In Matthew 12:5, Jesus says:

> "Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?"

Skeptics claim that nowhere does the Old Testament state that priests profaned the Sabbath and were considered blameless. This objection overlooks the details of the Torah's ceremonial laws. Numbers 28:9-10 explicitly instructs the priests to offer specific animal sacrifices on the Sabbath. Slaughtering, preparing, and burning animals technically violated the strict Sabbath 'no-work' statutes, yet because the priests were performing divinely mandated temple duties, they were held completely blameless.

Some argue that nowhere does the Old Testament state that priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath and were considered blameless.

However, Numbers 28:9-10 provides the necessary context, where priests were instructed to offer sacrifices on the Sabbath. Though this technically violated the Sabbath no-work rule, the priests were held blameless.