and they did it to honor him. It was holy work for God
Jesus then connects these examples to Hosea 6:6, which reads: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” How does this verse connect to the situation?
One theme of the book of Hosea is the knowledge of God and how it had been lost at that time. The specific knowledge which had been lost was the knowledge of the Law of God (Hosea 4:4-6). The priests, who were supposed to teach the Law of God, were not fulfilling their duties. This caused the understanding of God’s ways to be unknown in the nation.
The people who were charged with teaching the law of God had gone astray and were not properly teaching the truth, but they made sure that the people made sacrifices. Sacrifices were necessary for several reasons, but one of them was when a person sinned. It would be better that people had the true knowledge of God to obey, which brings mercy from God and towards each other, than to keep on sinning in ignorance.
Also, sacrifices benefited the priests because they ate them. Said another way, the priest taught that which benefited them but forgot what blessed God. This made their oversight of teaching the Torah even worse.
Let’s bring these details together. In Matthew chapter 12, Jesus and his disciples were hungry. The Sabbath is a feast day to be enjoyed and celebrated (Lev. 23:1-3, Isaiah 56:1-7). The disciples simply wanted something to eat. They did not violate any commandment of God, as they did not work to harvest the grain. They just were trying to enjoy the day.
When we look closer at the situation, we find out that Jesus and His companions were actually obeying the Torah!
“When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn” (Deut. 23:25).
“And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 23:22).
God allowed people to go through a field to pick some grain with their hands. The edges of a field were reserved for certain groups of people, specifically the poor and the stranger. Jesus was not of this world (John 8:23). He was from Heaven and a sojourner on earth. His disciples left everything to follow Jesus; they were physically poor (Matthew 10:1-14, 19:27).
Jesus and His disciples were carrying out the will of the Father. There was no agenda or lawlessness involved in their actions. The Pharisees accused them of transgressing their man-made rules.
Similarly to the time of Hosea, the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders had failed the people in teaching the knowledge of God. In this case, they were not teaching the truth. Instead, they rigidly enforced human rules which only benefited them.
The Torah requires we seek to have mercy on those who are oppressed, in need, and who serve God with honest and integrity. The people in Hosea’s time could claim, “Well, I honored God” in a certain area, but their focus was out of balance. Similarly, the Pharisees had neglected the weightier matters of the Law, but focused on their outward appearance (Matthew chapter 23).
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matthew 23:23).
The Pharisees and scribes help us see that a person can fulfill certain requirements of God rigidly but still miss the point of how He wants us to live and what He desires for our lives. Jesus and His disciples deserved mercy and grace because they were obedient people who were carrying out the Heavenly mission of pleasing the Father. The Sabbath is a day of life, which Jesus explained just a few verses later.
Kelly McDonald, Jr.
Pastor, David’s Tent Christian Fellowship
All verses taken from the King James Version (KJV).