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| Chapter 15 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, who were from Jerusalem, saying, 2 "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread." 3 But He answered and said unto them, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ’Honor thy father and mother,’ and,’He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.’ 5 But ye say that whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, ’by whatsoever thou might have profited by me, it is a gift,’ 6 and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 ’This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’" 10 ¶ And He called the multitude and said unto them, "Hear and understand: 11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." 12 Then came His disciples and said unto Him, "Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?" 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." 15 Then answered Peter and said unto Him, "Explain to us this parable." 16 And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 Do ye not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the drain? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 these are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man." 21 ¶ Then Jesus went thence and departed into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same region and cried unto Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David! My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." 23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, "Send her away, for she crieth after us." 24 But He answered and said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord help me." 26 But He answered and said, "It is not meet to take children’s bread and cast it to dogs." 27 And she said, "Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table." 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, "O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. 29 ¶ And Jesus departed from thence and came nigh unto the Sea of Galilee, and went up into a mountain and sat down there. 30 And great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those who were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them, 31 insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak, and the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see. And they glorified the God of Israel. 32 Then Jesus called His disciples unto Him and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days and have had nothing to eat; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint on the way." 33 And His disciples said unto Him, "From whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude?" 34 And Jesus said unto them, "How many loaves have ye?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fishes." 35 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them and gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 37 And they all ate and were filled. And they took up of the broken pieces that were left seven baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, and took the boat and went into the coasts of Magdala. |
v1-20 Conflict with tradition. Mark 7:1-23. Scribes and Pharisees have travelled from Jerusalem to join with the local Pharisees, they want to challenge the religious behaviour of the disciples, compared with the religious traditions of the Pharisees. The conflict between religious leaders and Jesus is growing. The ministry of Jesus in the Galilean area was obviously causing concern for the leaders in Jerusalem. v2 "Why do your disciples not follow tradition?" They challenge Jesus, asking as if Jesus is teaching these changes, "they wash not their hands" This was a rabbinic custom, not an instruction from the Mosaic Law, it was ceremonial not hygienic. Some rabbis considered this ceremonial act very important. In Lev 22:1-16 the priests are instructed to make themselves clean and not becoming dirty, it appears the Pharisees and scribes had adopted this rule about washing. v3 The question, as a response by Jesus, challenged the contradictory hearts of the Pharisee’s, tradition was replacing the Word of God, some traditions actually broke the Law. v4-6 This passage is taken from Exodus 20:12; Exodus 21:17. Jesus picks up on one hypocritical teaching of the Pharisees, the fifth law, taking care of your parents. The Pharisees, instead of using their wealth to look after their parents, were saying that it was dedicated as an offering to God. They said it was to be used for spiritual purposes, but they were still using it for themselves. They claimed to love God but had no love for their parents. Matthew leaves out the word "Corban," and the Jewish customs as recorded by Mark. v6 Jesus tells them that by their ‘traditional action’ they are cancelling the Law of God. v7-9 This is based upon Isaiah 29:13. Man made worship, teaching how to worship but the words come from their mouth but not from their heart. v10-11 Most of the previous exchange has been with the Pharisees, Jesus now calls the crowd to Him, "You must hear and understand this" He tells them. It is not what goes into a man or woman through the mouth which makes the person dirty, it is what comes out of the heart and mind. Sin lies in the heart, which is started by disobedience and separation from God. v12 The disciples were apparently worried by the words of Jesus against the powerful Pharisees, v15 suggests that they still had not understood the meaning of the words of Jesus in v11. v13-14 "Every plant" is referring to the Pharisees, not their teaching. Jesus said that they were not the source of truth, if a blind person leads another blind person they will soon fall into an hole. The Father will "root up," the final destruction of all false teaching. Compare Romans 2:17-24. v15,16 For the disciples, the difficulty was the departure from tradition, which had now confused moral, right and wrong, and ceremonial action, and not in the meaning of the words used. v17,18 The reference to the ‘mouth’ in v17 is as an opening for food and drink, while the ‘mouth’ in v18 is referring to the spiritual evil which comes out of the mouth, controlled by the heart of the person, their attitude, imagination and desire. v19 Mark 7:21-23 records more types of evil, wicked behaviour. v20 Matthew records a conclusion. v21-39 Jesus departs for Canaanite. Woman healed. Mark 7:24-8:10 v21 Jesus has moved away from His own people into a Gentile area near the two ungodly cities of Tyre and Sidon. v22-24 A Canaanite, a person who was descended from the people who were inhabiting Palestine before Joshua lead the Jews to conquered the area. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan, Numbers 13:29; Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them? Judges 1:1. But they permitted the Canaanite race to continue. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them, Judges 1:33. Though not a Jew, there is nothing to stop her calling on "the Son of David." Eventually Jesus responds to her calling, He tells her that His ministry was not meant for her, it was His policy. The normal approach for Jesus was to only go to the Jews, "the lost sheep," Matt 10:5ff but, as in this case, He did allow help to non Jews. v25-28 The Jews often referred to Gentiles as "dogs." See Matt 7:6, and she obviously knew what Jesus was talking about, her reply shows her faith and that she was willing to be humbled, become a "dog" and accept what ever falls her way from the "master." v28 As with other Gentile healings, the cure occurs at a distance. Matt 8:13. From Mark 7:31 it would appear that Jesus returned via Sidon, then east to Jordan, then south to Decapolis and the Sea of Galilee. This seems to indicate that He was avoiding the area under Herod Antipas. v30-31 The reference to "God of Israel" could suggest that the healing’s took place in an area where there were many Gentiles. v32-39 Feeding of four thousand. Mark 8:1-9. Some Bible students think that this is a second report of the feeding 5000, but there are many differences and Mark includes both events in his record. However, it is hard to see how the disciples still asked where to get the bread as Jesus had already fed many more. The multitude had been with Jesus for three days, so there must have been sufficient food and water until then. Compare Matt 16:9,10. It is possible that many of the people were Gentiles and so it could possibly be a problem for the Jewish disciples. |
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