The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 116

God ; on the sabbath, thenceforth the first day of the week, the Holy Spirit descended in Pentecostal power and plenty, while by means of St. Peter's sermon three thousand were converted that same day; on the sabbath the primitive Christians, taught by apostles and following apostolic example, met together to break bread, to read God's holy Word, or hear it preached, as also for prayer and praise, and to contribute for the necessities of the saints. Refreshment for the spirit and rest for the body went hand in hand; but worldly amusement found no place on the sabbath, and worldly plea.sure formed no part of its service. II. WORKS OF 1''ECESSITY ALLOWABLE ON THE SADDATH. Stretches of corn-land abound in the fertile pla.in of Gennesaret. A pathway frequently ran through these unfenced fields, and on these pathways seed often fell and gra.in grew, as was the case with the wayside in the parable of the sower. Our Lord was passing by one of these, through the fields of corn (literally, sown pla.ces), alongside the grain. The disciples were "plucking and eating," as St. Matthew tells us, or, as St. Mark more graphically describes it, they "made a way" for ~hemselves by plucking the stalks that had sprung up on what had previously been a path, and being an hungred, that is, in a state of hunger-for St. Matthew adds this important fact of their being hungry ( ,!,re/ve10-czv)- " they began to rub the ears of corn in their band," as St. Luke informs us, and thus sought to appease the cravings of appetite. This was, of course, a work of necessity, and of urgent necessity, on the part of these hungry men. They had, however, only begun this operation (1ip{...,.,-o), when the Pharisees rudely checked them, administering the sharp rebuke recorded in this passage. III. AN EXEGETICAL CONSIDERATION, The common English Version requires to make two assumptions in behoof of its rendering: 1. That 68b11 ,ro1e,11 is the same as 68br -..o,e'ia-6,u., though the former in reality is to make a path "viam sternere vel munir-inen Weg machen," as Fritzsche expresses it ; while the latter is to go on one's way ite1' fa.cere or progredi, which is the rendering of the Vulgate. 2. 'l'hat the chief force here, as occasionally elsewhere, lies in the participle. In this way is reached (1) the usual free rendering, " His disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn; " but (2) the more correct translation is certainly that which is insisted on by the most accurate scholars, such as Fritzsche and Meyer, namely," His disciples began to make a path [or way J plucking the ears." Though the Revised Version follows the ordinary rendering, it gives, in a note on this passage, an approximation to what we consider the right rendering, viz. "began to make their way plucking." IV. THE RIGOROUS SABBATABIANIBM OF THE PHARISEES. The question of the Phari- sees is explained, or indeed translated, by some (1) as signifying, "Lo, what are they doing on the sabbath? That which is not lawful;" while by others it is rendered (2), •• Lo, why are they doing on the sabbath what is not lawful?" In neither case can ii properly mean that the thing was unlawful in itself, and still more unlawful because of its being done on the sabbath day. The superstitious sabbatarianism of the Pharisees suggests the real gist of the question. The action in itself was perfectly allowable, according to the Law as it stands written in Deut. xxiii. 25, "When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand." The Pharisees, guided by oral tradition, interpreted the law of the sabbath so rigorously as to identify the plucking of the ears with reaping, and the rubbing of them in their hands with thrashing, so that the Law, as they explained it, was violated by both operations. V. SABBATH DESECRATION FALSELY LAID TO THE OBA.ROE OF THE DISCIPLES, Our Lord undertakes the vindication of his disciples; he justifies their conduct by reminding their accusers of an incident in the life of David, when ceremonial observance yielded to moral necessity, and positive precept to the requirements of mercy. The occasion was that on which David found himself at Nob, a sacerdotal town to the north-east and within sight of Jerusalem, in a state of destitution-"he had need" (xpeiC111 to-xe), such is the general statement; and ready to perish with hunger-"was an hungred" (l7tel11e10-,11), this is the particular specification. The " bread of the face" or presence, according to the Hebrew, or "the loaves of proposition," as rendered by the Vulgate,were twelve loaves- one for each tribe, placed in the presence of Jehovah as a symbol of the people's depen- dence on their heavenly Father for daily bread. None was permitted the use of these loaves but the priests; they were their perquisite, This rigid rul@ was relaxed in favour OH, D. 1-28.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. H:3