The disciples pluck the ears of corn on a sabbath-day. 267 SECT, xlviii. Christ shewed the tenderness of his compassion even in the severity of his rebukes, and spoke these awful and awakening words that these his unjust and inveterate enemies might be saved. May 34 they be the power of God unto our salvation! as they will be, if we 33 believe in him whom he hath sent. SECT. XLIX. Christ vindicates his disciples from the censure of the Pharisees, for rubbing the ears of corn in their hands as they passed through the fields on a sabbath-day. Luke VI. 1-5; Mat. XII. 1---8; Mark II. 23, to the end. LUKE VI. 1. AND it came to on the second sabbath LUKE VI. 1. pass, fat that time, AFTER the preceding conference with the Jews, our Lord departed from Jerusalem, after the first, that where he had met with such an ungrateful [Jesus] went through the corn-fields; and reception, and returned towards Galilee; And his disciples [were an it came to pass, that about this time, on the first hungered.] sabbath after the second [day of unleavened bread,] * Returned towards Galilee.] We may reasonably conclude this, because both Mark and Luke mention his being there quickly after this story. Compare Mark iii. 7, and Luke vi. 12, 13 with vii. 1. The first sabbath after the second day of unleavened bread.] So I venture to render delpangulor, the word used by Luke; yet not without much hesitation; for it is so singular an expression, that (as Erasmus long since did) I despair of seeing its sense exactly ascertained.-Could Theophylact, or his very learned followers, Scaliger, Lightfoot and Whitby, produce any instance of paslepoy being used for the second, or all for the third of the sabbaths between the passover and pentecost, I should entirely acquiesce in the translation here giten; which supposes this was the first of those seven sabbaths which followed the second day of unleavened bread, from whence the fifty days to pentecost were to be computed; see Lev. xxiii. 15, 16.-On the other hand, could the great Grotius or his followers, Woltzogenius and Brennius, have produced an instance in which wewrongly, or Tirangular occurs, there would have been reason to conclude with them, that there were three prime sabbaths which were accounted sabbaths of peculiar solemnity; the first, that after pentecost; aud the third, that after the feast of tabernacles.-For want of sufficient authorities to support either of these interpretations, Sir Isaac Newton (on Proph. p. 154), after Epiphanius and Beza, Jesus, has advanced another yet less probable than either; which is, that it was the second of the two great feasts of the passover; as we call easter-day itself high easter, and its octave, low easter, or low sunday. But though the seventh day of unleavened bread was to be a holy convocation, yet the law expressly allowed the Jews to dress victuals on it (Exod. xii. 16); which would have afforded so direct an answer to the Pharisees' objection, that one can hardly suppose Christ would have failed to urge it.-On either of these two last suppositions, it must be rendered, the second prime sabbath : but as I could not translate it all, without fixing it one way or the other, I chose the former rendering, for these two reasons: (1) Be. cause I cannot find that there is any Divine command to observe the sabbaths which follow the day of the three great feasts, and particularly that of pentecost, with any such peculiar solemnity as to afford sufficient reason for this distinguishing title; though large sacrifices were to be offered every day for seven days after the passover, and for eight during the feast of tabernacles; which are distinctly prescribed, Numb. xxviii. 16— 25, and xxix. 12, & seq. And (2) Because, considering what Philo and Isidorus assert, and Josephus intimates, of cornbeing ripe in Judea about the time of the passover (see Petav. Var. Diss. lib. ii. cap. 11. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. cap. 18, and Joseph. Antiq. lib. iii. cap. 10. § 5), and the law of presenting the loaves made of new wheat on the day SECT, xlix. Luke VI. 1, 268 The Pharisees complain of it as a breach of sabbath. to pluck the ears of corn, and did eat, rub in their SECT. Jesus, attended as usual by a train of followers, hungered.] and began xlix. (who had been with him at the feast), went [MAR. as they went,] Luke through the corn-fields; and as his disciples were VI.1. hungry, and the barley was now ripe, they began, as they went, to pull off some of the ears of corn; and rubbing them in their hands to break off the beards and the husk, did eat the grain. Luke VI. 2. re bing them do on the sabbathdays? MAT. XII. 2.] 2 And certain of And some of the Pharisees, who were employed the Pharisees [when by the rulers to follow him from place to place they saw it] said unto as malicious spies on all his discourses and ac- them, Why do ye that tions, when they saw it, were offended at the which is not lawful to time and circumstances of the action, and proving his disciples, said to them, Why do ye thus gather and rub out the grain ; for that is a kind of servile work, which it is not lawful for XII. 2. any one to do on the sabbath-days? And that they might involve their Master also in the same [And] they said unto charge, though he did not himself join with them him, Behold, thy disin it, they said to him, Behold, these thy disciples is not lawful to do in thy very presence, do that which it is not law- upon the sabbath-day, ful for any one to do on the sabbath; and wilt [Mark II. 24.] thou permit it to pass without a reproof? Mat. Luke VI. 3. And Jesus said in answer to them, Have ye, that value yourselves so much on your acquaintance with the sacred writings, and set up for the expositors of them to others, never read that day of pentecost (Lev. xxiii. 17), it seems probable the harvest was generally concluded before that day. (See also Scalig. Emend. Temp. Proleg. p. 25, 26, and lib. vi. p. 557, 558.-I suppose these considerations, or the authority of such great names,may have determined most harmonizers to introduce this story immediately after the fifth chapter of John; nor do I see any reason to vary from them herein. And the order would be the same if Reland's conjecture were to be admitted, that the wrongulov was the first sabbath in the civil, and the davrigonewlov the first in the ecclesiastical year. (See Reland. Antiq. Heb. lib. iv. cap. 9.) But this is a conjecture, which has so little to support it even in hypothesis, as scarcely to deserve a mention. To pull off some of the ears of corn.] The word say vas, here used, may indifferently signify ears of any kind of grain; but it might probably be barley, that being first ripe in those parts. (Compare Exod. ix. 31, 32.) Sir Isaac Newton lays a great deal of stress on this, for fixing the time of Christ's death: concluding this puss over must happen late, and that it was two years before that in which our Lord was crucified; and consequently that Christ's which MAT. XII. 2. ciples do that which LUKE VI. 3. And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David death must be fixed to such a time that the passover two years before it may be a late one. But I fear the argument is not so conclusive as one could wish, considering with what ingenuity and labour it is pur. sued. For that great man seems to have forgot how expressly Maimonides and the other rabbies assert that the Jews did not always fix their passover by the vernal equinox; but, in case of a backward spring, added an intercalary month between that and Abib. (See Lightfoot's Hor. Heb. on Mat. xii. 1.) If this be credible it shews. how little we can ascertain the Jewish passovers by astronomical calculations; and if it be not, why did Sir Isaac proceed in his computations on those rules for the translation of feasts, which we have only by late rabbinical tradition? See Bochart. Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. 50. d Offended at the time and circumstances of the action.] The law so expressly allowed to pluck ears of corn as one passed through a field, that, malignant as they were, they pretended not to find fault with the thing itself (sce Deut. xxiii. 25.) but they were perverse enough to think this a kind of reaping and dressing the grain, which was indeed forbidden on the sabbath. e Abiathar David Christ vindicates them by the example of David and the priests. 269 MARK II. 25.] 3. of Abiathar the high xlix. Luke did, when which David did in his extreme necessity, when SECT. [MARK, he had need he and they that were with him were hungry? and] was an hungred, [MARK, he] and they How he went into the tabernacle, which is which were with him? the house of God, in the days of Abiathar, who VI, 3. [MAT. XII. was afterwards the high priest, and then offi- 4 4 How he went into ciated for his father Ahimelech; (see 1 Sam. the house of God xxi. 3, & seq.) Have ye forgot that this faithful [MARK, in the days servant of God, this man after his own heart, priest,] and did take took and cat the shew-bread, which had that very and eat the shew-bread, day been taken from the holy table, and gave it and gave also to them also to those that attended him; which it was neithat were with him, [which was not lawful ther lawful for him nor them to eat, nor even for for him to eat, neither the Levites themselves, but for the priests alone? for them] but for the Yet in this case their necessity was judged a priests alone? [MAT. XII. 4. MARK 11. 26.] sufficient excuse for dispensing with the observance of such a ceremonial institution; see Lev. xxiv. 6-9.) MAT. XII. 5. Or have ye not read in the Or have ye not read in the law, that by those Mat. law, how that on the sacrifices which are appointed for the sabbath- XII. 5. sabbath-days the priests day, and some of them peculiar to it, the priests in the temple profane themselves, who minister in the temple, are the sabbath, and are obliged to perform very servile works on the blam-less? sabbath-days, in making up the fires, killing, e Abiathar, who was afterwards the high priest.] If our present reading (which Beza suspects, though older than the Syriac version) be allowed as genuine, here is a remarkable instance of a person being designed by an office which he did not bear till after the date of the event referred to; in like manner as Cyrenius (Luke ii. 2.) is called governor of Syria because he was So after the enrolment. It seems indeed that Ahimelech was high priest when David took the shew bread, though in all the story he is only called the priest; and as it is merely an arbitrary supposition that the father was sometimes called Abiathar, or the son of Ahimelech, it seems impossible to defend the received reading otherwise than by supposing with Grotius, that as Abiathar was a much more celebrated per VOL. VI. in son than his father, our Lord mentions his f Something greater than the temple.] Sa 270 The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. SECT. in prosecution of my service, they do what is xlix. so much less laborious than the offices which Mark you allow there in the priests. II. 27. Mat. MARK II. 27. And he said unto them, And he said unto them farther on this occasion, The sabbath was made for the benefit of man, The sabbath was made subservient to the rest and relief of his body, as for man, and not man well as to be spent in religious improvement; for the sabbath.and not man for the observation of the sabbath, or [LUKE VI. 5.] of any other ceremonial institution whatsoever. this meaneth, I will But if ye had known the intent of that scrip- MAT. XII. 7. But XII. 7. ture, Hos. vi. 6. and had considered what this if ye had known what meaneth," I require mercy and not sacrifice; have mercy, and not "that is, I always prefer acts of charity to mat- sacrifice, ye would not ters of positive institution, when in any instance have condemned the they interfere with each other h;" you would not have condemned the innocent, as you have now done, merely for rubbing out a handful of corn to refresh them in my service. 8 guiltless. 8 For the Son of man is Lord even You are therefore, on the whole, greatly to blame to censure them; and would be if So, of the sabbath-day. they had only my dispensation for what they do, [MARK II. 28. LUKE and were defended by no farther arguments; for the Son of man is a person of so great dignity and authority, that he indeed is Lord even of g I require mercy, and not sacrifice.] So S evidently signifies when it expresses the will of a superior; and this the original Hebrew word imports, which seems here to answer to that modern phrase used by princes, Such is our pleasure. h I always prefer acts of charity, &c.] I must here repeat a very obvious remark, because the sense of so many important scriptures depends upon it, viz. that according to the genius of the Hebrew language, one thing seems to be forbidden and another commanded, when the meaning only is that the latter is greatly to be preferred to the former. The text before us is a remarkable instance of this; as likewise Joel ii. 13. Mat. vi. 19, 20. John vi. 27. Luke xii. 4, 5. and Col. iii. 2. And it is evident that Gen. xlv. 8. Exod. xvi. 8. John v. 50. vii. 19. and many more passages, are to be expounded in the same comparative sense. A late ingenious writer says, "Our Lord does not compare moral and positive duties together here, but only the commandments of men with the commandments of God. But it is plain the series of our Lord's arguments here is intended to prove that circumstances of necessity dispense with some ceremonial observances, which were in the general commanded by God; and manifestly goes upon this foundation, that ceremonial institutions being the means of the VI.5. religion, if circumstances occurred in which they interfered with the end of it. they were suspended of course; and when this is the case, the conscience of particular persons is to judge as in the sight of God. i For the Son of man is Lord, &c.] The author of the new translation renders it in Matthew, The sabbath is subservient to man ; though he paraphrases it as it stands in Mark, The Son of man has a power of dispensing with the law of the sabbath; which is undoubtedly the true sense: for I cannot find that the Son of man does, in the New Testament, signify any one but Christ; and were the words (which are exactly the same) to be translated in Mark as he has rendered them in Matthew, they would be a mere repetition of ver. 27, The sabbath was made for man, &c.-It is worthy of our notice that Matthew introduces these words with yes, for, and Mark with w5, therefore, or so that; and both connections may be justified. Yet as it is hardly to be imagined both were equally intended, I look upon this to be a considerable proof that the sacred writers were not always critically exact in the use of their particles: a remark which I apprehend to be of great importance both for clearing their sense and vindicating their character. Whoever considers the ambiguity of many of those Hebrew Reflections on the apology of Christ for his disciples. 271 xlix. the sabbath [itself] ; and he may hereafter give SECT. Mat. XII. 8. IMPROVEMENT. WITH pleasure we observe the zeal which these attendants of Ver. Christ express, who chose on a sacred festival to expose themselves 1 to hunger as well as toil, rather than they would lose the benefit of his instructions, which, like the heavenly manna on the day preceding the sabbath, were then poured out in a double plenty. But what numerous auditory is so candid as to contain none who come, like these Pharisees, with a desire to cavil rather than to learn! The malignity of their temper sufficiently appeared in 2 taking exception at so small a circumstance: hypocrites that could thus strain at a gnat and yet swallow a camel, (Mat. xxiii. 24.) scrupling to rub out a few grains of corn, while they sought to dezour widows' houses, and were, under this grave mask of the strictest piety, inwardly full of rapine and all wickedness! (Luke XX. 47. and xi. 39.) Let us attend to the apology Christ makes for his disciples. It 6,8 speaks his own authority, as greater than the temple, and Lord of the sabbath and well might he, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, without the least presumption, use such language as this. It likewise declares much of the genius of his religion, which deals not in forms and ceremonies, and dispenses even with rituals of a Divine appointment, when humanity and benevolence interfere with the observance of them. Since God will have mercy rather than sacrifice, let us abhor the perverseness and wickedness of those who sacrifice mercy itself, not merely to ceremonies of a Divine original, but to their own arbitrary invention, superstitious dreams and precarious though confident determinations. Let us practise habitual caution and candour, lest, before we are aware, we condemn the innocent and the pious, and become guilty of what is much more displeasing in the sight of God than the faults which a peevish and censorious temper may fancy it discovers in our brethren. SECT. sabbath was an institution of great and dis- |