Q: In Matthew 12:5, when Jesus and the apostles are accused of sabbath-breaking, Jesus excuses himself by citing a precedent: Have you not read in the Law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are are blameless?. But there is no such passage in the Old Testament.
A: This is not a quotation; its an allusion. Jesus is referring to the passages in which the priests work on the sabbath as they prepare and offer sacrifices. Numbers 28:9 describes the sacrifices which were made on sabbath-days. (The Law also prescribed in Leviticus 12:3 that infant Hebrew males be circumcised on the eight day after being born, and thats work, and I dont think theres any unless the eighth day falls on the sabbath qualification about this.)
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
A: This is not a quotation; its an allusion. Jesus is referring to the passages in which the priests work on the sabbath as they prepare and offer sacrifices. Numbers 28:9 describes the sacrifices which were made on sabbath-days. (The Law also prescribed in Leviticus 12:3 that infant Hebrew males be circumcised on the eight day after being born, and thats work, and I dont think theres any unless the eighth day falls on the sabbath qualification about this.)
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
