Matthew 12:8

Verse 8. Lord … of the sabbath. He proves that he can dispense with the observation of the feast, because he is master of the feast. In Saint Mark (2:27) it is written, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath; that is man’s salvation is to be preferred to the observation of the sabbath. Menochius.—In the concurrence of two incompatible precepts, we must give the preference to that which is the end and object of the other; thus we must prefer the preservation of life to the observance of the sabbath. A.—These loaves were twelve, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. They were set six and six, one upon another, at each end of the table. Upon the uppermost loaf of each heap stood a vessel, smoking with the sweetest incense. These loaves at the week’s end were, according to God’s order, eaten by the priests only, when they were replaced by twelve fresh ones, made like them, with the finest flour, tempered with oil. This offering of the shew-bread before the Lord, was a continual sacrifice, as the holy Fathers observe, and a figure of a more excellent kind of shew-bread, that is Jesus Christ himself in the holy eucharist. A.