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An Analysis of Jesus' Arguments Concerning the Plucking of Grain on the Sabbath

Rutherford College, The University, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX

A number of scholars have recently asserted that Jesus used rabbinic arguments to defend his disciples for having plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath. On the basis of an analysis of the analogy of gezera shava and the inference of kal vechomer, it can be seen that though Jesus seems to have been familiar with rabbinic hermeneutics, the arguments he employs are invalid from a rabbinic point of view. This misuse of rabbinic reasoning should not surprise us since it bears out the truth of the Gospel in claiming that Jesus was not a skilled casuist in the style of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and helps explain why, when he argued with them, he provoked their indignation and hostility.

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