Case-Precedent in John Chrysostom's Interpretation of "Plucking Grain on the Sabbath" (Matt 12.1–8)

Abstract

In his homily on the story of the disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath in Matthew 12, John Chrysostom analyzes a rare instance of argument from precedent. Greek forensic rhetoric and Roman law made little use of case-precedent. The concept played a more significant role in rabbinic writings, although not in the form where one starts with a problem case and resolves it by analogizing to a case-precedent. John Chrysostom gives a keen analysis of the logic of the latter in Jesus's appeals to the case precedents of David eating the shewbread and the priests serving in the temple on the Sabbath as justifications for his disciples' plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath. Although the rhetorical tradition did not supply him with ready tools of analysis, he adapted terms and concepts found in the standard handbooks to explain the progression of argument. John's masterful analysis is another proof of what patristic exegesis can offer to any serious student of the New Testament, including the modern scholar.