‘At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the grainfields, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck ears and to eat.'
‘At that time.' This is again a phrase that connects with what has gone before without being too specific. Matthew wants us to connect what he is about to say with what Jesus has just been saying about the heavy burden laid on men by the traditions of the elders (Matthew 11:26).
On this particular Sabbath Jesus was walking through a grainfield with His disciples, possibly after attending the synagogue. The Law of Moses allowed anyone walking through a grainfield to partake of the grain for his own needs if he was hungry, but not to put in a sickle (Deuteronomy 23:25). This was intended to be of especial benefit to the poor. Thus in that respect the disciples were within their rights in what they were doing. They were plucking the grain, rubbing it between their hands in order to rid it of the husk, and then eating it. But as they, with many Jews, were not used to being too ultra-strict about Sabbath Day observance, they had failed to recognise that this might cause offence.
For the ‘Elders' had laid down the principle that just as reaping and threshing were not allowed on the Sabbath because they were ‘work', so was anything that could be seen as reaping and threshing was forbidden. Jesus would not have disagreed with their main principle. Where the controversy came in as far as He was concerned was in interpreting what the disciples had been doing as ‘reaping and threshing', and the speed at which they leapt in to condemn it. He would have been able to point out that had they really been reaping and threshing someone else's field, then that would also have been frowned on as breaking the Law, for they must not put in the sickle. Thus it was clear that the Law allowed what His disciples were doing as not ‘putting in the sickle'. It was not seen by the Law as reaping and threshing.
The Pharisees saw it otherwise, and the synagogue elders would probably have backed them on it, for it was something on which they considered the Scribes had made a declaration. (Under later interpretation the disciples would have been able to do what they did to amounts less than ‘the size of a dried fig', so pedantic had things become, and then it would have been a matter of whether each disciple had eaten more than the equivalent of a dried fig, although also at a later stage what the disciples did actually became ‘legal', possibly influenced by this well known incident). So Jesus will not only refute it but will advance other arguments which will also emphasise His own authority.
‘Were hungry.' It may well be that we are to see that they were going through a lean period as far as food was concerned. The Father's provision does not always arrive just when we want it. Perhaps they had not eaten for some time. Indeed this may have been the reason why they went to the grainfields, taking advantage of the regulations concerning the poor. This may suggest that the customary Sabbath hospitality had not been offered to Jesus and His disciples at this time.