THE SABBATH LAW

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Matthew 12:1-13
Lesson #29

THE SABBATH LAW

• Memory verse: Rom 13:10
• Chapter 12 is a crisis chapter in Jesus’ life. The rest of his life will depend on the decisions He will make in this chapter. The religious leaders of that time make the final decisions about Jesus and what to do about Him. Their decision is not just passive rejection of Jesus Christ but active elimination of Him.
  • There are four stages in their hostile attitude toward Jesus:
    • =1= Growing suspicion. (1-8)
    • =2= Hostile investigation. (9-14) They purposely called attention to the paralyzed man to trap Jesus.
    • =3= Prejudiced blindness – closed minds. (22-32)
    • =4= Evil determination (14)
  • Jesus met this opposition in 5 ways:
    • =1= He met it with courageous defiance when He called the man with the paralyzed hand to the attention of everyone in the synagogue. (9-14)
    • =2= He met it with sympathetic warning. (22-32)
    • =3= He met it with staggering claims. (6,41,42)
      • Jesus is greater than the temple. (6)
      • Jesus is greater than Jonah. (41)
      • Jesus is greater than Solomon in all his wisdom.(42)
    • =4= He met it with the truth that His teaching is essential. (43-45)
    • =5= He met it with an open invitation. (46-50)
• Read Mat 12:1-8 The Sabbath
  • Background on the Sabbath:
    • The Sabbath is one small part of the Mosaic Law.
    • Actually the Sabbath was a whole system of dividing the calendar. There was a Sabbath week, a Sabbath month, a Sabbath year, etc.
    • When is the Sabbath day? From Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown.
      • I hear Christians say, “Sabbath for the Christian is on Sunday.”
      • That’s like saying, “Rabbits really come from zebras”.
      • There is no such thing as a “Christian Sabbath.”
      • The Sabbath was for the Jews and not for the Gentiles.
    • The beginning and development of the Sabbath in the Old Testament:
      • Gen 2:2
        • God rested the 7th day. This is the first mention that one day was different than any other.
        • The word Sabbath is not used here. Only the day is specified as different to commemorate a finished creation.
      • Exo 16:23
        • This is the first time the word Sabbath is mentioned in the Bible.
      • Neh 9:13-14 tells us when the Sabbath was first given to man.
        • The word Sabbath means = to cease from labor, to rest.
      • Exo 20:8-11
        • The Sabbath was part of the Mosaic Law, being the 4th commandment of the 10.
        • What did God tell the people to do on the Sabbath?

To rest–to do nothing. He did not tell them to go to the tabernacle and worship.

Worship and sacrifices by the people were to occur all the rest of the week, so they are told only to rest on the Sabbath.

• • • • • The penalty for breaking the Sabbath was death. (Exo 31:14)
      • Exo 31:13-17
        • God’s purpose for the Sabbath day:

It was to be a sign to the Jews to remind them that they are a people separate unto God.

It was to remind them of how He miraculously brought them out of Egypt. (Deu 5:15 Eze 20:12)

• • • • • God gave them 2 such signs:

=1= The sabbath, a spiritual sign.

=2= Circumcision, a physical sign.

• • • The manner in which the New Testament Jews observed the Sabbath:
      • Over time, the Jewish religious system began to define specific ways to keep the Sabbath. Every time they made a law, there had to be an interpretation of that law. Every time there was an interpretation, there had to be a further defining of the law. As a result, by New Testament times, there were hundreds of detailed laws in how to keep the Sabbath. All of them made by man and not by God. Whenever man makes laws they eventually come into conflict with each other so that you cannot keep one law without violating another law.
      • Example:
        • The Mosaic Law said that a man could lift his animal out of a ditch on the Sabbath.
        • However, the priests said you could not lift anything heavier than 2 dried figs.
        • The Jews took the keeping of the Sabbath so seriously that they would not even fight to defend themselves if they were attacked on the Sabbath.
      • Example:
        • In the days of Antiochus Epiphanes IV, the evil Syrian king, Jews fled to caves for refuge in the wilderness. Antiochus attacked them in the caves on the Sabbath. They all died (1000 men, women, and children) because they believed that lifting a sword (heavier than 2 dried figs) to fight was defiling the Sabbath.
      • Pompey captured Jerusalem in the same way on the Sabbath.
      • Ptolemy Lagos captured Jerusalem on the Sabbath.
        • Legalism taken to extreme becomes ridiculous:
        • For example: If I were God and decreed:

Thou shalt not set your foot in the way of the world.

Then you were to come along and say that what I really meant was:

Thou shalt not go to bars.

Thou shalt not go to restaurants with bars.

Thou shalt not go to restaurants that serve alcohol.

Thou shalt not go out to eat.

Thou shalt not go out.

It reminds me of a small town in New Mexico that had trouble with Indians getting drunk every weekend and destroying the town. The city fathers passed a law that bars and restaurants will not serve liquor to Indians.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell when a person is part Indian. Especially since it’s illegal to ask a person about their ethnic origin. Therefore, in order to live up to the letter of the law, bars decided not to serve liquor to anyone.

However, they were in business to serve their customers. They therefore interpreted the law as saying that thou shalt not serve liquor by putting it on the table. As a result, all liquor was served on the floor to anyone who ordered it.

Did they abide by the spirit of the law? No, but they decided that they lived up to the letter of the law.

• • • During the period of the Old Testament Law, even the prophet Isaiah understood the meaning of the Sabbath.
      • Isa 58:13-14
      • He says that doing the will of God is keeping the Sabbath. Why did he say that?
      • The Jewish leaders had added all kinds of legal restrictions to keeping the Sabbath that were not part of God’s original command.
  • Background on agriculture:
    • In Israel, the cornfields were long narrow strips of land. The ground between the strips was considered no man’s land. It was a right of way. The right of way was for the poor and the travelers. It gave them access to the fields for food. This was not stealing. This was the welfare system of the time. The Mosaic Law said that a traveler could gather food from a field if he gathered with his own hands the amount he would eat. He was not to use a sickle or other equipment to gather large amounts. That would be stealing. (Deu 23:25)
    • Jesus and his disciples were on a right of way when they became hungry. They were within the Law to gather grain with their hands.
    • The reaction of the scribes and the Pharisees:
      • These men were not upset because the disciples took the grain. They were upset because they did it on the Sabbath.
      • The Sabbath Law said you were not to work on the Sabbath but rest.
        • The priests felt they had to define work.
        • There were 39 actions forbidden on the Sabbath that defined “work”.

Reaping a harvest, threshing and winnowing grain, and preparing a meal were on that list.

The scribes and Pharisees said that Jesus and the disciples broke that law.

To pick the grain was reaping.

To rub it in your hands was threshing.

To separate the grain from the chaff was winnowing.

The whole process was preparing a meal.

• • • The response of Jesus:
    • Jesus responded with 3 scriptural arguments:
      • 1 Samuel 21:1-6
        • At the time when David was fleeing from King Saul, he and his men became hungry. They asked the priests for the shewbread from inside the Tabernacle. This bread was dedicated to God on the table of shewbread. It was renewed once a week. Only the priests were permitted to eat the old sacred bread.
        • Jesus quotes this passage to indicate that they were not reprimanded for breaking that law. The claims of human need took precedence over ritual and religious custom.
        • It also points to David as the rejected king just as Jesus has become the rejected King.
      • Num 28:9-10
        • The priests were to not only do the regular sacrifices on the Sabbath, but they were to do double sacrifices on the Sabbath. To light a fire, to kill an animal, to lift it on the altar were all actions that broke the Sabbath Law of the scribes and Pharisees.
        • Worship commanded by God took precedence over man-made laws.
      • Hos 6:6
        • God desires steadfast love and not sacrifice.
        • Human needs take precedence over ritual and religious laws.
    • The over-riding principle:
    • Read Mar 2:27
      • “for the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mat 12:8)
      • The phrase “son of man” in this passage is not a title for Jesus. It is a common expression in this context in both the Hebrew and the Aramaic to mean mankind in general.
      • Mark adds the sentence, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
        • Man is not to be a slave of the Sabbath Law.
        • He is to be the master of it and to use it for the good of man.
• Summary:
  • What about Jesus and the Sabbath? Did he keep it?
  • Yes and no. Luk 4:16 Luk 13:10-17 Joh 5:1-18
    • Jesus kept God’s intended meaning.
    • Jesus broke man’s added restrictions.
      • Jesus even worshipped on the Sabbath.
      • Jesus repeated all the other 9 commandments in various settings, but He never repeated the keeping of the Sabbath for New Testament believers.
• Read Mat 12:9-13 Healing the man with a paralyzed hand
  • Background: healing and the Sabbath
    • The Pharisees call attention to this man to trap Jesus.
    • The Law said that if life was in danger, saving that life preceded the keeping of the Sabbath. You could help a sick man to prevent him from getting worse, but you could not help him to get better. In other words, you could put a bandage on a man to keep him from bleeding to death, but you could not put medicine on that bandage.
    • The man with the paralyzed hand was not in danger of his life. However, Jesus healed him on the Sabbath because His love and compassion demanded that a man should not suffer any longer than necessary just to keep religious rules.
    • Notice that the Pharisees knew Jesus would heal him.
  • Background on the paralyzed man:
    • The Gospel According to the Hebrews was a book that was not included in our Bible. It is an Apocryphal book (Not inspired by the Holy Spirit).
    • This book tells us that this man was a stone mason who used his hands to make a living. Probably an accident at work caused him to lose the use of his hand. Luke tells us it was his right hand. (Luk 6:6-10)
  • The man was called to stand so everyone could see him. (Luk 6:8) Jesus did not even touch the man but only told him to stretch out his hand.
    • When Jesus healed him He gave him three things:
      • His health.
      • His ability to work and earn a living.
      • His self-respect as a productive individual.
    • What do we learn about faith from this healing?
      • The Bible does not tell us that the man had faith or that he even sought healing from Jesus.
      • The man was to be an example by the Pharisees to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.
      • Jesus used the man as an example to show the love and compassion of God over and above religious rules and rituals.
      • However, the man obeyed Jesus when he was told to stretch out his hand. That took faith. He could have refused to be a public spectacle.
  • What do we learn about Jesus, the King, from this healing?
    • The King has power over traditions, religious rules, and rituals.
    • The King is Lord of the Sabbath.
  • Jesus fulfilled God’s Law of the Sabbath in the same way He fulfilled all the Old Testament Mosaic Law of sacrifices, offerings, and the tabernacle.
• The Parable of Sheep and a Pit (Mat 12:10-13)
  • To whom is the parable spoken? Jewish religious leaders in the synagogue
  • What is the central truth of the parable in Mat 12:10-13? Even the most legalistic Pharisee would save his property no matter what day of the week it was.
  • What is the meaning of “sheep“?
    • Anyone who is in need.
    • When He healed the man on the Sabbath, He was making a statement: that a man is better than sheep; that love is above the Law. Man is God’s property and has a higher right to be rescued than even an animal. Contrary to animal rights activists today, man is more important than animals.
  • What is the meaning of “pit“? Any situation in which someone is caught and needs help.
  • If God didn’t mean for man to keep the Law, why did He give it to the Jews?
  • Read Gal 3:21-29

Homework

Matthew 12:14-32

• Application for Mat 12:1-13
  • Do you often get too busy with daily schedules, that you have no time to minister love to someone who needs it at the time in which they need it?
  • This week, look for opportunities to rescue God’s sheep no matter what else is going on. Remember that if God is in control of time in your life, He will not give you opportunities to share love that He doesn’t also enable you to accomplish what needs to be done in other areas of your schedule. Write your experiences here:
• Preparation for Mat 12:14-32
  • Read Mat 12:14-32
  • Parable of the bruised reed and the smoking flax (20)
    • What is the central truth of this parable?
    • Jesus says the unforgivable sin is to “blaspheme the Holy Spirit“. (31)
    • What do you think that means?
• Memory verse: Isaiah 35:4