Read Matthew 12 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
This is the Chiastic Structure Teaching Tool for Yeshua’s dispute with the Pharisees:
The Pharisees accused Yeshua of being a Sabbath-breaker, a Commandment-breaker. You will even find some today who say that because Yeshua disregarded the Sabbath day (agreeing with the premise of the Pharisees) and is Lord of it, His disciples can likewise disregard the Sabbath day. And many do.
But is it a true premise? What is lawful on the Sabbath day?
The Bible is specific about what may and may not be not be done on the Sabbath:
Six days you shall labor (abad; Strong’s H5647) and do all your work (melakah; Strong’s H4399), but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YHVH your God; in it you shall not do any work (melakah), you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. Exo 20:9-10
From the Hebrew Root Word Parables for work and labor, we can see that what is meant is one’s employment by which one provides an income, whether it is as a laborer, a landowner, a businessman, a merchant, or a craftsman.
The intent of the command was to provide a day of cessation from labor, and working to provide an income or to provide for needs, so that a person could rest. Over time, the Pharisees and teachers of the Torah had built up an elaborate system of dos and don’ts for the Sabbath, which amounted to if a person did anything at all, he was breaking the Sabbath. God did not prohibit every activity, just work. But the Pharisees, because they did not understand the proclamation of the Gospel that was behind the command to rest, prohibited almost all activity, even doing good on the Sabbath.
Yeshua and His disciples were attending synagogue on the Sabbath, and not working to provide an income, so it is false that He was a Sabbath-breaker, or that He encouraged Sabbath-breaking. He was bringing balance to the unbalanced teaching of the Pharisees.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
Sabbath, the First Teacher of the Gospel – Christine Miller
What is Lawful on the Sabbath – Christine Miller
Lord of the Sabbath – Christine Miller
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