Bible Game · Chapter 3
The Grainfields on the Sabbath
They pass through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and the disciples pluck heads of grain as they go. The Pharisees seize on it at once. Yield here and their rule stands.
New Testament · Mark 2 · the Sabbath dispute
Unfamiliar words in this case
- Sabbath — the seventh day of the week. The Law commanded that work cease and the day be kept for rest. Exactly what counted as 'work' was long disputed.
- Pharisees — a Jewish group who kept and taught the law strictly, widely respected among the people.
- showbread — the holy bread kept always on the table in the sanctuary; only priests were allowed to eat it.
The painting in this case
Marten van Valckenborch · 16th c. · oil · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna — the painter lettered it himself, upper left: MAT. CAP. 12 — Matthew 12. The exception that breaks the rule in this case (priests work in the temple on the Sabbath and are guiltless) sits in that very chapter. The quarrel unfolds in the middle of a grainfield while behind it a village hauls its loads and reapers bring in the harvest — the ground where they argue over what counts as work is a world entirely at work.
A Bible detective game: read the Hebrew and Greek alongside the text, cross-examine the witnesses, and work out what actually happened. Not a quiz you memorize — you win by reading, weighing, and judging. Free, in Korean and English.
This game makes no theological judgments. Every verdict rests only on the narrative facts the text itself states.
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