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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 12:9 - 12:13
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The application of these principles:
v. 9. And when He was departed thence, He went into their synagogue.
v. 10. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered, and they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? that they might accuse Him.
v. 11. 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?
v. 12. How much, then, is a man better than a sheep! Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.
v. 13. Then said He to the man, Stretch forth thine hand; and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole, like as the other.
The hatred of the Pharisees was intensified with each new defeat. They had received a well-deserved rebuke based upon Scriptural grounds, but they were determined to turn the admiration of the people into suspicion and then into opposition. And so they laid their plans for another Sabbath, Mar_3:2; Luk_6:6. Jesus, according to His custom, went into the synagogue to teach. And there, evidently by design, was a man with a dried-up, shriveled hand. Here was a case which could bear postponement till the morrow. But so eager are the Pharisees to provoke the Lord that they put a question with reference to the lawfulness of healing on the Sabbath day. Christ's reply, two counter-questions and an irresistible conclusion. A man with any feelings at all, seeing the misery of a dumb beast, aside from the fact that it is his one possession, will draw the sheep out of the cistern. Their own rabbis, at that time, made provision for such cases. And a man should not receive as much consideration as an animal? Their own canons permitted the doing well on the Sabbath. It is, therefore, right to heal. Christ defied the authority of the Pharisees, and challenged them to bring accusation against Him. And the sick man, in obeying the command of Christ, acknowledged His authority and set aside that of the Jewish leaders. A signal manifestation of faith, on the one hand, an instance of divine power, on the other: the best fulfillment of the Sabbath.