Mat 15:1-20 | PNT | STEP | Christ and the Pharisees. The Woman of Canaan . SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 15: Eating with Unwashed Hands. Keeping the Traditions of Men. What Defileth a Man. The Blind Leaders of the Blind. In the Bounds of Tyre and Sidon. The Appeal of the Woman of Canaan. Great Faith and Its Results. Feeding the Four Thousand. Scribes and Pharisees . . . of Jerusalem . Representatives of these bodies, not doubt to counteract the influence of Christ. Compare . These were always bitter opposers of Jesus.

Matthew 15:1-20

Christ and the Pharisees. The Woman of Canaan. SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 15: Eating with Unwashed Hands. Keeping the Traditions of Men. What Defileth a Man. The Blind Leaders of the Blind. In the Bounds of Tyre and Sidon. The Appeal of the Woman of Canaan. Great Faith and Its Results. Feeding the Four Thousand.

Scribes and Pharisees . . . of Jerusalem. Representatives of these bodies, not doubt to counteract the influence of Christ. Compare Mr 7:1-13. These were always bitter opposers of Jesus. Why do thy disciples transgress? Not the law of Moses, but the tradition of the elders, which had as much authority with the Pharisees as the written law.

The tradition of the elders. Purported to be precepts never written in the Scriptures, but handed down from the times of Moses and the elders by oral means. These precepts were spoken of the "law upon the lip", and have been embodied in the Talmud. They were additions to the written word. See Ga 1:14.

For they wash not their hands. The orthodox Jews insisted on washing the hands before eating, not to remove the filth, but less they might have touched something ceremonially unclean. This commandment was purely traditional, but so rigidly did they insist upon observing it that the Rabbi Akiba, imprisoned by the Romans and with scarcely water to sustain life, preferred to use all provided for his ceremonial ablutions, and to die of thirst. Why do ye also transgress? The Lord does not deny their charge, but strikes at the evil by showing that their human traditions led them to break God's written law. For God commanded. See Ex 21:17.

He that curseth, etc. The Ten Commandments promised long life to those who honored father and mother (Ex 20:12 De 5:16). Here the Lord quotes the punishment of dishonoring them. (See also Le 20:9.) On nothing did Moses insist more than respect for parents. Ye say. Following tradition, you say one thing while God says in the law just the opposite. The scribes taught that a Jew by calling his possessions "Corban" (a gift to God, Mr 7:11) was absolved from the duty of caring for his parents, even though he did not afterward devote his property to sacred uses. Thus, by an artifice, the law with respect to parents could be set aside. The Talmud furnishes a curious illustration of this perversion of the command. The Mishna says: ``He that curses his father or his mother is not guilty, unless he curses them with an express mention of the name of Jehovah.'' Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect. Modern Pharisaism does the same. Church tradition leads to dogmas that set aside God's commands. The corruption of the simplicity of early Christianity is due to following human tradition. [Ye] hypocrites. The world so rendered might mean one self-deceived as well as a deceiver, but was always a rebuke.

Well did Esaias prophesy of you. See Isa 29:13. This people. The Jews. Quoted from Isa 29:13.

Their heart is far from me. The essential of true worship is that the heart be wholly given to God. Even the forms commanded by God are worthless unless they are obeyed from the heart. In vain do they worship me. Quoted from Is 29:13. This worship is all idle, empty, and without profit, because they teach as doctrines the commandments of men. This rebuke to the Pharisees, who had added to the law of Moses many traditional human precepts, applies equally to all modern religionists who have modified or added to the Christianity of Christ and the apostles. Whatever one cannot find in the New Testament is of such a character; observance of saints' days, of Christians, of Lent, the removal of the cup in the Lord's Supper from the laity, infant sprinkling, party creeds and party shibboleths, are all of men and not of God. The devout worshiper should go right to the New Testament for his religion, and reject every ordinance or precept that is not to be found there. He called the multitude. In order to show them that the Pharisaical expounders of the law did not understand its real sense. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man. The Mosaic law forbade Jews to eat what was ceremonially unclean, in order to teach the need of moral purity. The Rabbis added stringent precepts to prevent the slightest contact with ceremonial uncleanness, but were careless about moral purity. Christ shows that a pure heart is far more important than clean food, in the ceremonial sense, in the stomach. Pharisees in all ages have paid more attention to the letter than to the spirit, to the symbol than to that which is signified.

That which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. The impure words that indicate an impure heart. What one eats does not render him defiled before God, but what he says. See Mt 15:18-23. The Pharisees were offended. Found fault. They would insist that he set aside the law, whereas it was tradition that he rejected. Every plant. A general truth, but here refers to the doctrines not of God, like "the tradition of the elders" (Mt 15:2). Let them alone. The Pharisees. His disciples were troubled by their opposition.

They be blind leaders of the blind. They pretend to be spiritual guides of the people, while spiritually blind themselves. The blind are unsafe guides of the blind.

See PNT Ro 2:19. Declare unto us this parable. The figure was used in Mt 15:11. Is cast out. What is eaten passes through the body and passes away. It does not defile the soul. Come forth from the heart. The emotional nature; the mind. Evil deeds are begotten of evil thoughts; evil words are the expression of these evil thoughts. These indicate a sinful heart and make a man sinful, or defiled.