Matthew, Mark, Luke, bar Cochba and healing texts

The healing of the man with the withered hand is one of the “Jesus” texts that, because it is identical in Mark, Matthew and Luke, caused German Protestant scholars to believe that the “gospels” derived from a single source, the ur-text “Q.” 

The Lukan text divides the narrative into two segments, the principal part in 6:6-11, a coda in 14:3-4, in which he repeats the question, “Is it lawful to heal on Shabbat?”  Why is there a coda?  We don’t know.

Luke 6:6-11

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Luke 14:3-4

And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.

Mark 3:1-6

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.  And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Matthew 12:9-14

He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

In The Lukan text, the scribes and Pharisees discuss what they might do about him and his healing on Shabbat.  In the coda, he addresses the “lawyers and Pharisees,” which suggests to us that the coda was redacted into the text at a later date.

The Marken text notes that the Pharisees (without lawyers or scribes) confronted him and when he went ahead with the healing, they went to Herodans to discuss how they could destroy him.  This suggests an author (or redactor) who wanted to make sure this incident was located in a historically identifiable way by citing Herodians.  Presumably, since Herod was a Roman puppet-ruler, it is the Markan author (or redactor)’s way of identifying “Hellenized” (or “assimilated” in the contemporary idiom) Judeans:  those who were siding with the governing authorities.  Assuming, as we have previously, that “Herod” was a code for “Hadrian,” this text could be considered one of the earlier texts, and seems to indicate that it was written at the time of the bar Cochba revolt.

The Matthean text omits scribes, lawyers and Herodians and has the Pharisees alone conspiring on how to destroy him. 

The reason this text is interesting from a cultural-historical stand-point is that there are 39 categories of prohibited labor on Shabbat.  They are:

Carrying

Burning

Extinguishing

Finishing

Erasing

Cooking

Washing

Sewing

Tearing

Knotting

Untying

Shaping

Plowing

Planting

Reaping

Harvesting

Threshing

Winnowing

Selecting

Sifting

Grinding

Kneading

Combing

Spinning

Dying

Chain-stitching

Warping

Weaving

Unraveling

Building

Demolishing

Trapping

Shearing

Slaughtering

Skinning

Tanning

Smoothing

Marking

We know do not know when these categories were identified, nor do we know if they were law (halakha) or merely custom (minhag) enforced so as to have the weight of law.  The categories have a common denominator:  each is an act that creates a new thing.  There is only one permissible act of creating that is permitted on Shabbat.  Use your imagination.

We also know that overriding all negative commands (including the commands concerning fasting and kashruth) is the command called “pikuach nefesh:” preservation of life.  According to this command, if it is a matter of sustaining, preserving or protecting life, any negative command should be annulled.  Presumably, a withered hand would interfere with basic life functions which would compromise life, so healing it would be considered an act consistent with pikuach nefesh.

Presumably, a Judean author (or redactor) would be aware of this.  Equally presumably, a Greco-Roman author (or redactor) might not, since it pikuach nefesh is not well known outside the Jewish community.