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Have You Not Read - Matthew 12
Have You Not Read - Matthew 12
In yet another controversy over the Sabbath and how it is to be kept, Jesus asks the Pharisees: “Have you not read…” (Mtt. 12:3). THEN, as they continue to argue with Jesus, he asked them a second time! (verse 5).
In fact, this segment of the Jewish people HAD read and they prided themselves that they were the ones who KNEW the law and they were contemptuous towards the ‘common people’ who did NOT know the law (cp. John 7:49). They ridiculed the blind man in John 9 as he, ‘not knowing the law’, was trying to instruct them about religious matters.
The problem wasn’t the physical act of reading, the problem was reading with comprehension AND obedience. They should have been instructed by the great example of Ezra: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).
It is NOT just the exercise of reading the text, but reading with comprehension coupled with putting it into practice. The text is designed to change our hearts, minds, and practices. It begins with a consistent and continual reading of the text, but then must be internalized to become our guide of conduct.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Hugh DeLong
