Luke 6:2
in Luke 6But some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day?
KJV
And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?
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This verse in Luke 6
Commentary
15 notes on this verseThe Lord Jesus begins to divest man [people] of the observation of the old law and clothes him with the new covering of grace not only through the understanding of words but also through the very usage and appearance of actions. Already on the sabbath, he leads him through the cornfields, that is, he brings him to what abounds in fruit. What the sabbath, the standing corn, and the ears mean to him is no small mystery.
This site's exposition
His disciples began to pick
on Luke 6:1-2
The disciples picked, rubbed and ate heads of grain, an act Deuteronomy 23:25 permits to a hungry traveler in another man's field. The Pharisees' charge rested on the oral tradition, which counted plucking and rubbing grain as harvest work.
This site's exposition
what is unlawful on the Sabbath
Luke has the Pharisees address the disciples, where Matthew and Mark have them address Jesus. John Gill judges that they spoke to both, first to one and then the other. Bede leaves the question open.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
But the Pharisees and Scribes not knowing the Holy Scriptures agreed together to find fault with Christ's disciples, as it follows, And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye, &c. Tell me now, when a table is set before you on the sabbath day; do you not break bread? Why then do you blame others?
(cont. Hær. l. i. Hær. xxx. 32.) On the sabbath day then they were seen passing through the corn fields, and eating the corn, showing that the bonds of the sabbath were loosened, when the great Sabbath was come in Christ, Who made us to rest from the working of our iniquities.
"Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." Our Lord had instructed them in advance and trained them in the truth of the just, so that whenever he dispensed from the law fully, they would not be alarmed. His …
Not only in the form of expression, but in His very practice and mode of action, did the Lord begin to absolve man from the observance of the old law. Hence it is said, And it came to pass that he went through the corn fields, &c. But the Lord proves the defenders of the law to be ignorant of what belongs to the law, bringing the example of David; as it follows, And Jesus answering said to them, Have ye not read so much as this, &c. But herein is a great mystery. For the field is the whole world, the corn is the abundant harvest of the saints in the seed of the human race, the ears of corn are the fruits of the Church, which the Apostles shaking off by their works fed upon, nourishing themselves with our increase, and by their mighty miracles, as it were out of the bodily husks, plucking forth the fruits of the mind to the light of faith. Now the Jews thought this unlawful on the Sabbath, but Christ by the gift of new grace represented hereby the rest of the law, the work of grace. Wonderfully has He called it the second-first sabbath, not the first-second, because that was loosed from the law which was first, and this is made first which was ordained second. It is therefore called the second sabbath according to number, the first according to the grace of the work. For that sabbath is better where there is no penalty, than that where there is a penalty prescribed. Or this perhaps was first in the foreknowledge of wisdom, and second in the sanction of the ordinance. Now in David escaping with his companions, there was a foreshadowing of Christ in the law, who with His Apostles escaped the prince of the world. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
But some of the Pharisees said to them: "What are you doing that is not lawful on the Sabbaths?" Other Evangelists narrate that this was rather objected to the Lord Himself. But whether these words were said to them, or to His disciples, or by …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
But some say that these things were objected to our Lord Himself; they might indeed have been objected by different persons, both to our Lord Himself and His disciples, but to whomsoever the objection is made, it chiefly refers to Him.
The perversity of the Pharisees brought forward the objection of accusation, by which they gladly assailed the disciples. Which he notes when he adds: But certain Pharisees said to them: Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbaths? Because it was commanded …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And certain of the Pharisees said unto them,.... Unto the disciples. The Evangelists Matthew and Mark say, that they said this to Jesus: no doubt but they said it to both, first to one, and then to the other; probably last of all to Christ, who returned an answer to it: why do ye that which is not lawful on the sabbath day? as to pluck ears of corn, and rub them, and eat them; See Gill on Mat 12:2.
Jesus Christ will justify his disciples when they are unjustly censured, and will own and accept of them in many a thing which men tell them it is not lawful for them to do. How well is it for us that men are not to be our judges, and that Christ will be our Advocate!
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
We should notice in this passage — what excessive importance hypocrites attach to trifles. We are told that, "One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some corn fields, his disciples broke off heads of wheat, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grains." At once the hypocritical Pharisees found fault, and charged them with committing a sin. They said, "Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" The mere act of plucking the heads of wheat, of course they did not find fault with.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
We should notice in this passage — what excessive importance hypocrites attach to trifles. We are told that, "One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some corn fields, his disciples broke off heads of wheat, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grains." At once the hypocritical Pharisees found fault, and charged them with committing a sin. They said, "Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" The mere act of plucking the heads of wheat, of course they did not find fault with. It was an action sanctioned by the Mosaic law. (Deuteronomy 23:25.) The supposed fault with which they charged the disciples, was the breach of the fourth commandment. They had done work on the Sabbath, by taking and eating a handful of food. This exaggerated zeal of the Pharisees about the Sabbath, we must remember — did not extend to other plain commandments of God. It is evident from many expressions in the Gospels, that these very men, who pretended such strictness on one little point, were more than lax and indifferent about other points of infinitely greater importance. While they stretched the commandment about the Sabbath beyond its true meaning — they openly trampled on the tenth commandment, and were notorious for covetousness. (Luke 16:14.) But this is precisely the character of the hypocrite. To use our Lord's illustration — in some things he makes fuss about straining a gnat out of his cup, while in other things he can swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:24.) It is a bad symptom of any man's state of soul, when he begins to put the second things in religion in the first place — and the first things in the second; or the things ordained by man — above the things ordained by God. Let us beware of falling into this state of mind.
Which is not lawful - See on Mat 12:2-8 (note).
How the passage was read
On Luke 6:1-11On Luke 6:1-11
Luke's Sabbath pair, with the act named
Luke sets the two Sabbath collisions side by side and preserves the concrete detail: the disciples plucked ears of grain, “rubbing them in their hands” (6:1). The rubbing is the point of the objection: in the tradition's categories of forbidden Sabbath labor (thirty-nine of them, listed in Mishnah Shabbat 7:2), plucking counted as reaping and rubbing out the kernels as threshing. Deuteronomy 23:25 expressly permits eating from a neighbor's standing grain, so theft was never the charge; the developing oral law's categories were. The full exposition is in this site's Matthew 12 note.
In the withered-hand scene that follows, the watchers stand on a real distinction of their own law: mortal danger overrides the Sabbath (Mishnah Yoma 8:6), but a chronic condition can wait a day. Jesus heals by a word, an act no category of labor can name, and puts the question that reframes the day itself: “Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Shabbat 7:2 (the thirty-nine categories) · Mishnah Yoma 8:6 (danger to life overrides the Sabbath)
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τινὲς | tines | Some | G5100 → | 528 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Φαρισαίων | pharisaion | Pharisees | G5330 → | 97 times |
| εἶπαν | eipan | said | G2036 → | 925 times |
| τί | ti | Why | G5101 → | 563 times |
| ποιεῖτε | poieite | do you | G4160 → | 569 times |
| ὃ | ho | that which | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔξεστιν | exestin | it is lawful | G1832 → | 31 times |
| τοῖς | tois | [on] the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σάββασιν; | sabbasin | Sabbaths? | G4521 → | 68 times |
τινὲςSome
tinesG5100 →528 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
ΦαρισαίωνPharisees
pharisaionG5330 →97 times
εἶπανsaid
eipanG2036 →925 times
τίWhy
tiG5101 →563 times
ποιεῖτεdo you
poieiteG4160 →569 times
ὃthat which
hoG3739 →1405 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔξεστινit is lawful
exestinG1832 →31 times
τοῖς[on] the
toisG3588 →19766 times
σάββασιν;Sabbaths?
sabbasinG4521 →68 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 35:2For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put…
it leads to
- Luke 13:14–15
But 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…
- Leviticus 23:3
For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a…
- Exodus 34:21
Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.
- Numbers 15:32–36
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
- Exodus 20:9–10
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
- Luke 13:14–15
Through
Matthew 12:2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
it leads to
- Matthew 12:10
and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
- John 7:21–24
Jesus answered them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed.
- Matthew 12:10
Through
Mark 2:24So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
it leads to
- Exodus 20:10
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor…
- Exodus 20:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
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About Luke
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Luke; Ambrose of Milan, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 6; Cyril of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 5.23; Epiphanius of Salamis, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.