According to Cross, the place behind the veil was reached by workers who would ascend a winding staircase in a tower or “house of the winding stair,” which stood ten feet free of the building and was connected with the top story by a little bridge. In the Holy Place, for the priesthood, was the table of the “presence-bread” (i.e., shewbread).35 Every morning in the temple, twelve loaves were spread out for the twelve tribes, and the workers took the sacrament (Leviticus 24:5-9; cf. Exodus 25:23-30 [Exod. 14:2]; 29:33-34). The most impressive rite of the temple was the “drinking of the new wine by the entire assembly,” which was to symbolize a ransom or redemption.
A stairway led to an upper story connected to the temple attic; equally impressive was the House of the Laver, containing a great bronze tank located in a separate building a few feet from the main temple, with dressing rooms at hand, emptying into a drain which carried the water off to be absorbed into the ground.
In the far northeast corner of the great enclosure is a roofed building supported by twelve columns with chains and pulleys; this is the place where the sacrificial animals were killed, far removed from the sacred precincts. From all this we see that the sacrificing of animals was only a part of the ritual activities that went on in the temple.
According to Milgrom, “The entire scroll is the revealed word of God,”37 and it begins with the covenant with Moses and a section on the Holy of Holies, which unfortunately is the one part of the scroll which has been completely destroyed.
Lord of the Sabbath
Hungry men pick grain on a Sabbath and a man with a ruined hand is told to stretch it out. The arguments Jesus makes are all from their own law, and the Joseph Smith Translation supplies the sentence that says what the Sabbath was for in the first place.
Tap a Gospel to show or hide its column. Narrow to any two to read them side by side.
Note. The King James gives the famous line in two clauses: the Sabbath was made for man, therefore the Son of Man is Lord of it. The Joseph Smith Translation restores what sat between them (that the Sabbath was given “for a day of rest, and also that man should glorify God, and not that man should not eat”) and the reason for the lordship: “For the Son of Man made the Sabbath day.”
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grainfields, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw them, they said unto him, Behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. 3But he said unto them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him? 4How he entered into the House of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests? 5Or have you not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and you say they are blameless? 6But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. 7But if you had known what this means — I desire mercy, and not sacrifice — you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
9And when he had departed from there, he went into their synagogues, 10and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days? — that they might accuse him. 11And 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? 12How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. 13Then said he to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other.
14Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. 15But Jesus knew it when they took counsel, and he withdrew himself from there. And great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all their sick 16and charged them that they should not make him known, 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, 18Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my Beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. 19He shall not quarrel nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he send forth judgment into victory. 21And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
23And it came to pass that he went through the grainfields on the Sabbath day. And his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the heads of grain. 24And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they your disciples on the Sabbath day do that which is not lawful? 25And he said unto them, Have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry? He and they who were with him? 26How he went into the House of God, in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread which is not lawful to eat but for the priests? And gave also to them who were with him? 27And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Wherefore, the Sabbath was given unto man for a day of rest, and also that man should glorify God, and not that man should not eat. For the Son of Man made the Sabbath day; 28therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.
1And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there that had a withered hand. 2And they watched him to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. 3And he said unto the man who had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4And he said 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. 5And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out out his hand, and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6And the Pharisees went forth and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7But Jesus withdrew himself, with his disciples, to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed him. 8And from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan, and those about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. 9And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should crowd him; 10for he had healed many, insomuch that they pressed upon him in order to touch him. As many as had plagues 11and unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried, saying, You are the Son of God! 12And he earnestly charged them that they should not make him known.
1And it came to pass, on the second Sabbath after the first this, that he went through the grainfields; and his disciples plucked the heads of the grain and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. 2And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days? 3Jesus answering them said, Have you not read so much as this — what David did when he himself was hungry, and they who were with him? 4How he went into the House of God and did take and eat the showbread, and gave also to them who were with him, which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? 5And he said unto them that the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.
6And it came to pass also on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right hand was withered. 7And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him. 8But he knew their thoughts and said to the man who had the withered hand, Rise up and stand forth in the midst. And he rose and stood forth. 9Then 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? 10And, looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored whole as the other. 11And they were filled with madness, and discussed one with another what they might do to Jesus.
The Presence-Bread on the Table
The argument from David turns on what the showbread was: not ordinary food set aside, but the temple’s own most holy meal, reserved to the priests. Nibley describes the table and its loaves as he reconstructs the Herodian temple from the sources.
This is background on the furnishing rather than exegesis of the Sabbath controversy. Nibley does not treat this passage directly; the passage is given because it makes plain what David took and why the precedent carried weight.
The Bread, the Mercy, and the Bruised Reed
Every one of Jesus’ three defenses reaches back into the first temple, and Barker has written on all three: the loaves the priests changed and ate each Sabbath, the Hosea line that set steadfast love above sacrifice, and the bruised reed of Isaiah’s Servant Song, which she reads as a description of the menorah.
When he spoke to the Pharisees, Jesus reminded them of temple teaching: the Kingdom was not something that would happen as a historical event in the future. It was always in their midst. ‘Behold the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you’.25 St John in his vision saw the Kingdom as the heavenly city, replacing the corrupt city of his own time. He described it as a huge golden cube, measured by angels. What he saw was a huge holy of holies, the Kingdom, and in it he saw the throne.
In the outer part of the temple was the golden table for bread, wine and incense.27 The table is mentioned in the tabernacle at Sinai and in Solomon’s temple,29 but nowhere in the Old Testament is there any detail about what the table and its offerings represented. Twelve huge loaves were set out with frankincense, and the Greek text says there was salt.30 The high priests [and by the time of Jesus, the other priests too] had to put fresh loaves into the temple each Sabbath, and then eat the ones they brought out. This was described as their ‘most holy’ food, which means it imparted holiness, and it was also an eternal covenant.31 The bread of the presence - ‘shewbread’ in some older Bibles - did not mean ‘set out in the presence’. It meant that the bread was, in some way, a presence. But whose presence did the high priests consume to nourish their holiness? The meaning of the temple furnishings and rituals was known only to the high priests, but some of them, such as Josephus, revealed enough to enable us to detect allusions elsewhere.
We should like to know more about that golden table for bread, wine and incense, especially as the bread and wine were associated with Melchizedek, the ancient priest-king. He had offered bread and wine to Abraham. When the Hebrew scriptures were compiled during the time of the second temple, the scribes had to use whatever had survived the destruction in 597 BCE, supplemented by memory. So much had been lost, although the Dead Sea scrolls enable us to fill in some of the missing details.
Since the community that used the scrolls was flourishing in the time of Jesus, someone was preserving memories of the original temple.
In despair at his people’s sin, the LORD spoke through Hosea and said: “I desire steadfast love, not sacrifice, / And knowledge of the angels, rather than burnt offerings. / But like Adam they transgressed the covenant, / There they were faithless to me.” (Hosea 6.6-7 [Hosea 2:8]). The covenant with Adam must have been based on steadfast love and knowledge of the angels, and this had become nothing more than a cult of bloody sacrifices.
There is similar imagery in Isaiah’s first so-called Servant Song, where the fate of the servant is that of the broken menorah. “A bruised reed he will not break, a dimly burning wick he will not quench” (Isa. 42.3 [Isa. 15:7]) describes the menorah, “reed” being also the term for the branches of the lamp (qanim, Exod. 25.32)… Here the branch of the menorah is symbolic of the Servant, the royal high priest, the Branch of the great tree.
The first entry bears directly on the Sabbath argument: the priests’ own handling of the showbread was itself a Sabbath act, which is the precedent Jesus is invoking. The quotation is from a scanned printing of The Great High Priest: spacing errors from the scan have been corrected, and the wording is unchanged.