when the Pharisees saw it] It seems they watched all occasions to accuse Christ, and thought now they had found a just one.
thy disciples] It is thy fault, who teachest thy disciples no better.
do that which is not lawfull] Because dressing of meat on the sabbath was forbidden in the wildernesse, Exodus 16:23. they conceived the very plucking of the ears, and rubbing of them, as Luke 6:1, to fit them for food, on that day, to be unlawfull also; and that it was a servile work, forbidden, Leviticus 23:7. and a capitall crime, as that, Numbers 15:32.