How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to them who were with him?
All Commentaries on Mark 2:26 Go To Mark 2
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Under Abiathar. You will say that it is said in Isaiah 21:6 that this was done under Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar. I answer, first, that Abiathar was even then the pontiff together with his father, because when his father was absent, or sick, or otherwise engaged, he discharged the High Priest"s office; and he was shortly to succeed his father, at his death, in the pontificate. Listen to Bede: That the Lord calls Abiathar the High Priest instead of Ahimelech involves no discrepancy, for both were on the spot when David came and asked for and received the loaves. And when Ahimelech was slain by Saul, Abiathar fled to David, and was his companion through the whole of his exile. Afterwards, when David was king, he received the rank of the high-priesthood; and continuing in the pontificate during the whole of David"s reign, he became much more celebrated than his father, and so was more worthy to be called High Priest by the Lord, even during his father"s lifetime.
Second, and better, It is clear from Scripture that both father and son bore both names, and were called sometimes Abiathar, sometimes Ahimelech. This appears from 2 Samuel 8:17, 1 Chronicles 18:16 and 1 Chronicles 24:6. So Jansen, Toletus, &c.
The Sabbath was made (Syr. created) for Prayer of Manasseh , &c. That Isaiah , the Sabbath was instituted for the benefit of Prayer of Manasseh , that Prayer of Manasseh , by the rest of the Sabbath, should refresh and restore his body, fatigued by the continuous labour of six days of the week; and that he should apply his mind to the things which concern his eternal salvation, such as hearing and meditating upon the law of God. The force of the argument is this: Since the Sabbath was instituted for the sake of Prayer of Manasseh , and not man for the sake of the Sabbath, therefore, if the Sabbatical rest be hurtful to Prayer of Manasseh , it must be abandoned, and the labour undertaken that man may be benefited. Therefore rightly do I permit My disciples to engage in the moderate labour of plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath, to satisfy their hunger. For it is better that the rest of the Sabbath should be broken than that men should perish.
Therefore the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , &c. Some understand the therefore in this place as properly inferential from what has gone before, thus: Since the Sabbath was made for Prayer of Manasseh , and the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , that Isaiah , Christ, is Lord of all men, and of all things which pertain to man"s health, therefore He is Lord also of the Sabbath, so as to be able to dispense from it. But it is better and simpler to take the therefore not as inferential, but as complementary for lastly, in short. Wherefore the Arabic so translates, and makes the passage of the following effect: "Lastly, the Son of Prayer of Manasseh , that Isaiah , I, Christ, because I am the Messias and God, am Lord of the Sabbath, I who instituted it at the beginning for man"s benefit, and therefore am able for the benefit of man to order, to relax, or to abolish it. This is the fresh and final reason by which Christ proves to the Scribes that it was lawful to pluck the ears of corn on the Sabbath to satisfy hunger."
Mystically: Says Theophylact, Christ healing on the Sabbath signifies that those who have rest in their passions are able to heal sinners agitated by their passions, and lead them to virtue. More fully Bede. The disciples, he says, are teachers. The corn means those planted in the faith, whom the teachers visit, and hungering for their salvation, pluck away from earthly things. And by their hands, i.e, by their examples, they bring them away from the lust of the flesh, as it were out of husks. They eat them, that Isaiah , they incorporate them as members into the Church. And they do it upon the Sabbath, because this is for the hope of future rest. Return to top
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