<p>12:3&nbsp;<em>But he said to them: Have you not read-</em>&nbsp;Of course they had, many times. But the Lord here and several times elsewhere challenges them (and us) as to whether we have really read what we have. The Lord could have legitimately answered them: &lsquo;It is lawful to pick corn whilst passing through a field, the Law allows for this if one is poor, and my followers are indeed poor. There is nothing in the Law which stipulates this permission doesn&rsquo;t operate on the Sabbath&rsquo;. But as always, the Lord was prepared to meet people where they were, and to take them to a higher level. He seeks to teach by general principle that the extent of His Lordship meant that He and His men were free to do as they pleased on this kind of matter. He reasoned that &lsquo;OK, let&rsquo;s assume you&rsquo;re right, but David and&nbsp;<em>his</em>&nbsp;men broke the law because they were about God&rsquo;s business, this over-rode the need for technical obedience&rsquo;. The Lord Jesus wasn&rsquo;t constantly correcting specific errors of interpretation. He dealt in principles much larger than this, in order to make a more essential, practical, useful point.</p>
<p><em>What David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him-</em>&nbsp;The Lord&rsquo;s reasoning depends upon drawing a parallel between Himself and David, and David&rsquo;s warriors and the disciples. Again, He is encouraging them to see themselves as no less than the warriors of David who later became the governors of Israel. Aaron&rsquo;s sons were the ones who were intended to eat the showbread (Lev. 24:5-9)- and again the Lord is inviting His secular disciples to see themselves as a new priesthood.</p>