Matthew 15:1-20. The True Religion and the False. A Discourse to the Pharisees, the People, and the Disciples Mark 7:1-23 These twenty verses sum up the great controversy of the N. T., that between the religion of the letter and external observances and the religion of the heart, between what St P... [ Continue Reading ]
_scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem_ Probably a deputation from the Sanhedrin, such as was commissioned to question John the Baptist. Cp. John 1:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the tradition of the elders_ The elders, or presbyters, were the Jewish teachers, or scribes, such as Hillel and Shammai. The traditions were the rules or observances of the unwritten law, which they enjoined on their disciples. Many of these were frivolous; some actually subversive of God's law; a... [ Continue Reading ]
_For God commanded_ "For Moses said" (Mark).... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is a gift_ Rather, LET IT BE A GIFT, or "devoted to sacred uses," which the Jews expressed by the word _corban_, found in Mark 7:11. The scribes held that these words, even when pronounced in spite and anger against parents who needed succour, excused the son from his natural duty; and, on the o... [ Continue Reading ]
_he shall be free_ These words do not occur in the original, either here or in the parallel passage in Mark. It is as if the indignation of Jesus did not allow him to utter the words of acquittal. The silence is more eloquent than the utterance.... [ Continue Reading ]
_well did Esaias prophesy_ A common Jewish formula for quoting a saying of the prophets.... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 29:13. The quotation does not follow precisely either the LXX. version or the Hebrew text.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he called the multitude_ The moment our Lord turns to the people, His teaching is by parables. This appeal to the multitude as worthier than the Pharisees to receive the divine truths is significant of the popular character of the Kingdom of heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
_defileth_ Literally, MAKETH COMMON; cp. "common or unclean," Acts 10:14. "The Pharisees esteemed -defiled" men for - _common_and vulgar" men; on the contrary, a religious man among men is -a _singular_man." " Lightfoot _ad loc_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Pharisees were offended_ A proof of the influence of the Pharisees. The disciples believed that Christ would be concerned to have offended those who stood so high in popular favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every plant_ Not a wild flower, but a cultivated plant or tree; the word occurs here only in N. T.; in LXX. version of O. T. it is used of the vine, the most carefully cultivated plant; 2 Kings 19:29; Ezekiel 17:7; Micah 1:6; and in one other passage, Genesis 21:33, of the tamarisk. Here the plant... [ Continue Reading ]
_blind leaders of the blind_ The proverb which follows is quoted in a different connection, Luke 6:39; cp. also ch. Matthew 23:16. _fall into the ditch_ Palestine abounded in dangers of this kind, from unguarded wells, quarries, and pitfalls; it abounded also in persons afflicted with blindness. Se... [ Continue Reading ]
_without understanding_ Cp. the "spiritual understanding," Colossians 1:9, and "knowledge in the mystery of Christ," Ephesians 3:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For out of the heart proceed_ The enumeration follows the order of the Commandments. Evil thoughts harmful reasonings form a class under which the rest fall, indicating, too, that the transgression of the Commandments is often in thought, by Christ's law, not in deed only. For "blasphemies," which... [ Continue Reading ]
_the coasts_ The neighbourhood, district, not the sea-shore, as might be thought.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Daughter of a Canaanite Woman is cured Mark 7:24-30 This narrative of faith without external observance or knowledge of the Law affords a suggestive contrast to the preceding discourse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a woman of Canaan_ Called in Mark "a Greek, a Syrophœnician by nation." The two expressions are identical, for the land of Canaan, literally, the LOW LANDS or NETHERLANDS, at first applicable to the whole of Palestine, was confined in later times to the maritime plain of Phœnicia. In Joshua 5:12 "t... [ Continue Reading ]
_answered her not a word_ Jesus, by this refusal, tries the woman's faith, that he may purify and deepen it. Her request must be won by earnest prayer, "lest the light winning should make light the prize." Observe that Christ first refuses by silence, then by express words. _Send her away_ By gran... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel_ Jesus came to save all, but His personal ministry was confined, with few exceptions, to the Jews. The thought of Israel as a flock of sheep lost on the mountains is beautifully drawn out, Ezekiel 34; "My flock was scattered upon all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs_ The "children" are the Jews; the "dogs" are the Gentiles. This was the name applied by the Jews to all outside the chosen race, the dog being in the East a symbol of impurity. St Paul, regarding the Christian Church as the true Israel, terms the... [ Continue Reading ]
_yet the dogs eat of the crumbs_ "Yet," of the E. V., is misleading. Translate " FOR EVEN; " the woman takes Jesus at his word, accepts the name of reproach, and claims the little share that falls even to the dogs. No need to cast the children's bread to the dogs, for even the dogs have crumbs from... [ Continue Reading ]
_a mountain_ Rather, THE _mountain country;_the high land, as distinguished from the low land, which He had left.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus returns to the high land of Galilee, and cures many Blind, Dumb, and Lame Mark 7:31-37, where, not content with the general statement, the Evangelist describes one special case of healing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Four thousand Men, besides women and children, are miraculously fed Mark 8:1-9 36. _gave to his disciples_ St Matthew uses the aorist, St Mark the more vivid imperfect "kept giving.... [ Continue Reading ]
_seven baskets Spurides_, see note ch. Matthew 14:20, and Acts 9:25, where St Paul is said to have been let down from the wall of Damascus in a _spuris_, probably a large basket made of rope-net, possibly a fisherman's basket. Why the disciples brought different kinds of baskets on the two occasions... [ Continue Reading ]