Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Matthew 12:1-14, Grain on the Sabbath, a withered hand
Pharisees object when the disciples pick grain on the Sabbath. Jesus answers with David, the priests in the temple and mercy, then heals a withered hand in the synagogue.
Matthew 12:1-14, in every translation this tool compares.
When Pharisees object to his hungry disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus answers from Scripture: David ate bread reserved for priests, and priests work in the temple on the Sabbath without guilt. He claims that something more important than the temple is present, and that God wants mercy. In a synagogue he heals a man's crippled hand, arguing that doing good on the Sabbath is lawful, and the Pharisees begin to plan his death. The quarrel is over who has the right to say what the Sabbath is for.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/pharisees\/","n":"The Pharisees","s":"A mostly lay movement devoted to careful keeping of the law and of oral tradition, respected by the people and watchful of new teachers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-and-courts\/","n":"The temple and its courts","s":"Herod's huge rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, believed to be God's dwelling, laid out in courts that kept Gentiles, women and Jewish men at set distances.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/synagogue\/","n":"The synagogue","s":"The local gathering place where Jews met on the Sabbath to pray and study Scripture. It was also a community center, run by people of standing.","r":""}
Matthew adds an argument from the law itself, since the law commanded priests to work on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:10), and a lesser-to-greater argument; Keener notes that most Jewish ears would have found a man greater than the temple presumptuous. The Essenes forbade lifting an animal out of a pit on the Sabbath, while most Pharisees allowed it. Keener adds that Pharisees lacked the power to execute anyone. The Mishnah lists thirty-nine main kinds of forbidden work, reaping and threshing among them, and the Qumran rule forbade even lowering a ladder or rope to pull a man out of water on the Sabbath (CD 11:16-17; Wilkins).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 12:1, 12:2, 12:5-6, 12:9-10, 12:11 and 12:13-14
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 12:1, 12:5, 12:11, 12:12 and 12:14
- Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Matthew 12:2 and 12:10-11
