Note: In preaching Sunday before last on Luke 6:1-11, I was intrigued by Luke's reference to "the second sabbath after the first." Here are some notes from the exposition:
We begin in
v. 1: “And it came to pass on the second
sabbath after the first, that he went throught the corn fields....” And we come
immediately to a notorious place of difficulty in translation and
interpretation of the text. The question
is what is meant by “the second Sabbath after the first” (in Greek there appears the adjective deuteroprotos, a term that appears only
here in all the NT). One interpreter notes that there are at least half a score different interpretations of what
Luke meant by this and, in the end, no one really knows for sure precisely what
he meant (see Godet, pp. 183-184). In the modern critical text
the word is simply omitted--probably because it was so difficult to interpret—and
so it does not even appear in modern translations.
The best answer is that this “second Sabbath
after the first” refers to some “technical expression of the Jewish calendar”
(as cited by Geldenhuys, Luke, p.
201). It might, for example, mean the
second Sabbath after the Passover had taken place. The only thing we can really be sure about is
that it was not essential that we know the precise meaning of this calendar
term, though it was God’s perfect will for this term to appear in the text.
One commentator suggests that it is a mark of “the originality and antiquity of
[Luke’s] sources of information” (Godet, p. 183). If this did not come from Luke’s source
(perhaps an eyewitness) it is not something that he would have invented.
Another possibility
is that it suggests from the beginning the penchant of some of the Jewish
spiritual leaders—like the Pharisees—to introduce extra-biblical customs and
practices, including the designation of Sabbaths in terms that did not come
from clear Biblical mandate. The Sabbath
is mentioned in the OT, but not the “second Sabbath after the first.” There is, then, foreshadowing of the conflict
which is to come over the Sabbath and extra-biblical strictures attached to it.
JTR
2 comments:
I think it references the Essene sabbath, as they used a different calendar, thus, Sabbath fell on a different day.
It was the weekly sabbath during the days of unleavened bread where the Temple ritual of choosing one of the tyed off selections of barley would be conducted. The choosen one was cut free from its earthly source of life now having reached maturity. This occurred at the setting of the sun that Sabbath. This sheaf of barley eas processed and offered the next dat as a wave offering. All this has great significance through it symbolic portent. It was a sacred symbolic gesture understood in full after Christ's presentation before the Father on the wave sheaf offering day.
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