Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23–28 CSB

23 On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry— 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests—and also gave some to his companions?” 27 Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Mark 3:1–6 CSB

1 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. 2 In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

The Sabbath and the law

The Sabbath was created by God for rest (in Hebrew Nuakh)

Genesis 2:2 NASB95

By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

The word Noah means Rest connects to Noah the man

Exodus 20:8–10 NASB95

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

Exodus 31:14 NASB95

‘Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Deuteronomy 23:25 NASB95

“When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

Leviticus 19:9–10 NASB95

‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ‘Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22 NASB95

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

1 Samuel 21:1–6 NASB95

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ “Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

Textual Differences

Mark refers to Jesus as the “Lord during the Sabbath” while Matthew and Luke say “Lord of the Sabbath” and is the only one to note the Ἡρῳδιανοί or the “Herodians”

Matthew also adds reference to Hosea in 12:7

Hosea 6:6 NASB95

For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew adds a Parable Mark and Luke omits

Matthew 12:11–12 NASB95

And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? “How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Luke adds that the synagogue the man with the withered hand is identified as the Pharisees’ turf and includes scribes.

What was the problem?

Pharisees challenge is a trick question ment to trap.

Specific laws exist that reduced activity during the Sabbath

Jesus’ question found in 3:4 directly refers to concept of pikuach nefesh

pikuach nefesh- the suspension of the Torah to safe a life- was established in the traditional law (Oral Torah)

In the Greek/Latin culture to render an opponent “silent” is indication that Jesus won the debate