Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 12:11
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?
11. In the other Synoptic Gospels the argument is different. “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life or to kill? St Matthew states the argument that bears specially on the Jewish Law. St Luke, however, mentions the application of the same argument by our Lord on a different occasion, ch. Mat 14:5. Our Lord’s answer is thrown into the form of a syllogism, the minor premiss and conclusion of which are left to be inferred in St Luke loc. cit.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. If it fall into a pit on the Sabbath-day, c.] It was a canon among the Jews: “We must take a tender care of the goods of an Israelite.” Hence: –
“If a beast fall into a ditch, or into a pool of water, let (the owner) bring him food in that place if he can but, if he cannot, let him bring clothes and litter, and bear up the beast; whence, if he can come up, let him come up, c.”
“If a beast or its foal fall into a ditch on a holy day, R. Lazar saith, Let him lift up the former to kill him, and let him kill him but let him give fodder to the other, lest he die in that place. R. Joshua saith, Let him lift up the former with the intention of killing him, although he kill him not; let him lift up the other also, although it be not in his mind to kill him.” To these canons our Lord seems here very properly to appeal, in vindication of his intention to heal the distressed man. See Lightfoot.
Self-interest is a very decisive casuist, and removes abundance of scruples in a moment. It is always the first consulted, and the must readily obeyed. It is not sinful to hearken to it, but it must not govern nor determine by itself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark saith, Mar 3:3-5, And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. Luke reports it thus, Luk 6:8,9, But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it? Christ knew their thoughts; he needed not that any man should tell him what was in the heart of men; he knew their design in coming, and propounding this question. He calls this man with the withered hand to stand forth, that all men might see, and take notice of him. Then he argues the case with the Pharisees, telling them, that they themselves would grant, that if a man had a sheep fallen into a pit on the sabbath day, they might labour so far as to take it out; so, it seemeth, in Christs time they did expound the law. They also knew that the life or good of a man was to be preferred before the life of a beast. In their reproving him, therefore, they condemned themselves in a thing which they allowed. Then he propounds a question to them, which Matthew hath not, but it is mentioned both by Mark and Luke. He asketh them whether it was lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? To save life, or to destroy it? The argument is this, Whatsoever is good to save the life of man may be done on the sabbath day; but this is a good action; if I should not lend him my help when it is in my power, I should, in the sense of Gods law, kill him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. And he said unto them, What manshall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fallinto a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and liftit out?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said unto them,…. Well knowing their intentions, and also their usages and customs, which he was able to produce and object to them; in which, through covetousness, they showed more regard to their beasts, than they did humanity to their fellow creatures:
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? Christ appeals to them in a case which was usually done among them, and which, without delay, no man would scruple to do; though their present rule of direction, in such a case, is this f:
“if a beast fall into a ditch, or a pool of water, if food can be given it, where it is, they feed it till the going out of the sabbath; but if not, bolsters and pillows may be brought, and put under it, and if it can come out: it may come out:”
and which is elsewhere g a little differently expressed;
“if a beast fall into a ditch, or pool of water, it is forbidden a man to bring it out with his hand; but if he can give it food where it is, it may be fed till the going out of the sabbath:”
which seems to have been made since the times of Christ, and in opposition to this observation of his.
f Maimon. Hilchot Sabbat, c. 25. sect. 26. g Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora pr. neg. 65.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And he said unto them,” (ho de eipen autois) “Then he quizzed them, as he inquired,” knowing the purpose of their devious questions and obstinate hearts, Pro 6:18; Pro 11:20; Pro 12:8.
2) “What man shall there be among you, (tios estai eks humon anthropos) “What man is there of you all,” if you have any humanity in you, any human compassion. Humanity was lacking in Pharisaic character, Luk 15:2-3.
3) “That shall have one sheep,” (hos heksei probaton hen) “Who will have (even) one sheep;” As the story is further embodied, Luk 15:3-7. The one sheep answers to the one working hand, or right hand, Luk 6:6.
4) “And if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day,” (kai ean empese touto tois sabbasin eis bothunon) “And if this one sheep should fall into a ditch on the sabbath,” or into a pit, something a sheep was likely to do. Not to do good when one can, is to do evil, and not to save life, when one can, is to kill, Jas 4:17.
5) “Will he not lay hold on it,” (ouchi kratesei auto kai egeirei) “Will he not lay hold of it and raise it out of the ditch?” A righteous man would lift it out, Pro 12:10. That is what an owner with ordinary kindness would do, even an unsaved man, to help the afflicted, the physically fallen and helpless sheep, see? And thus he would violate the day, wouldn’t he? Mr 3:2 adds, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life or to kill? But they held their peace.” Luk 6:8-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. What man shall there be among you who shall have a sheep? Christ again points out what is the true way of keeping the Sabbath; and, at the same time, reproves them for slander, in bringing as a charge against him what was a universal custom. For if any man’s sheep had fallen into a ditch, no person would have hindered it from being taken out: but in proportion as a man is of more value than a sheep, so much the more are we at liberty to assist him. It is plain, therefore, that if any man should relieve the necessity of brethren, he did not, in any degree, violate the rest which the Lord has enjoined. Mark and Luke take no notice of this comparison, but only state that Christ inquired, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil?
He who takes away the life of a man is held to be a criminal; and there is little difference between manslaughter and the conduct of him who does not concern himself about relieving a person in distress. So then Christ indirectly charges them with endeavoring, under the pretense of a holy act, to compel him to do evil; for sin is committed, as we have already said, not only by him who does any thing contrary to the Law, but also by him who neglects his duty. Hence also we perceive, that Christ did not always employ the same arguments in refuting this slander; for he does not reason here about his divinity as he does in the case mentioned by John, (Joh 5:18.) Nor was there any necessity for doing so; since the Pharisees were completely refuted by this single defense, that nothing could be more unreasonable than to pronounce a man, who imitated God, to be a transgressor of the Sabbath.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11, 12) Will he not lay hold on it?As the reasoning takes the form of an argumentum ad hominem, it is clear that the act was regarded as a lawful one, even by the more rigid scribes. The Talmud discusses the question, but does not decide it. Some casuists solved the problem by a compromise. The sheep was not to be pulled out of the pit till the Sabbath was over, but in the meantime it was lawful to supply it with fodder. In St. Mark and St. Luke the question is given in another form, and without the illustration, which we find in St. Luke, in another connection, in Luk. 14:5. Jesus bids the man with the withered hand stand up in the midst, and then puts the question, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? The alternative thus presented as a dilemma was a practical answer to their casuistry. They would have said, Leave the man as he is till the Sabbath is over; and our Lords answer is that in that case good would have been left undone, and that not to do good when it lies in our power is practically to do evil.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. And he said Our Lord proceeds to answer them by showing, from their own practice, that deeds of necessary mercy did not infringe the Sabbath day. Pit Cisterns dug in the earth for the purpose of water, into which animals often fell. It is said by Stier, that the Jews (probably in consequence of these words of our Saviour) were afterward accustomed to cover these pits with planks. Our Lord here does not merely convict the Jews on their own ground. He proves by this example, again, that they are making the preceptive law war against the law of universal benevolence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he said to them, “What man will there be of you, who will have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will not lay hold on it, and lift it out?” ’
Jesus replies by posing a question, a typical Rabbinic method. What man among them would not take hold of a sheep and lift it out of a pit into which it had fallen on the Sabbath, even though its life was not in danger? That was permitted. Let them think about it. Reference to a sheep has significance in Matthew for he has likened the ‘lost’ in Israel to sheep (Mat 9:36; Mat 10:6). Thus the move on to the greater value of a man is to be expected.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 12:11. That shall have one sheep Who, if he have but one sheep that on the sabbath-day should fall into a pit, will not, &c. The stress is not here to be laid upon a man’s having only one sheep, but upon one only falling into a pit. The following Jewish saying is mentioned by some writers: “It is unlawful to do any servile work on the sabbath-day, unless it be on purpose to save a life;” which comprehends also brutes. From what is said here, and Luk 13:15; Luk 14:5 it appears, that this was then a common saying. The first clause of the next verse might be rendered, Of how much greater value is a man than a sheep? To do well, , implies all the offices of charity and tenderness, and is oftentimes used in opposition to doing evil or killing, when it bears the same sense as it does here; and the context seems to require it, namely, to preserve life. To perform the lovely pleasing acts of kindness and beneficence, is preferable to sacrifice or any ceremonial performance; the former being a more essential duty, more pleasing to God, and more beneficial to mankind. See Doddridge, Beausobre and Lenfant, and Heylin.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 12:11 . The construction, like that of Mat 7:9 , is a case of anacoluthon.
The futures indicate the supposed possible case; see Khner, II. 1, p. 147: what man may there be from among you , and so on.
] one , which on that account is all the dearer to him.
, . . .] There must have been no doubt as to whether such a thing was allowable, for Jesus argues ex concesso . The Talmud ( Gemara ) contains no such concession, but answers the question partly in a negative way, and partly by making casuistical stipulations. See the passages in Othonis, Lex Rabb. p. 527; Wetstein, and Buxtorf, Synag . c. 16.
. ] descriptive. He lays hold of the sheep that has fallen into a ditch ( , Xen. Oec. xix. 3, not exclusively a well, but any kind of hole, like ), and, lifting out the animal lying bruised in the pit, he sets it upon its feet .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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?
Ver. 11. What man shall there be, &c. ] If a sheep slipped into a slough must be relieved, how much more Christ’s reasonable sheep, all which bear golden fleeces, and everything about whom is good either ad esum, for eating, or ad usum, for use?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] The construction of this verse is involved: there is a double question, as in ch. Mat 7:9 .
Our Lord evidently asks this as being a thing allowed and done at the time when He spoke: but subsequently (perhaps, suggests Stier, on account of these words of Christ), it was forbidden in the Gemara; and it was only permitted to lay planks for the beast to come out .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 12:11-12 . Christ’s reply , by two home-thrusting questions and an irresistible conclusion. . One is tempted here, as in Mat 7:9 , to put emphasis on : who of you not dead to the feelings of a man? Such questions as this and that in Luk 15:4 go to the root of the matter. Humanity was what was lacking in the Pharisaic character. : one sheep answering to the one working hand, whence perhaps Luke’s (Mat 6:6 ). . The case supposed might quite well happen; hence in the protasis with subjunctive, and in the apodosis the future (Burton, N. T. Moods and Tenses, 250). A solitary sheep might fall into a ditch on a Sabbath; and that is what its owner would do if he were an ordinary average human being, viz. , lift it out at once. What would the Pharisee do? It is easy to see what he would be tempted to do if the one sheep were his own. But would he have allowed such action as a general rule? One would infer so from the fact that Jesus argued on such questions ex concesso . In that case the theory and practice of contemporary Pharisees must have been milder than in the Talmudic period, when the rule was: if there be no danger, leave the animal in the ditch till the morrow ( vide Buxtorf, Syn. Jud., c. xvi.). Grotius suggests that later Jewish law was made stricter out of hatred to Christians.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And = But.
among = of. Greek. ek.
if . . . ? The condition is hypothetical.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] The construction of this verse is involved: there is a double question, as in ch. Mat 7:9.
Our Lord evidently asks this as being a thing allowed and done at the time when He spoke: but subsequently (perhaps, suggests Stier, on account of these words of Christ), it was forbidden in the Gemara; and it was only permitted to lay planks for the beast to come out.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 12:11. , one sheep) The loss of which was not great.- , will he not take hold of) A verb also suited to the healing of the hand. In our Saviours time this was permitted, since then it has been forbidden by the Jews.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
what: This was an argumentum ad hominem The Jews held that such things were lawful on the sabbath day, and our Saviour very properly appealed to their canons in vindication of his intention to heal the distressed man. Luk 13:15-17, Luk 14:5
and if: Exo 23:4, Exo 23:5, Deu 22:4
Reciprocal: Mat 10:31 – General Mat 18:12 – if Luk 15:4 – man Luk 17:7 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2:11
But, knowing their thoughts Jesus anticipated their verbal question and asked one himself. The manual labor necessary to lift a sheep out of a pit would be far greater than what is required to heal an afflicted man. Yet these critics would not hesitate performing that kind of deed even on the sabbath day.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And he saith 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?
[If a sheep fall into a ditch on the sabbath days, etc.] it was a canon, We must take a tender care of the goods of an Israelite. Hence,
“If a beast fall into a ditch, or into a pool of waters, let [the owner] bring him food in that place if he can; but if he cannot, let him bring clothes and litter, and bear up the beast; whence, if he can come up, let him come up,” etc.
“If a beast, or his foal, fall into a ditch on a holy-day, R. Lazar saith, ‘Let him lift up the former to kill him, and let him kill him: but let him give fodder to the other, lest he die in that place.’ R. Joshua saith, ‘Let him lift up the former, with the intention of killing him, although he kill him not: let him lift up the other also, although it be not in his mind to kill him.'”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 12:11. Luke introduces the reply of this verse on another occasion. It was always appropriate under such circumstances.
What man, etc. Such an act of mercy to a beast was allowed and usual then; but the Rabbins afterwards (perhaps on account of this reply) forbade anything more than to lay planks so that the animal could come out of itself.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 12:11-13. And he said That he might show their unreasonableness, and confute them by their own practice: What man that shall have
Or, Who, if he have but one sheep, that on the sabbath day shall fall into a pit, and it be in danger of perishing there, will not lay hold on it, &c.
The stress of the question does not lie on supposing a man to have only one sheep, but on one only falling into a pit; and yet, for the comparatively small value of that one, his not scrupling to undertake the labour of helping it out on the sabbath day. How much then is a man better than a sheep? As if he had said, If the regard you have for the life of your cattle leads you to do servile work on the sabbath, for the preservation of a single sheep, charity should much rather induce you to labour for the preservation of a fellow-creature, though the good office is to be done on the sabbath day. Wherefore it is lawful to do well To save a beast, much more a man, or to perform any of the lovely acts of mercy and charity on the sabbath day. Our Lord, having spoken as above, according to St. Mar 3:5, looked round about upon them with anger, with a holy indignation at their wickedness, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, for their stupidity and impenitence, and for that condemnation and ruin which he knew they were thus bringing on themselves, as well as for the pernicious effect which their conduct would have on others. But at the same time that he testified his displeasure at the Pharisees, he relieved and comforted the infirm man, saying to him, Stretch forth thy hand, and, a divine power accompanying the word, he immediately stretched it out, and, in an instant, it was made sound as the other. The evangelists say no more; but leave their readers to imagine the wonder and astonishment of the numerous spectators, and the joy of the man who had recovered the use of so necessary a member.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This is the third time in Matthew that Jesus argued for the superiority of human life over animal life (cf. Mat 6:26; Mat 10:31). His argument presupposed the special creation of man (Genesis 1-2). Jesus assumed, apparently with good reason, that the Pharisees would lift a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. His argument was again qal wahomer (from the light to the heavy, cf. Mat 12:5-6). Neither the sheep in the illustration nor the man in the synagogue was in mortal danger. Jesus cut through the Pharisaic distinctions about how much help one could give to the more basic issue of doing good.
Jesus again healed with a word (Mat 9:1-8). The healing confirmed the power of His word, a power that God demonstrated in creation and that marked Jesus as God’s agent. This miracle confirmed again Jesus’ lordship over the Sabbath (Mat 12:8) and His authority to forgive sins (Mat 9:1-8). Notice that Matthew made no reference to the healed man’s faith. It may have played no part in this miracle, or Matthew simply may have made no mention of it. Matthew wanted to focus attention on Jesus and the Pharisees, not on the man.