Matthewchapter 12

Speaks with:Mark 3×9 Luke 6×8 Luke 11×8 Matthew 9×5 Isaiah 42×5 Matthew 12×4

Summary

Chapter summary

Sabbath controversies. The grain fields, the withered hand. Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath. The Beelzebub accusation answered with the kingdom-divided argument and the blasphemy-of-the-Spirit warning. The sign of Jonah promised. Jesus' true family. Whosoever does the Father's will is brother, sister, and mother.

Context

Gospel · Matthew — Matthew overview

A. 1–8 Grain on the Sabbath; the Lord of the Sabbath
B. 9–21 The Withered Hand Restored; the Chosen Servant
C. 22–37 A House Divided and the Sin That Is Not Forgiven
D. 38–45 The Sign of Jonah and the House Swept Empty
E. 46–50 Who Are My Mother and My Brothers?

The outline

A.Grain on the Sabbath; the Lord of the Sabbathvv. 1 to 8
Read vv. 1 to 8 →
B.The Withered Hand Restored; the Chosen Servantvv. 9 to 21
Read vv. 9 to 21 →
C.A House Divided and the Sin That Is Not Forgivenvv. 22 to 37
Read vv. 22 to 37 →
D.The Sign of Jonah and the House Swept Emptyvv. 38 to 45
Read vv. 38 to 45 →
E.Who Are My Mother and My Brothers?vv. 46 to 50
Read vv. 46 to 50 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

The sign of the prophet Jonah

Type

Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, and Jesus took that as the one sign he would give his generation: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The prophet swallowed and given back becomes the figure of death and resurrection.

The type is the Lord's own, not a preacher's invention. He also judged his hearers by Nineveh, which repented at one day's preaching, and a greater than Jonas stood before them.

Jonah 1:17
Three days and three nights in the fish
Matthew 12:40 you are here
As Jonas was, so shall the Son of man be
Jesus makes the prophet's burial in the deep the figure of his own three days in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 16:4
No sign but the sign of the prophet Jonas
Luke 11:30
As Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites

The world behind this chapter

Matthew 12

When

The Galilean ministry, as opposition hardens · c. AD 29

Where

Grainfields on a Sabbath, a synagogue, and a growing argument with the Pharisees

Who first heard it

Jewish readers whose keeping of the Sabbath was being questioned in both directions

The history

Walking through a neighbour's field and picking heads of grain by hand was legal — the Law explicitly allowed it, so long as you used no sickle. The dispute is not theft; it is the day. Jewish teachers had worked out a list of thirty-nine kinds of labour forbidden on the Sabbath, and reaping and threshing were on it. Rubbing grain in the palm looked, to a strict eye, like both.

The same logic governed healing. It was widely agreed that a life in danger overrode the Sabbath, but a withered hand had been withered for years and could wait a day. Jesus answers with a case everyone accepted: a man whose only sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath would pull it out.

Exorcism was not unheard of. Jewish exorcists worked with formulas and names, and Josephus describes such practices. The charge against Jesus is therefore not that he casts out demons but whose power he uses — and Beelzebul was a mocking name built from an old Philistine deity.

The two witnesses called from outside Israel would have stung. Nineveh was Assyria's capital, the empire that destroyed the northern kingdom, and it repented at one reluctant prophet's preaching. The Queen of the South travelled a vast distance to hear Solomon.

What it meant to them

The clash is over authority, not calendar detail. Something greater than the temple, greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon is standing in the grainfield — and the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath itself.

For readers whose Sabbath practice was being examined by former teachers, the chapter both defended them and warned them. The unforgivable thing named here is not a lapse in observance but looking straight at the Spirit's work and calling it demonic.

Sources cited

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on Matthew 12. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

Connections from this chapter

v. 18 · Quoted here

'Behold my servant, whom I have chosen': first Servant Song, Matthew fulfillment formula (context trailhead)

Isaiah 42:1→

“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.

public-domain commentaries in agreement; cross-checked against the UBS apparatus

This page draws on E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

Study this chapter

What

Kingdom of God

Mark 39 verses
- Mark 3:1Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there.
- Mark 3:7So Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, accompanied by a large crowd from Galilee, Judea,
- Mark 3:22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”
- Mark 3:27Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
- Mark 3:28Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter.
- Mark 3:29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”
- Read Mark 3: 3 more there →
Luke 68 verses
- Luke 6:1One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them.
- Luke 6:3Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
- Luke 6:5Then Jesus declared, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
- Luke 6:6On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.
- Luke 6:9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
- Luke 6:11But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
- Read Luke 6: 2 more there →
Luke 118 verses
- Luke 11:14One day Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. And when the demon was gone, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed,
- Luke 11:15but some of them said, “It is by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that He drives out demons.”
- Luke 11:20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
- Luke 11:21When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure.
- Luke 11:23He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
- Luke 11:24When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’
- Read Luke 11: 2 more there →
Matthew 95 verses
- Matthew 9:4But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts?
- Matthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
- Matthew 9:27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
- Matthew 9:30And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!”
- Matthew 9:34But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that He drives out demons.”
- Read Matthew 9 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Isaiah 424 verses
- Isaiah 42:1“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
- Isaiah 42:3A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
- Isaiah 42:4He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
- Isaiah 42:9Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
- Read Isaiah 42 →
Matthew 124 verses
- Matthew 12:6But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
- Matthew 12:10and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
- Matthew 12:41The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.
- Matthew 12:42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.
- Read Matthew 12 →
Luke 134 verses
- Luke 13:10One Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,
- Luke 13:13Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.
- Luke 13:14But the synagogue leader was indignant that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. “There are six days for work,” he told the crowd. “So come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath.”
- Luke 13:15“You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
- Read Luke 13 →
Mark 23 verses
- Mark 2:23One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along.
- Mark 2:25Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
- Mark 2:28Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
- Read Mark 2 →