At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the
corn,
&c.] That is, the corn fields, as the other evangelists
express it. It being on a sabbath day, it is very probable, that
Christ and his disciples were going to some public place of
worship, the way to which lay through some fields of corn, which
were now ripe: for Luke says, it was on the "second sabbath after
the first", or rather "the first sabbath after the second"; that
is, the first sabbath after the second day of the passover, when
the sheaf of the first fruit was offered, and harvest was begun.
And his disciples were an hungered;
it being in the morning before they had broke their fast; and
this circumstance is mentioned to show the reason of the
following action, and to excuse it: at which the Pharisees were
so much offended, and of which they accused them, as having done
what was very criminal:
and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to
eat;
Luke adds, "rubbing them in their hands"; and so here in the
Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, it is rendered, "they began
to rub": as they passed along, they plucked off the ears of corn,
either barley or wheat, and rubbed them in their hands, to get
the grain clear of the husk, or beard, and eat them; contenting
themselves with such mean and unprepared food, when the Jews on
that day fed on the best of dainties F5.
F5 Vid. Maimon. Hilch. Sabbat, c. 30. sect. 7, 8, 9, 10.