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Interestingly the wording of Matthew 12:1 - in the Syriac translation "[...] began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them." - does comport with the Shem Tov Hebrew version.

The earlier the manuscript (especially with the gospels), the shorter it is with fewer interpolations, which are insertions of text by copyists or others who would change to original text by either adding text according to doctrine, adding text to make it clearer to their contemporaries, making corrections from old manuscripts they believed were copied incorrectly. There are many other reasons, but the grossest type of interpolation was the addition of oral stories that create a link between Jesus and either his presaging by prophets in the Old Testament, creating two entirely fictitious lineages for him to tie him to the house of David, and adding other colorful stories and parables that weren't present in the earlier versions of the manuscript.

See Bart Ehrman's books on this, particularly these books:

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament"

The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration

Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bibles Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are