Mar 7:17-23 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 17. The parable . The obscure and difficult remarks which he had made in . The word parable , here, means obscure and difficult saying . They could not understand it. They had probably imbibed many of the popular notions of the Pharisees, and they could not understand why a man was not defiled by external things. It was, moreover, a doctrine of the law, that men were ceremonially polluted by contact with dead bodies, etc., and they could not understand how it could be otherwise. (v) "And when"

Mark 7:17-23

Verse 17. The parable. The obscure and difficult remarks which he had made in Mk 7:15. The word parable, here, means obscure and difficult saying. They could not understand it. They had probably imbibed many of the popular notions of the Pharisees, and they could not understand why a man was not defiled by external things. It was, moreover, a doctrine of the law, that men were ceremonially polluted by contact with dead bodies, etc., and they could not understand how it could be otherwise.

(v) "And when" Mt 15:15 Verse 18. Cannot defile him. Cannot render his soul polluted; cannot make him a sinner, so as to need this purifying as a religious observance. Verse 19. Entereth not into his heart. Does not reach or affect the mind, the soul, and consequently cannot pollute it. Even if it should affect the body, yet it cannot the soul, and consequently cannot need to be cleansed by a religious ordinance. The notions of the Pharisees, therefore, are not founded in reason, but are mere superstition.

The draught. The sink, the vault.

Purging all meats, The word purging, here, means to purify, to cleanse. What is thrown out of the body is the innutrious part of the food taken into the stomach, and leaving only that which is proper for the support of life; and it cannot, therefore, defile the soul.

All meats. All food; all that is taken into the body to support life. The meaning is, that the economy or process by which life is supported, purifies or renders nutritious all kinds of food. The unwholesome parts are separated, and the wholesome only are taken into the system. This agrees with all that has since been discovered of the process of digestion, and of the support of life. The food taken into the stomach is, by the gastric juice, converted into a thick pulp, called chyme. The nutritious part of this is conveyed into small vessels and changed into a milky substance called chyle. This is changed into blood, and the blood conveys nutriment and support to all parts of the system. The useless parts of the food are thrown off.

(w) "but into" 1Cor 6:13 Verse 20. That which cometh out of the man. His words; the expression of his thoughts and feelings; his conduct, as the expression of in- ward malice, anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

Defileth the man. Is really polluted, or offensive in the sight of God. They render the soul corrupt and abominable in the sight of God. See Mt 15:18-20. � Verse 21.

(x) "For from within" Gen 6:5, Ps 14:1,3, 53:1,3, Jer 17:9 Verse 22.

(1) "covetousness, wickedness" "wickednesses"