Matthew 12:8

8 For the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.

Matthew 12:8 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 12:8

For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
] By "the Son of man" is meant, not any man, as some have thought; for no mere man is lord of any law, moral or ritual, natural or positive; or has a power of disposing of it, and dispensing with it at pleasure; but Christ himself; which is the constant sense of this phrase in the New Testament, and is a character of the Messiah in the old, ( Daniel 7:13 ) who, as he was the institutor of the sabbath among the Jews, that being a ritual, and of mere positive institution, could dispense with it, and even abrogate it at his pleasure. The Jews so far agree to this, that he that commanded the law of the sabbath, could dispense with it; they say F26, that

``the day on which Jericho was taken was the sabbath day; and that though they slew and burnt on the sabbath day, (tbv llxl hwu tbvh le hwuv ym) , "he that commanded the observation of the sabbath, commanded the profanation of it".''

And since Christ is greater than the temple, and has all the perfections of the divine nature in him, is equal to the Father in power and glory; and even as mediator, has all power in heaven and earth given him; so as he is Lord of all other things, he is of the sabbath, and has a power of dispensing with it, and even of abolishing it; see ( Colossians 2:16 Colossians 2:17 ) and since the Lord of the sabbath had a power of dispensing with it, and made use of it in the cases of David and his men, and of the priests in the temple formerly; the Pharisees ought not to think it strange, that the Son of man, who is equally Lord of the sabbath, dispensed with it in his disciples now.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 R. David Kimchi in Josh. vi. 11.

Matthew 12:8 In-Context

6 But I say unto you, that there is here what is greater than the temple.
7 But if ye had known what is: I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath.
9 And, going away from thence, he came into their synagogue.
10 And behold, there was a man having his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? that they might accuse him.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.