The disciples pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath

St Luke Chapter VI : Verses 1-5

Contents

• Luke vi. 1-5.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Annotations
• Douay-Rheims 1582 text

Luke vi. 1-5.

The Pharisees see the disciples plucking ears of corn on
the Sabbath. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

1 And it came to pass on the second first sabbath, that as he went through the corn fields, his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.

Factum est autem in sabbato secundo, primo, cum transiret per sata, vellebant discipuli ejus spicas, et manducabant confricantes manibus.

2 And some of the Pharisees said to them: Why do you that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?

Quidam autem pharisaeorum, dicebant illis : Quid facitis quod non licet in sabbatis?

3 And Jesus answering them, said: Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry, and they that were with him:

Et respondens Jesus ad eos, dixit : Nec hoc legistis quod fecit David, cum esurisset ipse, et qui cum illo erant?

4 How he went into the house of God, and took and ate the bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with him, which is not lawful to eat but only for the priests?

quomodo intravit in domum Dei, et panes propositionis sumpsit, et manducavit, et dedit his qui cum ipso erant : quos non licet manducare nisi tantum sacerdotibus?

5 And he said to them: The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Et dicebat illis : Quia dominus est Filius hominis etiam sabbati.

Annotations

[The following Notes are based on those related to the account in Chapter xii of St Matthew's Gospel. The verse numbers are those from St Luke's Gospel.]

    2. And some of the Pharisees said to them: Why do you that which is not lawful on the sabbath days? Observe, they do not find fault with the disciples for plucking ears of corn, or grapes; for this was permitted by the law, Deut. xxiii. 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. And Jesus answering them, said: Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry, and they that were with him: This last seems to be at variance with 1 Sam. xxi, 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. xxi, where David says to the priest, “I have appointed to the young men for such and such a place.” So S. Jerome.

    4. How he went into the house of God, and took and ate the bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with him, which is not lawful to eat but only for the priests? bread of proposition. The bread of proposition refers to 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. xxiv); 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.  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. xxiv. 8, 9. 

    The force of the argument is this: David, a man after God’s own heart, made use of the holy bread of proposition, 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. And he said to them: The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 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.

Additional Notes: The second first Sabbath

    1. And it came to pass on the second first sabbath.—On the second Sabbath. The Arabic version. What was this Sabbath?

1. The eighth day of unleavened bread or the last day of the Passover. Epiphanius, Vetablus, and others.

2. The first day of unleavened bread or the second day of the Passover, and therefore both the first and second Sabbath or Feast-day. Isidore, Euthymius, and another.

3. The Feast of Pentecost. The second or next greatest to the Passover. Maldonatus.

4. I however consider that this Sabbath was not a feast, but a Sabbath in the strict sense of the word, i.e. a day on which the Jews were forbidden even to prepare their food (Ex. xxxv. 3), which they were permitted to do on other feasts (Ex. xii. 16).

    That this is the true interpretation is clear from the other Evangelists, who speak of this day as simply a Sabbath.

    But why is this Sabbath called the second first sabbath?

1. Because it followed on a feast (Theophylact); or, as others hold, because it was followed by a feast, and thus became the first before the second, which was close at hand.

2. Scaliger considers it to be the first Sabbath after the Feast of the Passover, called the second after the first, because it was the first after the second day of unleavened bread, from which day was numbered the seven weeks to Pentecost. So also Vasquez.

3. S. Chrysostom and others think the words imply a feast or Sabbath in a twofold sense, a day on which another feast-day falls, and that they convey the same meaning as the Latin word “duplitia;” but to this interpretation Jansenius objects.

4. But it is most probable that the words mean the Sabbath which fell within the week of Pentecost or on the Feast-day itself. The Pascal Sabbath being distinguished as the first or principal Sabbath of the whole year. S. John xix. 31.

    (1.) This opinion is confirmed by the fact that what is here narrated of the disciples must have happened about the time of Pentecost, i.e. when the corn was ripe. Hence the command to the Jews to offer their firstfruits, Lev. xxiii.17.

    (2.) And because, as I have showed, this was a Sabbath in the strict sense of the word, and was called second, in respect of some other Sabbath which held rank as the first, and not with any reference to the Passover or any other feast.

    (3). Because, again, none of the other opinions seem to be probable. For, to sum up, the Feasts of the Passover and Pentecost are so nearly connected, that, although one is first in dignity and order, the second follows in all respects closely upon it. For this reason the Italians call Pentecost the Passover of the Holy Ghost. The same may be said also of the Sabbaths which fall within these feasts; therefore the Church numbers her Sundays from Easter to Pentecost, and from the latter festival to Advent.

    But you will object that the week of Pentecost was not a feast in the same sense as the week of the Passover: therefore that the Sabbath which fell in it was not of more importance than any other. I answer that although the Pentecostal week was not commanded by the law to be kept as a feast, it was so kept by the piety of the Jews. Genebrardus, Hebrew Calendar, and on the Psalms.

    Figuratively, says S. Ambrose, we may understand this Sabbath to mean the Gospel, which is second to the law in point of time, but first in dignity and importance.

    He further adds, commenting on Ps. CLVII, the words “second Sabbath after the first” mean the Jewish Sabbath, for after the resurrection the Lord’s-day took its place. From that time therefore it became second in dignity, yet at the same time it was rightly called first, because of its sanctity and the priority of its institution.

    Figuratively, Christ taught and worked His chief miracles on the Sabbath, not only to prefigure the spiritual Sabbath, when the mind, no longer taken up with evil lusts and passions, will be free to serve God alone, but because of the gathering together of the people, as they assemble now on the Lord’s-day.

    There was also another reason, viz., to teach the Jews the true observance of the Sabbath, and that they might no longer be offended at the wonderful works which Christ wrought on that day, as were the Scribes, who accused Him of transgressing the law, and gave Him up to that death by means of which God effected the redemption of mankind. Bede.

    5. The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. See S. Matt. xii. 8.

Douay-Rheims : 1582 text

1. AND it came to paſſe on the Sabboth ſecond-firſt, when he paſſed through the corne, his Diſciples did pluck the eares, & did eate rubbing them with their hands.

2. And certaine of the Phariſees ſaid to them: Why doe you that which is not lawful on the Sabboths?

3. And IESVS anſwering them, ſaid: Neither this haue you read which Dauid did, when himſelf was an hungred & they that were with him:

4. how he entred into the houſe of God, and tooke the loaues of Propoſition, and did eate, and gaue to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eate but only for Prieſts?

5. And he ſaid to them: That the Sonne of man is Lord of the Sabboth alſo.

+       +        +

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.