The Nugget:
Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; (KJV)
Mat 12:3 But He said to them, “Did you never read what David did, when he and his soldiers became hungry? (Williams NT)
The Context:
Mat 12:1 One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields. His disciples were hungry and began picking and eating grains of wheat.
Mat 12:2 Some Pharisees noticed this and said to Jesus, “Why are your disciples picking grain on the Sabbath? They are not supposed to do that!”
Mat 12:3 Jesus answered: You surely must have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry.
Mat 12:4 He went into the house of God, and then they ate the sacred loaves of bread that only priests are supposed to eat.
Mat 12:5 Haven’t you read in the Law of Moses that the priests are allowed to work in the temple on the Sabbath? But no one says that they are guilty of breaking the law of the Sabbath.
Mat 12:6 I tell you that there is something here greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 Don’t you know what the Scriptures mean when they say, “Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others?” If you knew what this means, you would not condemn these innocent disciples of mine.
Mat 12:8 So the Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath. (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
My Comment:
Jesus emphasized the importance of reading, searching, and studying the Bible. Jesus affirmed by His example that the Bible is the only source of divinely inspired instruction, teaching, and doctrinal authority. Therefore, it is most important that we continue to read and study the Bible for ourselves.
UCRT Cross reference Bible study and notes for Matthew 12:3
I placed the following references and notes in the Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury at Matthew 12:3,
Matthew 12:3
Have ye not read. Mat 12:5, Mat 19:4; +Mat 21:16; +Mat 21:42; Mat 22:31, Mar 2:25; Mar 12:10; Mar 12:26, Luk 6:3; Luk 10:26.
Jesus appealed repeatedly to the Bible alone as the source of spiritual authority. Notice the preceding cross references which document Christ’s repeated question, “Have ye not read?” Jesus expected his hearers to have read the Bible. He expects them to understand what they read (Mat 24:15 note). His question, “Have ye not read?” is recorded ten times!
Jesus referred to seven distinct passages (Gen 1:27 at Mat 19:4; Exo 3:6 at Mat 22:31, 32; Lev 24:6, 7, 8, 9 at Mat 12:3; Num 28:9, 10 at Mat 12:5; 1Sa 21:6 at Mat 12:3; Psa 8:2 at Mat 21:16; Psa 118:22 at Mat 21:42).
Jesus appealed to the Bible as His authority many times, but never once did he appeal to the authority of the religious leaders in Israel (Pharisees or Sadducees), or to religious tradition. He commanded to “Search the Scriptures” (Joh 5:39). Two dozen times Jesus cites the Old Testament Prophets as recorded in the New Testament (Luk 24:27 note). Even during His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus cited the Scripture, not tradition, when he resisted the Devil successfully. It seems we could learn something from that (Mat 4:4; Mat 4:6, 7; Mat 4:10).
That the New Testament was written by the authority of Christ may be legitimately inferred from the fact that:
(1) John explicitly records that Jesus Christ commanded him to write (Rev 1:19).
(2) Jesus directly promised that the Holy Spirit would guide his apostles into all truth and bring all things to their remembrance (Joh 16:12, 13).
Thus, as they wrote the writings we now have in the New Testament we are assured of their accuracy for they were written under divine inspiration (2Ti 3:16, 2Pe 1:21). Peter called the letters written by Paul “Scripture” (2Pe 3:16), and clearly possessed them as a well-known collection. Paul cites the words of Jesus, quoting them exactly, from Luk 10:7 in 1Ti 5:17, 18, The book of Revelation makes at least four direct quotations from the Gospels.
By John’s death, the entire New Testament as we have it today was available and being read by or to all genuine Christians. Thus the claim by some Roman Catholics that Jesus gave us the Church, not the Bible, as our teaching authority and source of spiritual truth, the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15 note), is untrue, for Jesus himself appealed to the authority of Scripture, not tradition or the religious institution of his day. Mat 9:13; +*Mat 22:29, Lev 10:16, 17, 18, 19, 20, +Deut 17:19, +*Psa 119:139, Act 13:27.
what David did. *1Sa 21:3, 4, 5, 6, Mar 2:25, 26, Luk 6:3.
and they. 1Sa 21:1, 2.