Matthew 12:11
in Matthew 12He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said unto them, What man shall there be of you, that shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
KJV
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
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This verse in Matthew 12
Commentary
14 notes on this verseThus He answers their question in such a way as to convict the questioners of covetousness. If ye on the sabbath, saith He, would hasten to lift out a sheep or any other animal that might have fallen into a pit, not for the sake of the animal, but to preserve your own property, how much more ought I to deliver a man who is so much better than a sheep?
This site's exposition
If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath
on Matthew 12:11-13
The sheep in the pit argues from the Pharisees’ own practice, since the rabbis permitted lifting an animal out on the Sabbath, though a stricter later ruling forbade it. Jesus reasons from that lesser mercy to a greater one, “How much more valuable is a man than a sheep”. The command “Stretch out your hand” asks the man to do what his withered hand could not, and the hand was “restored to full use” as he obeyed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(De Cons. Ev. ii. 35.) But it may raise enquiry how Matthew can say that they asked the Lord, Whether it were lawful to heal on the sabbath, seeing Mark and Luke relate that it was the Lord who asked them, Whether it is lawful on the sabbath day to do good or to do evil? (Luke 6:9) It is to be understood then that they first asked the Lord, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? Then understanding their thoughts that they sought an occasion to accuse Him, He placed in the midst him whom He was about to heal, and put to them the question which Mark and Luke say that He did ask; and when they remained silent, He made the comparison respecting the sheep, and concluded that they might do good on the sabbath day; as it follows, But he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
(Vs. 10 seqq.) But he said to them: Which one of you, having a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. In this way, he solved the proposed question, so as to condemn those who were questioning out of greed. If, he said, on the Sabbath you hurry to rescue a sheep or any other animal that falls into a pit, not because of the animal, but because of your greed, how much more should I free a man, who is much more valuable than a sheep!
A commentator
John ChrysostomHomily on the Gospel of Matthew 40 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
"What man is there among you that shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the Sabbath days, will he not lay hold of it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Thus, lest they have ground of obstinacy, and of accusing him again of transgression, He convicts them by this example. And do thou mark, I pray thee, how variously and suitably in each case, He introduces His pleas for the breaking of the sabbath. Thus, first, in the case of the blind man, He doth not so much as defend Himself to them, when He made the clay: and yet then also were they blaming Him; but the manner of the creation was enough to indicate the Lord and Owner of the law. Next, in the case of the paralytic, when he carried his bed, and they were finding fault, He defends Himself, now as God, and now as man; as man, when He saith, "If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law should not be broken;" (and He said not "that a man should be profited"); "are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?" As God again, when He saith, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." But when blamed for His disciples, He said, "Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, himself and they that were with him, how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the show-bread? He brings forward the priests also. And here again; "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? Which of you shall have one sheep?" For He knew their love of wealth, that they were all taken up with it, rather than with love of mankind. […]
The Medieval Church2 voices
He shows that for love of money and so as not to lose a sheep they would set aside the sabbath, but they could not tolerate that the sabbath be set aside so that a man might be healed. By this He shows that they …
Otherwise; The man who had the withered hand denotes the human race in its barrenness of good works dried up by the hand which was stretched out to the fruit; (Gen. 3:6.) this was healed by the stretching out of the innocent hand on the Cross. And well is this withered hand said to have been in the Synagogue, for where the gift of knowledge is greater, there is the greater danger of an irrecoverable infliction. The withered hand when it is to be healed is first bid to be stretched out, because the weakness of a barren mind is healed by no means better than by liberality of almsgiving. A man's right hand is affected when he is remiss in giving alms, his left whole when he is attentive to his own interests. But when the Lord comes, the right hand is restored whole as the left, because what he had got together greedily, that he distributes freely.
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
(ord.) Thus He answers their question with a suitable example, so as to show that they profane the sabbath by works of covetousness who were charging Him with profaning it by works of charity; evil interpreters of the Law, who say that on the sabbath we ought to rest from good deeds, when it is only evil deeds from which we ought to rest. As it is said, Ye shall do no servile work therein, (Lev. 23:3) that is, no sin. Thus in the everlasting rest, we shall rest only from evil, and not from good.
He said to them... Here the answer is given: first, he answers in words; secondly, in deed (v. 13). In the first he does three things: first, he reminds them of a custom; secondly, he makes a comparison (v. 12); thirdly, he draws the conclusion …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And he said unto them,.... Well knowing their intentions, and also their usages and customs, which he was able to produce and object to them; in which, through covetousness, they showed more regard to their beasts, than they did humanity to their fellow creatures: what man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
Hence Christ infers a truth, which, even at first sight, appears very reasonable and good-natured; that it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days; they had asked, Is it lawful to hear? Christ proves it is lawful to do well, and let any one judge whether healing, as Christ healed, was not doing well.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
If it fall into a pit on the Sabbath - day, etc. - It was a canon among the Jews: “We must take a tender care of the goods of an Israelite.” Hence: - “If a beast fall into a ditch, or into a pool of water, let (the owner) bring him food in that place if he can; but, if he cannot, let him bring clothes and litter, and bear up the beast; whence, if he can come up, let him come up, etc.” “If a beast or its foal fall into a ditch on a holy day, R.
The one great subject which stands out prominently in this passage of Scripture is the Sabbath day. It is a subject on which strange opinions prevailed among the Jews in our Lord’s time. The Pharisees had added to the teaching of Scripture about it, and overlaid the true character of the day with the traditions of men. It is a subject on which diverse opinions have often been held in the churches of Christ, and wide differences exist among men at the present time. Let us see what we may learn about it from our Lord’s teaching in these verses.
The one great subject which stands out prominently in this passage of Scripture is the Sabbath day. It is a subject on which strange opinions prevailed among the Jews in our Lord’s time. The Pharisees had added to the teaching of Scripture about it, and overlaid the true character of the day with the traditions of men. It is a subject on which diverse opinions have often been held in the churches of Christ, and wide differences exist among men at the present time. Let us see what we may learn about it from our Lord’s teaching in these verses. Let us learn in the first place, from this passage that our Lord Jesus Christ does not do away with the observance of a weekly Sabbath day, he neither does so here nor elsewhere in the four Gospels. We often find his opinion expressed about Jewish errors on the subject of the Sabbath; but we do not find a word to teach us that his disciples were not to keep a Sabbath at all. It is of much importance to observe this. The mistakes that have arisen from a superficial consideration of our Lord’s sayings on the Sabbath question are neither few nor small; thousands have rushed to the hasty conclusion that Christians have nothing to do with the fourth commandment, and that it is no more binding on us than the Mosaic law about sacrifices. There is nothing in the New Testament to justify any such conclusion. The plain truth is that our Lord did not abolish the law of the weekly Sabbath: he only freed it from incorrect interpretations, and purified it from man made additions. He did not tear out of the decalogue the fourth commandment: he only stripped off the miserable traditions with which the Pharisees had incrusted the day, and by which they had made it not a blessing but a burden. He left the fourth commandment where he found it, a part of the eternal law of God, of which no jot or tittle , was ever to pass away.
How the passage was read
On Matthew 12:1-14On Matthew 12:1-14
What the Pharisees were objecting to
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, on which the Torah forbids work (Exodus 20:8–11). By Jesus' day the oral tradition had worked that command out into detailed categories of forbidden labor, later written down in the Mishnah (the first great code of Jewish oral law, compiled about AD 200) as thirty-nine categories, reaping and threshing among them (Mishnah Shabbat 7:2). Observant Jews keep these categories to this day.
So the disciples' act reads differently on each side. Plucking a neighbor's standing grain by hand was expressly permitted by the Law itself (Deuteronomy 23:25); this was never about stealing. But in the tradition's categories, plucking counted as reaping, and rubbing the heads as threshing: work, on the day work is forbidden. That is the collision in the scene, and it is why Jesus answers from Scripture's own precedents (David and the showbread, the priests in the Temple) and from who He is: “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
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) · Deuteronomy 23:25 (plucking permitted) · Exodus 20:8–11 (the command itself)
The words behind it
26 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ὁ | ho | He | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | then | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| εἶπεν | eipen | said | G2036 → | 925 times |
| αὐτοῖς· | autois | to them; | G846 → | 5565 times |
| τίς | tis | Who | G5101 → | 563 times |
| ἔσται | estai | will there be | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| ἐξ | ex | among | G1537 → | 911 times |
| ὑμῶν | humon | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἄνθρωπος | anthropos | man | G444 → | 549 times |
| ὃς | hos | who | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἕξει | hexei | will have | G2192 → | 707 times |
| πρόβατον | probaton | sheep | G4263 → | 39 times |
| ἓν, | hen | one, | G1520 → | 343 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐὰν | ean | if | G1437 → | 352 times |
| ἐμπέσῃ | empese | shall fall | G1706 → | |
| τοῦτο | touto | it | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| τοῖς | tois | on the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σάββασιν | sabbasin | Sabbaths | G4521 → | 68 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| βόθυνον, | bothunon | a pit, | G999 → | |
| οὐχὶ | ouchi | surely | G3780 → | 54 times |
| κρατήσει | kratesei | he will take hold of | G2902 → | 47 times |
| αὐτὸ | auto | it | G846 → | 5565 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐγερεῖ; | egerei | will raise [it] up? | G1453 → | 142 times |
ὉHe
hoG3588 →19766 times
δὲthen
deG1161 →2765 times
εἶπενsaid
eipenG2036 →925 times
αὐτοῖς·to them;
autoisG846 →5565 times
τίςWho
tisG5101 →563 times
ἔσταιwill there be
estaiG1510 →2333 times
ἐξamong
exG1537 →911 times
ὑμῶνyou
humonG4771 →2973 times
ἄνθρωποςman
anthroposG444 →549 times
ὃςwho
hosG3739 →1405 times
ἕξειwill have
hexeiG2192 →707 times
πρόβατονsheep
probatonG4263 →39 times
ἓν,one,
henG1520 →343 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐὰνif
eanG1437 →352 times
ἐμπέσῃshall fall
empeseG1706 →
τοῦτοit
toutoG3778 →1381 times
τοῖςon the
toisG3588 →19766 times
σάββασινSabbaths
sabbasinG4521 →68 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
βόθυνον,a pit,
bothunonG999 →
οὐχὶsurely
ouchiG3780 →54 times
κρατήσειhe will take hold of
krateseiG2902 →47 times
αὐτὸit
autoG846 →5565 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐγερεῖ;will raise [it] up?
egereiG1453 →142 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
Luke 14:5And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?”
it leads to
- Exodus 23:4–5
If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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?
- Matthew 12:11–12
He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
- Daniel 4:24
This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against my lord the king:
- Exodus 23:4–5
Through
Deuteronomy 22:4If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.
it leads to
- Matthew 5:44
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
- Luke 10:29–37
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
- Hebrews 12:12–13
Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14
And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.
- Matthew 5:44
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
On this verse
About Matthew
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Glossa Ordinaria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Jerome, Commentary on Matthew; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 40; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Rabanus Maurus, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Matthew and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew.