-Mark
2:26 and Matthew 12:3,4
Why did David escape penalty for breaking the law here and Uzzah
didn't?
David escaped because the
shewbread
was part of the requirements of the sacrificial laws of the Old Testament,
which were never even near as important as the high spiritual quality of
mercy.
Here is what did Emmanuel
said of these things?.Matthew
12:1-7 "At that time Emmanuel went on the sabbath day through the corn.
And his disciples were an hungred and began to pluck the ears of corn and
to eat. But when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto him, Behold, your disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have you not
read what David did, when he was an hungred and they that were with him,
how he entered into the house
of God and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat,
neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have
you not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the
temple profane
the sabbath and are blameless?
Broadus.on
Matthew."The
priests were directed to offer certain sacrifices in the sacred place on
the Sabbath, more in fact than on other days.(Exodus
29:38; Numbers 28:9),
though to do so required the slaying of animals and other acts prohibited.(prohibited
by the ancient Old Testament Mosaic
Law).on
the Sabbath and which
under any other circumstances would 'profane the Sabbath'..Eclectic
Notes."Although
they work on the sabbath and thus break the law, they incur no guilt because
of the special provisions needed for the care of the holy place. If immunity
be granted to the temple, it should also be granted to Emmanuel and His
companions, because something greater than the temple is here, Emmanuel.".Also
circumcision,
which when the child's eighth day happened to fall on a sabbath, had to
be performed by the priests on that day:.John
7:23 "If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law
of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at me, because I have made
a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?"
"The demands of mercy were
to be regarded before those of ritual".Four
Fold Gospel.notes."The
Sabbath was the busiest day in the week for the priests. They baked and
changed the showbread; they performed sabbatical sacrifices and two lambs
were killed on the sabbath in addition to the daily sacrifice. This involved
the killing, skinning and cleaning of the animals and the building of the
fire to consume the sacrifice. They also trimmed the gold lamps, burned
incense and performed various other duties. The profanation of the Sabbath,
however, was not real, but merely apparent. Emmanuel cites this priestly
work to prove that the Sabbath prohibition was not universal and hence
might not include what the disciples had done.
"The fourth commandment did
not forbid work absolutely, but labor for worldly gain. Activity in the
work of God was both allowed and commanded.".Geneva
Bible notes."When
the priests do God's service on the sabbath day, they do not break the
law; much less does the Lord of the Sabbath break the sabbath."
Jamieson,
Fausset, Brown Commentary:."The
double offerings required on the sabbath day.(Numbers
28:9).could
not be presented and the new baked showbread.(Leviticus
24:5; 1Chronicles 9:32).could
not be prepared and presented every sabbath morning, without a good deal
of servile work
on the part of the priests.(which
also included burning of incense);
not to speak of circumcision,
which when the child's eighth day happened to fall on a sabbath, had to
be performed by the priests on that day."
Our word today for services
provided by a church is liturgy.
But now, all these ancient rituals.(1Chronicles
9:17-33).are
unnecessary:.Hebrews
8:6.
Lightfoot
New Testament Commentaries."There
is no sabbatism
at all in the Temple.".The
words 'tabernacle' and 'temple' are synonyms.
Emmanuel was the temple
of God. And you are also the temple of God:.2Corinthians
6:16 "....you are.the
temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them and be their God and they shall be my people"
1Corinthians
3:16 "Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God dwells in you?"
Ephesians
2:18-22 "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens
with the saints and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Emmanuel the Christ himself being the chief
corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto
an holy temple in the Lord; In whom you also are built together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit."
Matthew
12:6-8 "But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than
the temple.(Emmanuel,
speaking of Himself). But if you had
known what this means, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you would not
have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath
day."
John
2:19,21 "Emmanuel answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple
and in three days I will raise it up. He spake of the temple of his body."
Matthew
12:8-12 "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. And when
he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue.
And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might
accuse him. 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? How much then is a man better than
a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days."
David
and his men on a journey were hungry and out of food. David decided to
go to where he knew there would be food:.1Samuel
21:1-6.
The food they ate was to
be only for those of the ancient priesthood:.Leviticus
24:4-9 "He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the
Lord continually. And thou shalt take fine flour and bake twelve cakes
thereof; two tenth deals.(each
cake was to be 6 1/4 pounds:.Exodus
29:40).shall
be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon
the pure table before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense
upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath
he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from
the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And.it
shall be Aaron's and his sons' and they shall eat it in the holy place,
for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire
by a perpetual statute."
God instructed it was to
be for the priests only. David violated this, but..
David
also violated many other things, yet he is called a man after God's own
heart. Above all, David, for the most part.(not
all of it).of
his life, had a close relationship with God. This bread was called showbread
because it was 'set out' or 'exhibited before God'. It consisted of twelve
loaves, which were baked upon the sabbath and were placed hot in two rows
upon the showbread table every sabbath day. The twelve old loaves which
were then removed were to be eaten by the priests and no one else:
Leviticus 24:4-9.(just
above).
For his touching the ark,
when he was no Levite,
Uzzah, on the other hand seems to have been dealt with harshly when compared
with David's violations.
With Uzzah, it was not things
to do with the temple as a place of focus for the people in their relationship
with God. In David's case with the shewbread, mercy prevailed as David
had God's Holy Spirit, having been specially chosen of God.(as
also are all of us today who are spiritual individuals acting
out of the love of God we have received in our hearts).
In Uzzah's case, it was to
do with the Ark
of the Covenant, something that, though physical, had special instructions
from God. This was God's Ark. It was of privileged spiritual significance,
way above the temple and only to be handled for any reason by those God
had so designated. It was the ancient peoples' point of focusing on God
and a reminder of the agreement they made with God when Moses came down
from the mountain with the two tablets, on the which were the instructions
God had given him for the people of God back then:.Exodus
19:8 "And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord
has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto
the Lord." Exodus 24:3 "And Moses
came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.
And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which
the Lord has said will we do."
The Creator was able to look
after His own ark and to keep it from falling. I mean, He has got millions
of
angels. Avoid an attitude of 'God's work will
fail unless I work harder to sustain His cause'.
Anyhow, Uzzah.(Romans
15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for
our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.(*).").put
his hand on it to steady the cart in which the ark of the covenant was
being carried as it was going over a flat rock. The cart with the Ark was
no doubt rocking a bit. He instantly died. Lesson is: keep your mind from
wandering off of how great God's power is and the
people of God are today special treasure to God:.1Peter
2:4,9 "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of
men, but chosen of God and precious,...But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should
show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light."
These examples show the
severity
by which things were dealt with by those
who had agreed.(Exodus
19:7,8; 24:3;
Deuteronomy
5:22-33).to
follow the ancient
600 Mosaic Laws of the Old Testament, even though God was showing them
that this was impossible for them to do.(*).
It was all a
history lesson for us alive today:.1Corinthians
10:11. A lesson that showed how the people were. No one asked God about
why it was that they were still as they were, even after He told them:.Deuteronomy
5:29. It was their heart that needed changing. No one back there 'got
it', like few today 'get it' that the promised land was shut away from
them because they couldn't keep the picture of how great it was going to
be, in their minds. They lost the excitement and with that, any belief
they had also disappeared. So, they never got to it:.Numbers
32:11,12.
Using the power of God today
to form an image of what you want, is the same. The image must not only
cause excitement in you, that is, you really do believe you have it and
it's just a small trek
to it. Today the short trek is mental, that is, having patience until the
image for good one has made in his or her mind, shows up in the physical.
As Bob Proctor said in his.You
Were Born Rich book, one must not just hang onto the image, but
continue in excitement of its reality in physical life. If it's alive in
your mind, it's alive in your life. Though it's there in the invisible,
your senses won't record that until you actually see it with your eyes,
but it does begin to form immediately and like a baby in the womb, it will
begin to show as it grows there.
In fact the opposite was
the reality; they wanted anything to do with God out of their focus:.Jeremiah
44:16,17.