On The Sabbath Series

ON THE SABBATH

MATTHEW 12:1-2 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

Question: What were the Pharisees doing in a grainfield on the Sabbath?

Answer: Apparently, it's not okay to pick some heads of grain on the Sabbath, but perfectly acceptable to harass people on the Sabbath!

WHAT IS UNLAWFUL

There are no laws in the Word of God prohibiting what the disciples were doing (In fact, Deuteronomy 23:25 says that it is perfectly okay to do this - unless you have a sickle in your hand).

But the Pharisees were known for making up their own laws about how to keep the Sabbath holy.

SABBATH RULES

The Jewish Talmud devotes 24 full chapters to what Jews could and could do on the Sabbath. The rabbis developed a list of 39 categories of work that a Jew should not do on the sabbath, which include: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing crops, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot, loosening a knot, sewing two stitches, ripping out to sew two stitches, hunting a gazelle, slaughtering, flaying, salting a hide, curing a skin, scraping a skin, cutting up a skin, writing two letters, erasing to write two letters, building, pulling down, putting out a fire, lighting a fire, striking with a hammer, and carrying objects from one domain into another (Sabbath 7:2). (The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 10, "Work, Sabbath," KTAV Publishing House Inc., New York, 1969)

Examples:

• Not allowed to walk more than one kilometer from their town.

• Not allowed to carry a load.

• Not allowed to light a fire.

• Not allowed to drag a chair because it might create a groove in the dirt floor and a bird may accidently drop a seed into it (which would be ploughing and sowing.

“The Mishna says: ‘He that reapeth corn on the Sabbath to the quantity of a fig is guilty; and plucking corn is reaping.’

• Rubbing the grain out was threshing.

• Even to walk on the grass on the Sabbath was forbidden because it was a species of threshing.

• Another Talmudic passage says: ‘In case a woman rolls wheat to remove the husks, it is considered sifting;

• if she rubs the head of wheat, it is regarded as threshing;

• if she cleans off the side-adherences, it is sifting out fruit;

• if she throws them up in her hand, it is winnowing’ [Jer. Shabt, page 10a].

A book entitled, Shemirath Shabbath: A Guide to the Practical Observance of Shabbath, by Rav Yehoshua Y. Neuwirth... goes into great detail concerning the interpretation and application of the Sabbath for contemporary Judaism.

• Cooking in most all forms (boiling, roasting, baking, frying, etc.) is forbidden on the Sabbath, in particular when the temperature is raised above 45 degrees centigrade (113 Fahrenheit).

• If the hot water tap is accidentally left on, it cannot be turned off on the Sabbath.

• Escaping gas can be turned off, but not in the normal way. One must turn off the tap of a gas burner with the back of the hand or the elbow.

• The preparation of food is greatly affected by the Sabbath. One cannot squeeze a lemon into a glass of ice tea, but one can squeeze lemon on a piece of fish.

• That one cannot light a fire on the Sabbath is taught in the Old Testament law (cf. Exod. 35:3). Strict Judaism views this to prohibit turn electric lights on or off on the Sabbath. The problem can be solved, however, but using a timer, which automatically handles this task.

• An air conditioner cannot be turned on by a Jew on the Sabbath, although a Gentile might be persuaded to do so.

When the Pharisees accused the disciples of doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath, they were NOT referring to God's Law, but THEIR OWN man-made laws.

THE ACCUSATION:

The Disciples were:

1. They were REAPING

2. They were THRESHING

3. They were WINNOWING

4. They were PREPARING food

MATT 12:3-8 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”