Mat 12:1-8 | Family | STEP | Corn ; in the Scriptures this word means grain of any kind, especially wheat and barley, which were common grains of Palestine. Pluck the ears ; picked off the heads, and rubbed them in their hands to separate the kernels from the ear. .

‏ Matthew 12:1-8

Corn; in the Scriptures this word means grain of any kind, especially wheat and barley, which were common grains of Palestine.

Pluck the ears; picked off the heads, and rubbed them in their hands to separate the kernels from the ear. Lu 6:1. Not lawful; not right; a violation of the fourth commandment. David; 1Sa 21:1-6. The necessity of the case justified him. Read in the law; Nu 28:9,10.

Profane the Sabbath; do what would have profaned it, had not the appropriate duties of the Sabbath required that labor. The Saviour refers to the killing and dressing of the animals for sacrifice, and other labors connected with the daily temple service. In Joh 7:23, he specifies circumcision as another work performed on the Sabbath.

Blameless; without fault, because they did only what was proper on that day. Greater than the temple; the argument is, that if in the service of the temple the priests might profane the Sabbath according to the outward letter, much more might his disciples in his service; for he was Lord both of the temple and the Sabbath. Neither the temple nor the Sabbath, nor any place or time or form of religious worship, should ever, in our affections, rival him who is Lord of all, or lead us in any respect to contravene his will with regard to them. Mercy, and not sacrifice; see note on chap Mt 9:13. The fourth commandment always allowed men on the Sabbath-day to relieve the distressed, to feed the hungry, and to perform all those labors which public worship and the best discharge of the appropriate duties of holy time require. Lord--of the Sabbath; he who made it, and to whose worship it is devoted. If it was right for David to appease his hunger, and for the priests to do what was needful for the worship of God in the temple, much more was it right for the disciples, in attending upon the Lord of the Sabbath and of the temple, to appease their hunger as they did on the Sabbath-day.