Picking Grain on the Sabbath

Bible Verse
"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, `Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?'” (Luke 6:1-2)

Culture Clues
The general opinion was that on the Sabbath it was permissible to pick up fallen heads of grain and rub them between the fingers. According to Rabbi Yehuda, also a Galilean, it was even permissible to rub them in one’s hand. Some of the Pharisees found fault with Jesus’ disciples for behaving in accordance with their Galilean tradition. The Greek translator of the original evidently was unacquainted with the customs of the people. To make the scene more vivid, he added the statement about plucking the wheat and thus introduced the one and only act of transgression of the law recorded in the Synoptic tradition. (From The Sage of Galilee by David Flusser; p. 35)

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