Matthew 12:6

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4 how he entered the house of God and ate ^athe showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, ^bbut only for the priests?

5 Or have you not read in the ^alaw that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple¹ profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is ^aOne greater than the temple.

7 But if you had known what this means, ^a‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Healing on the Sabbath

9 ^aNow when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.

10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, ^a“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Matthew 12:7 >>

Matthew 12:6-7

One greater than the temple - Here the Saviour refers to himself, and to his own dignity and power. "I have power over the laws; I can grant to my disciples a dispensation from those laws. An act which I command or permit them to do is therefore right." This proves that he was divine. None but God can authorize people to do a thing contrary to the divine laws. He refers them again Matthew 12:7 to a passage he had before quoted (See the notes at Matthew 9:13), showing that God preferred acts of righteousness, rather than a precise observance of a ceremonial law.

Mark adds Mark 2:27 "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." That is, the Sabbath was intended for the welfare of man; it was designed to promote his happiness, and not to produce misery by harsh, unfeeling requirements. It is not to be so interpreted as to produce suffering by making the necessary supply of wants unlawful. Man was not made for the Sabbath. Man was created first, and then the Sabbath was appointed for his happiness, Genesis 2:1-3. His necessities, his real comforts and needs, are not to be made to bend to that which was made "for him." The laws are to be interpreted favorably to his real wants and comforts. This authorizes works only of real necessity, not of imaginary wants, or amusements, or common business and worldly employments.

Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Matthew 12:6:

Matthew 12:1
Matthew 12:9-13
Matthew 12:46-50
Matthew 26:2
Mark 2:23-28
John 5:9

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Matthew 12:7 >>

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Healing on the Sabbath

A Verse and a Thought,Every Morning

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