CHAPTER 15. WASHING OF HANDS; SYROPHŒNICIAN WOMAN; SECOND FEEDING. The scene changes with dramatic effect from phenomenal popularity on the eastern shore, and in Gennesaret, to embittered, ominous conflict with the jealous guardians of Jewish orthodoxy and orthopraxy. The relations between Jesus a... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε connects naturally with immediately preceding narrative concerning the people of Gennesaret with unbounded faith in Jesus seeking healing by mere touch of His garment. Probably the one scene led to the other: growing popular enthusiasm deepening Pharisaic hostility. προσέρχονται (οἱ) ἀ. Ἱ. If ο... [ Continue Reading ]
_Washing of hands_ (Mark 7:1-23).... [ Continue Reading ]
διατί οἱ μαθ. σου παραβ.: no instance of offence specified in this case, as in Matthew 9:10 and Matthew 12:1. The zealots must have been making inquiries or playing the spy into the private habits of the disciple circle, seeking for grounds of fault-finding (_cf._ Mark 7:2). παραβαίνουσι : strong wo... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ὑμεῖς : the retort, if justifiable, the best defence possible of neglect charged = “we transgress the tradition because we want to keep the commands of God: choice lies between these; you make the wrong choice”. Grave issue raised; no compromise possible here. διὰ τ. π. ὑμῶν : not rules made by... [ Continue Reading ]
_Christ's reply_; consists of a counter charge and a prophetic citation (Matthew 15:7-9) in the inverse order to that of Mk.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ γὰρ θεὸς : counter charge substantiated. The question being the validity of the tradition and its value, its evil tendency might be illustrated at will in connection with any moral interest. It might have been illustrated directly in connection with moral purity _versus_ ceremonial. The actual sel... [ Continue Reading ]
shows how that great law is compromised. ὑμεῖς δὲ λέγ.: the emphatic antithesis of ὑμεῖς to θεὸς a pointed rebuke of their presumption. he scribes rivals to the Almighty in legislation. “Ye say”: the words following give not the _ipsissima verba_ of scribe-teaching or what they would acknowledge to... [ Continue Reading ]
ἠκυρώσατε, ye invalidated, by making such a rule, the aorist pointing to the time when the rule was made. Or it may be a gnomic aorist: so ye are wont to, etc. The verb ἀκυρόω belongs to later Greek, though Elsner calls the phrase “bene Graeca”. διὰ … ὑμῶν : an account of _your_ tradition, again to... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑποκριταί : no thought of conciliation; open war at all hazards. “Actors,” in their zeal for God, as illustrated in the case previously cited. God first, parents second, yet God not in all their thoughts. καλῶς, appositely, to the purpose. Isaiah might not be thinking of the Pharisees, but certainly... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ δὲ καρδία, etc.: at this point the citation is particularly apposite. They were far from the true God in their thoughts who imagined that He could be pleased with gifts made at the expense of filial piety. Christ's God abhorred such homage, still more the hypocritical pretence of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Appeal to the people_ : a mortal offence to the Pharisees and scribes, but made inevitable by publicity of attack, the multitude being in the background and overhearing all. ἀκόυετε καὶ συνίετε : abrupt, laconic address; a fearless, resolute tone audible.... [ Continue Reading ]
imple direct appeal to the moral sense of mankind; one of those emancipating words which sweep away the cobwebs of artificial systems; better than elaborate argument. It is called a parable in Matthew 15:15, but it is not a parable in the strict sense _here_ whatever it may be in Mk. (_vide_ notes t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐσκανδαλίσθησαν : double offence (1) appealing to the people at all; (2) uttering _such_ a word, revolutionary in character.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Disciples report impression made on Pharisees by the word spoken to the people_. Not in Mark.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς, etc.: the disciples were afraid, but Jesus was indignant, and took up high ground. φυτεία for φύτευμα, a plant, “not a wild flower but a cultivated plant” (Camb. G. T.), refers to the Rabbinical tradition; natural figure for doctrine, and so used both by Jesus and Greeks (_vide_ Sch... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄφετε : the case hopeless, no reform possible; on the road to ruin. τυφλοί εἰσιν ὁδηγοί : the reading in [92] is very laconic = blind men are the leaders, the suggestion being: we know what happens in that case. The point is the inevitableness of ruin. What follows expresses what has been already hi... [ Continue Reading ]
Πέτρος, spokesman as usual (ὁ θερμὸς καὶ πανταχοῦ προφθάνων, Chrys., Hom. li.). παραβολήν, here at least, whatever may be the case in Mk., can mean only a dark saying, σκοτεινὸς λόγος (Theophy. in Mk.), “oratio obscura” (Suicer). The saying, Matthew 15:11, was above the understanding of the disciple... [ Continue Reading ]
_Interpretation of saying_ in Matthew 15:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀκμὴν, accusative of ἀκμή, the point (of a weapon, etc.) = κατʼ ἀκμὴν χρόνου, at this point of time, _still_; late Greek, and condemned by Phryn., p. 123 (ἀντὶ τοῦ ἔτι). ἀσύνετοί ἐστε. Christ chides the Twelve for making a mystery of a plain matter (“quare parabolice dictum putet quod perspicue locu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀφεδρῶνα : here only, probably a Macedonian word = _privy_; a vulgar word and a vulgar subject which Jesus would gladly have avoided, but He forces Himself to speak of it for the sake of His disciples. The idea is: from food no moral defilement comes to the soul; such defilement as there is, purely... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκπορευόμενα : words representing thoughts and desires, morally defiling, or rather revealing defilement already existing in the heart, seat of thought and passion.... [ Continue Reading ]
φόνοι, etc.: breaches of Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Commandments in succession.... [ Continue Reading ]
mphatic final reassertion of the doctrine.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνεχώρησεν, _cf._ Matthew 12:15. εἰς τὰ μέρη Τ. καὶ Σ.: towards or into? Opinion is much divided. De Wette cites in favour of the latter, Matthew 2:22; Matthew 16:13, and disposes of the argument against it based on ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων (Matthew 15:22) by the remark that it has force only if ὅρια,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woman of Canaan_ (Mark 7:24-30). This excursion to the north is the result of a passionate longing to escape at once from the fever of popularity and from the _odium theologicum_ of Pharisees, and to be alone for a while with the Twelve, with nature, and with God. One could wish that fuller details... [ Continue Reading ]
Χαναναία : the Phoenicians were descended from a colony of Canaanites, the original inhabitants of Palestine, Genesis 10:15 (_vide_ Benzinger, _Heb. Arch._, p. 63). _Vide_ notes on Mk. ἐλ. με, pity _me_, the mother's heart speaks. υἱὲ Δ. The title and the request imply some knowledge of Jesus. Whenc... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπ.: a new style of behaviour on the part of Jesus. The _rôle_ of indifference would cost Him an effort. ἠρώτων (ουν W. and H [93] as if contracted from ἐρωτέω), besought; in classics the verb means to inquire. In N. T. the two senses are combined after analogy of שָׁאַל. The disciples were... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἀπεστάλην : Jesus is compelled to explain Himself, and His explanation is _bonâ fide_, and to be taken in earnest as meaning that He considered it His duty to restrict His ministry to Israel, to be a shepherd exclusively to the lost sheep of Israel (τὰ πρόβατα τ. ἀ., _cf._ Matthew 9:36), as He w... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ δὲ ἐλθοῦσα, etc. Probably the mother read conflict and irresolution in Christ's face, and thence drew encouragement.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Entreaty renewed at close quarters with success_.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔστιν καλὸν, etc.: seemingly a hard word, but not so hard as it seems. First, it is not a simple monosyllabic negative, leaving no room for parley, but an argument inviting further discussion. Next, it is playful, humorous, bantering in tone, a parable to be taken _cum grano_. Third, its harshes... [ Continue Reading ]
ναί, κύριε · καὶ γὰρ, etc.: eager assent, not dissent, with a gleam in the eye on perceiving the advantage given by the comparison = Yes, indeed, Lord, for even, etc. Kypke cites an instance from Xenophon of the combination ναί καὶ γὰρ in the same sense. ψιχίων, dimin. from ψίξ, a bit, crumb, found... [ Continue Reading ]
mmediate compliance with her request with intense delight in her faith, which may have recalled to mind that of another Gentile (Matthew 8:10). ὦ γύναι : exclamation in a tone enriched by the harmonies of manifold emotions. What a refreshment to Christ's heart to pass from that dreary pestilential t... [ Continue Reading ]
παρὰ τ. θ. τ. Γαλ., to the neighbourhood of the Sea of Galilee; on which side? According to Mk., the eastern, approached by a circuitous journey through Sidon and Decapolis. Weiss contends that Mt. means the western shore. The truth seems to be that he leaves it vague. His account is a meagre colour... [ Continue Reading ]
_Return to the Sea of Galilee_ (Mark 7:31-37).... [ Continue Reading ]
χωλούς, etc.: the people wanted healing, not teaching, and so brought their sick and suffering to Jesus. ἔρριψαν : they threw them at His feet either in care-free confidence, or in haste, because of the greatness of the number. Among those brought were certain classed as κυλλούς, which is usually in... [ Continue Reading ]
λαλοῦντας : this and the following participles are used substantively as objects of the verb βλέποντας, the action denoted by the participles being that which was seen. ἐδόξασαν τ. θ. Ἰσραήλ. The expression suggests a non-Israelite crowd and seems to hint that after all for our evangelist Jesus is o... [ Continue Reading ]
σπλαγχνίζομαι, with ἐπὶ as in Matthew 14:14; Mark 8:2, with περὶ in Matthew 9:36. In the first feeding Christ's compassion is moved by the sickness among the multitude, here by their hunger. ἡμέραι τρεῖς : that this is the true reading is guaranteed by the unusual construction, the accusative being... [ Continue Reading ]
_Second feeding_ (Mark 8:1-9).... [ Continue Reading ]
τοσοῦτοι, ὥστε χορτάσαι. ὥστε with infinitive may be used to express a consequence involved in the essence or quality of an object or action, therefore after τοσοῦτος and similar words; _vide_ Kühner, § 584, 2, _aa._... [ Continue Reading ]
πόσους ἄρτους : the disciples have larger supplies this time than the first, after three days, and when the supplies of the multitude are exhausted: _seven_ loaves and several small fishes.... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐχαριστήσας, a late Greek word (“does not occur before Polybius in the sense of _gratias agere_ ” Camb. N. T.), condemned by Phryn., who enjoins χάριν εἰδέναι instead (Lobeck, p. 18). Elsner dissents from the judgment of the ancient grammarians, citing instances from Demosthenes, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἑπτά σπυρίδας : baskets different in number and in name. Hesychius defines σπυρίς : τὸ τῶν πυρῶν ἄγγος = wheat-basket; perhaps connected with σπείρω, suggesting a basket made of rope-net; probably larger than κόφινος, for longer journeys (Grotius). Or does the different kind of basket point to diffe... [ Continue Reading ]
Μαγαδάν : the true reading, place wholly unknown, whence probably the variants.... [ Continue Reading ]