Have you not so much as read?Luke 6:3, Mark 2:28, Matthew 12:3-8, John 7:23 (Combined)“But he answering said unto them, Have ye never read so much as this, what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which as not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? … But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”

This is one of few accounts that appears in all four Gospels and is a lesson often lost in the mire of arguments about the Sabbath day. Let us focus on Jesus’ question, “Have you not so much as read…?” Notice that He uses this question to preface the references to the Law of Moses and David the Prophet. Christ almost has a tone of surprise in His voice, wondering how this concept had eluded their reading and study. Let’s look at the Scripture Jesus quoted:

Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

The “knowledge of God” is more desirable than offerings and sacrifice. Hebrew prose had poetic values; to repeat a thought in the next phrase with different words of the same meaning was common when the writer was trying to emphasize a point. There are many examples of repetition for emphasis throughout the Old Testament to demonstrate this. By pairing up the repeated thoughts synonyms can be found. Here we see the word “sacrifice” used as a synonym to “offering” and “knowledge of God” in synoptic position with “mercy.”

By this verse we may learn that revelation of the knowledge of God will not only reveal Him as merciful; it also places demand upon us to be merciful in order to live in concord with Him.

It is fascinating how often this “New Testament” concept appears in the “Old Testament.” Psalms 40:6 says, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire…” Psalms 51:16-17 repeats, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” God’s desire for mercy and not sacrifice is an ancient one. We must not think that God desires sacrifice – His desire is mercy, submission and a contrite and obedient heart. Once, this same concept of sacrifice being second to righteousness, condemned and deposed a King with almost the same words that Jesus quoted from Hosea: “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

David: An Example for Us

David was so intimately familiar with Jehovah that he saw no conflict (and certainly no sin) in eating the forbidden shewbread in the temple. Jesus somehow applied this example of familiarity with the Lawgiver to His disciples who were gathering corn to eat on Sabbath. There is a mystery here that has not been revealed. David knew something to which we have not been made privy; there is something here like a back door or a peek into the Spirit circumnavigating the letter of Law without breaking it. Though it is elusive and difficult to know it in its fullest sense, its truth is contained in the verse:

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.”

Those who hear in this verse that we can do whatever we want on the Sabbath Day because it was made for us, or those who think Jesus said that He can do whatever He wants because He is Lord of the Sabbath, somehow giving Himself permission to break the Commandment, simply don’t understand this verse. It is deeper than this.

There is more to this than wholesale negation of the Law. We cannot do whatever we want yet we are called and compelled to seek God and learn of Him and gain the knowledge of Him and seek Him with our whole heart. This is so we can live, move, and have our being in Him, without fear, without condemnation and still live a life free from sin (not freedom to sin.)

The simple application to this is that, possibly, what we think is sin …may not be – and what we think is not sin…is. Our difficulty comes from the fact that we don’t know God! As much as we may delight in our experience of Him, as proud as we may be of the road we have traveled, as far as we think we may have come, we may still go outside on a starry night and look up and know that this saying is true: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) Why do we not know Him? Jesus said it may be because we have not so much as read His Scriptures.

We must make ourselves familiar with our God. How are we to do that if not by reading His Scriptures? We must learn of His ways and make them our ways. We cannot continue as marginally obedient children, or part-time doers of the Law. Nor can we consider ourselves sinless solely by virtue of what some would claim to be an “abolished” Law. We must learn of Him.

We must read His Law, His Prophets, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures provide insight beyond anyone’s years; they contain the intelligence that created the world, the heart of love that gave up to death an obedient Son to save the rebellious ones. We may no longer blamelessly saunter through Christian bookstores hungrily begging for scraps.

We cannot continue expecting tradition, and ceremony to satisfy the eternal need for true and meaningful communion.

We may sit no longer at the feet of mere men asking advice, seeking direction, or attempting to gain some second-hand guidance. How can we ask our most gracious God, who gave the Scriptures, preserved them, and freely dispersed them throughout the world, to speak to us, give us guidance, and day to day leading if we refuse to read, the gift of all earthly gifts, the Scriptures? Do you expect God to tell you something twice, or three times? Or do you demand that He write a letter, mail it, deliver it, open it, and read it to you? What must our heavenly Father do to teach you?

The Bible is the book of all books. It contains answers to questions with which you are struggling right now. It has insight to impart to you that could make next week into a miracle instead of a massacre.

By writing a Bible, our God has lifted the requirements of holiness to hear a word from Him. Anyone can read it. Anyone can hear the words He spoke and spark within them the light of understanding to begin the journey toward peace with God. What a gift! To be given, without prerequisite, a window into the mind and heart of God.

You may be ignoring the most wonderful love letter ever written, all the while pleading for intimacy and “the knowledge of God”; all the while living in unnecessary sin and ignorance. To what extent must He go to make His way known to you? How will you stand before Him and plead ignorance of His ways, knowing He could look at you and ask, “Have ye not so much as read?”

Acts 2:30 - “Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;”
Acts 17:28 - “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”