Saint Matthew - Chapter 12
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| Plucking corn on the Sabbath. J-J Tissot |
At that time Jesus went through the corn on the sabbath: and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears, and to eat.
At that time Jesus went through the corn fields (Through the crops of corn becoming white, or ripe), &c. Luke adds that this Sabbath was the first from the second (Vulg.); which I will explain in the proper place. Again there is here a Hysterologia; for these things appear to have happened after the Mission of the Apostles, and therefore before the Sermon on the Mount, as may be gathered from Mark 2:22, and Luke 6:1. That they rubbed the ears of corn in their hands, and satisfied their hunger is, says S. Jerome, a mark of their austere life.
[2] Pharisaei autem videntes, dixerunt ei : Ecce discipuli tui faciunt quod non licet facere sabbatis.
And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him: Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days.
But when the Pharisees saw it, &c. Luke 7:2, has, they said unto them, i.e., to the disciples of Christ, because they brought forward the objection first against the disciples, afterwards against Christ.
Observe, they do not find fault with the disciples for plucking ears of corn, or grapes; for this was permitted by the law, Deut. 23:25, but because they did it on the Sabbath. For to pluck ears seems a servile work, and therefore, a violation of the rest and sanctity of the Sabbath.
Allegorically. SS. Hilary, Ambrose, and Bede think that it is signified by this that the Apostles in the second Sabbath from the first, i.e., in the time of the gospel would gather grains from the seed and crops of preaching, i.e., the elect faithful, from among all nations, by whose faith and piety they should be fed, until they should lay them up with themselves in the heavenly barn. But the Pharisees seeing the Gentiles preferred to themselves in the Gospel envied them, and vainly murmured against the Apostles.
Tropologically: Bede says, “Those walk with the Lord, through the corn fields, who delight to meditate on the sacred oracles. They hunger, when they desire to find therein the bread of life; and that on the Sabbath, when they are glad to rest with a mind free from disturbing thoughts. They rub the ears, and purify them from the husks that they may reach the grain, when they take up the testimonies of Scripture, and dwell upon them until they find in them, as it were the marrow of love. But this refreshment of the mind is displeasing to fools, and is approved by the Lord.”
[3] At ille dixit eis : Non legistis quid fecerit David, quando esuriit, et qui cum eo erant :
But he said to them: Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him:
But He said unto them, Have ye not read—And they that were with Him? This last seems to be at variance with 1 Sam. 21, where it is said, David was alone. I answer, David flying from Saul, went alone to Ahimelech, whom Mark calls Abiathar, the high priest; and asked, and received the loaves from him, which he brought to the companions of his flight, whom he had left, elsewhere, waiting for him, as is plain both from this passage, as well as from 1 Sam. 21, where David says to the priest, “I have appointed to the young men for such and such a place.” So S. Jerome.
[4] quomodo intravit in domum Dei, et panes propositionis comedit, quos non licebat ei edere, neque his qui cum eo erant, nisi solis sacerdotibus?
How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for them that were with him, but for the priests only?
How he entered, &c. The shew-bread [''bread of the presence,'' Iehem ha pannim. See Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist - Brant Pitre.]. The shew-bread were loaves always set forth in the Holy Place, before the Holy of Holies, which was, as it were, the throne of God, sitting upon the Mercy-seat; they were loaves, therefore, set forth before the face of God. Whence the LXX. has ἄρτους ἐνωπίους, i.e., panes faciales, Syriac, the bread of the Lord’s table. In Heb. they are called, לחמי פנים lachme panim, that is, loaves of faces. They were twelve, six on one side of the table and six on the other side, as there are two cheeks on a face. By these twelve loaves, the twelve tribes of Israel confessed that they were continually fed and nourished by God. Wherefore frankincense was put upon them (see Lev. 24); for frankincense was the symbol that they were the Lord’s, and were offered to Him. In return, God, from His satisfaction at the offering of these loaves made manifest that He always remembered the twelve tribes, and had them before His face continually. See what has been said on Exod. 25:30.
God had commanded these sacred loaves to be renewed every Sabbath. New loaves were placed upon the table, and the old were taken away. They were eaten by the priests only, and that only in the Tabernacle, as is plain from Lev. 24:8, 9. The force of the argument is this: David, a man after God’s own heart, made use of the holy shew-bread, in the necessity of his hunger—loaves which it was not lawful for laymen to eat—because he wisely judged, that this positive law concerning laymen not eating them ought to yield to the law of nature, which dictates that in grave necessity of famine life ought to be preserved by eating any bread whatsoever, even loaves consecrated to God. Thus, SS. Paulinus and Laurence, and others, sold chalices and vessels consecrated to God, that by the money which they fetched they might afford help to the poor in their hunger and necessity. Therefore, saith Christ in effect, “Much rather is it lawful for Me and My disciples to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath, that by the grains extracted from them we may relieve our hunger. For the sanctity of the Sabbath, forbidding servile work, such as plucking ears of corn, is a divine positive law, and ought to yield to the law of nature, which dictates that in hunger it is our duty to sustain life by any kind of food.”
[5] aut non legistis in lege quia sabbatis sacerdotes in templo sabbatum violant, et sine crimine sunt?
Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame?
Or have ye not read, &c. Profane, viz., by slaying and skinning and cutting up the victims, by laying the wood in order, and by kindling a fire, by which the victims might be burnt in God’s honour. These works, considered merely in themselves, are servile, and would profane the Sabbath unless piety excused them, and, instead of servile and profane, made them sacred and divine. The meaning is, As necessity excused David and piety the priests, so do both excuse My disciples from a breach of the Sabbath, for this plucking of the ears. For they follow Me as the Messiah, and are so intent upon My sacred doctrine that they have forgotten to prepare food. Observe the expression, have ye not read? The following words are nowhere found literally in Scripture, but they occur in sense in Numb. 28 and elsewhere, where the rites of sacrificing on the Sabbath are sanctioned. Hence it is an axiom of the Jews, “there is no Sabbath in the temple;” that is, no cessation from work, because of the slaying and burning the sacrifices.
[6] Dico autem vobis, quia templo major est hic.
But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.
But I say unto you, &c. For Christ, Who here speaks, allows His disciples to pluck the ears. Christ speaks of Himself in the third person out of modesty. The meaning is, If the sanctity of the temple frees from blame the sacrificing priests who break the Sabbath, a like cause excuses My disciples, for I am greater and holier than the temple. Yea, I am the Lord of the temple, to whom, in truth, all the victims in the temple were offered and sacrificed.
[7] Si autem sciretis, quid est : Misericordiam volo, et non sacrificium : numquam condemnassetis innocentes :
And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.
But if ye had known what that meaneth, &c. Syriac, ye would not have condemned them (my disciples), since they are guiltless. He cites Hosea 6:6, which see. The force of the argument is, mercy is more powerful, and better than sacrifice or Sabbath, therefore for its sake it is lawful to violate the rest of the Sabbath. Wrongly, therefore, O ye Scribes, do ye condemn My disciples in this matter, for they are innocent, and free from all blame therein, because of the mercy which is here exercised. The mercy is, that I have permitted My hungry servants to pluck these ears on the Sabbath. Moreover, I enjoin upon them by My word, as well as by My example, that they should have compassion upon so many wretched perishing souls, and should procure their salvation, by teaching, admonishing, and praying for them, with zeal and care.” To this applies that golden sentence of Simeon the Just (this is he who, as the Hebrews think, took Christ in His arms, and sang his last song Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace) in Pirke Aboth, i.e., The sentences of the Fathers, “The world rests upon, and is supported by, three things, 1. by the law, 2. by Divine worship, 3. by mercy.
[8] dominus enim est Filius hominis etiam sabbati.
For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.
For the Son of man, &c. I, who by nature am the Son of God, and have deigned to become the Son of Man, i.e., man, am by this very circumstance, the Lord, that is the author and lawgiver of the whole Mosaic Law, and consequently also of the Sabbath. Therefore I am able to give to My disciples a dispensation with respect to it.
Saint Mark - Chapter 2
And it came to pass again, as the Lord walked through the corn fields on the sabbath, that his disciples began to go forward, and to pluck the ears of corn.
[24] Pharisaei autem dicebant ei : Ecce, quid faciunt sabbatis quod non licet?
And the Pharisees said to him: Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
[25] Et ait illis : Numquam legistis quid fecerit David, quando necessitatem habuit, et esuriit ipse, et qui cum eo erant?
And he said to them: Have you never read what David did when he had need, and was hungry himself, and they that were with him?
[26] quomodo introibit in domum Dei sub Abiathar principe sacerdotum, et panes propositionis manducavit, quos non licebat manducare, nisi sacerdotibus, et dedit eis qui cum eo erant?
How he went into the house of God, under Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which was not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave to them who were with him?
[27] Et dicebat eis : Sabbatum propter hominem factum est, et non homo propter sabbatum.
And he said to them: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
[28] Itaque Dominus est Filius hominis, etiam sabbati.
Therefore the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath also.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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