Matthew 12:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 12:1-50

The opposition that our Lord met with read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Matthew 12:6

Matthew only. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple ( τοῦ ἱεροῦ μειζόν ἐστιν ὧδε ); "Gr. a greater thing ". A similarly difficult neuter is found in verses 41, 45. If the neuter be insisted upon, we must understand Christ to refer to his cause, the work in which the disciples were engaged. This was greater than the temple; lunch more, therefore, was it greater than the sabbath. Probably, however, our Lord is referring to himself, to his own Person... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 12:5-6

Matthew 12:5-6. Have ye not read in the law, &c. He does not mean that the words following were to be found in the law, but only that they might read in the law, how the priests were obliged, on the sabbath days, to perform such servile work in the temple as, considered separately from the end of it, would have been a profanation of the sabbath, but really was not so, because it was necessary to the public worship of God, on account of which the sabbath was instituted. If it be asked... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 12:1-8

34. Picking corn on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)When the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples for picking a few pieces of corn to eat on the Sabbath, Jesus defended his disciples by referring to two examples from the Old Testament. First, when David and his men were very hungry and urgently needed food, they were rightly allowed to eat the holy bread of the tabernacle, which normally only priests were allowed to eat (Matthew 12:1-4; cf. 1 Samuel 21:1-6). Second, even... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 12:6

in this place = here. greater than the temple. Compare Matthew 12:41 , a greater prophet; and Matthew 12:42 , a greater king; who can be only God Himself. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 12:6

But I say unto you, that one greater than the temple is here.Who but God Himself could be greater than the temple God ordained? Christ again made a statement fixing a gulf between himself and all ordinary men. This is a dramatic reference to the analogy between Christ and the temple, mentioned under the preceding verse, and makes it crystal clear that Jesus' disciples were totally within the law, and were, like the temple priests, GUILTLESS! Those expositors who assume the charge of the... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 12:6

Matthew 12:6. But I say unto you, that in this place, &c.— "If you reply, that the priests were not culpable in those actions, because they were undertaken for the temple service, I acknowledge it; but at the same time it should be observed, that if the temple, with its service, be of such importance as to demand a particular dispensation from the law of the sabbath; I who am the Lord of the temple, and of whom the temple is but the type, may, with equal reason, take the same liberty in a... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 12:6

6. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple—or rather, according to the reading which is best supported, "something greater." The argument stands thus: "The ordinary rules for the observance of the sabbath give way before the requirements of the temple; but there are rights here before which the temple itself must give way." Thus indirectly, but not the less decidedly, does our Lord put in His own claims to consideration in this question—claims to be presently put... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Matthew 12:1-8

The Sabbath and legal observance 12:1-8 (cf. Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5)The immediate connection between this section and what precedes is twofold. The first is the theme of rising opposition (Matthew 11:2 to Matthew 13:53), and the second is the heavy yoke of Pharisaic tradition that made the Israelites weary and heavy laden (Matthew 11:28-30). The aim of the Sabbath was to provide rest, which Jesus said those who took His yoke upon themselves would find. It was not to provide a burden, which... read more

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