Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 12:2

"But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which it is not lawful to do upon the sabbath." — Matthew 12:2 (ASV)

The Pharisees’ charge that the disciples were breaking the law was based, not on their picking grain in someone else’s field, but on the fact that picking grain was one of thirty-nine kinds of work forbidden on the Sabbath under prevailing Jewish regulations. Though exceptions to these were granted in the case of temple service and where life was at stake, neither exception applied here.