A2 E1 1-13. Pharisees. Condemnation.
E2 14-16. People. Proclamation.
E3 17-23. Disciples. Instruction.
E1 g 1,2. Cavil of Pharisees. Made.
h 3,4. Their Question. Reason.
h 5. Their question. Asked.
g 6-13. Cavil of Pharisees. Answered.
28 A.D.
Mark 7)
1 Then came together to him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes (Kenites, sons of Cain), which came away from Jerusalem. (Their head-quarters)
2 And when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashed (not ceremonially cleansed), hands, they found fault.
(3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding fast the tradition (cp. Heb. 4:14. Rev. 2:25. Implying [here] determined adherence to) of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash themselves [ceremonially], they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing (the ceremonial cleansing effected by means of water [Num. 8:6,7]. Gr. baptismos = the act of cleaning: not baptizma = the rite or ceremonial of baptism, which is the word in all the other passages, except v.8, and Heb.6:2; 9:10) of cups, and pitchers (of any kind, holding about a pint), brazen vessels, and of couches.)
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why walk not your disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He answered and said to them, "Well has Isaiah prophesied concerning you hypocrites, as it stands written, 'This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the injunctions of men.' (Quoted from Isa, 29:13)
8 For having forsaken the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do."
9 And He said to them, "Full well you set aside the commandment of God, that you may observe your own tradition.
10 For Moses said (quoted from Ex. 20:12; 21:17), 'Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoso curses father or mother, let him surely die:'
11 But you say, 'If (the condition being purely hypothetical) a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban (= a gift dedicated to God. A Divine supplement, giving the word then translating it. See Mtt. 15:5. Lev. 1:2. Ezek. 40:43), that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever you might be profited from me; he shall be free.'
12 And you suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 Making void the word of God (notice the Lord's claim here for the Mosaic law. See 9:32) through your tradition, which you have delivered (note the past tense, thus identifying them with their forefathers. Cp. Matt. 23:35, "you slew"23:35): and many such like things do you.
i 14. Call to hearken. k 15-. Defilement is not from outside. k -15. Defilement is from within. i 16. Call to hearken.
14 And when He had called all the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hearken to Me all (but there are many today who neither "hear" nor understand), and understand:
15 There is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him is able to defile him:
but the things which come out away from him, those are they that defile the man.
16 If any one (assuming the hypothesis, the result being yet unsatisfied) have ears to hear, let him hear."
E3 F 17. Question asked.
G l 18. Defilement in not from outside.
m 19. Reason.
G l 20. Defilement is from within.
m 21,22. Reason.
F 23. Question answered.
17 And when He was entered into the house [away from] from the people, His disciples (the 3rd of the 3 parties addressed in this chapter. See vv1,14,17) began asking Him concerning the parable.
18 And He said to them, "Are you even so without understanding? Do you not perceive, that all [counted unclean] from outside enters into the man, it cannot defile him;
19 Because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly, and goes out into the sewer" (digestive process), [This He said], "making all meats clean" (as in Acts 10:15. Being a Divine comment on the Lord's words. The Syr. reads "carrying of all that is eaten": making it part of the Lord's parable)
20 And He said, "That which issues out of the man, that defiles the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil (in the Greek the 1st 7 are plural, and the other 6 singular) reasonings, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetous desires, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye (denoting envy, which proceeds out of the heart), evil speaking in general (Matt. 27:39. Rom. 3:8; 14:16. 1 Pet. 4:4), haughtiness (cp. Prov. 16:5. Rom. 12:16. 1 Tim. 3:6), foolishness:
23 All these evil things issue from within (a Divine supplement, here), and defile the man.
B2 H1 7:24. Place.
J1 7:25-30. Miracle. Syrophenecian Woman.
H2 7:31. Place.
J2 7:32-37. Miracle. Deaf and Dumb man.
H3 8:1. Time and place.
J3 8:2-9. Miracle. Feeding the 4,000.
24 And from there He arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and wished to have no one get to know it: but He could not be hid.
J1 n1 25,26. The Woman. Coming.
o1 27. The Lord. Delay.
n2 28. The Woman. Understanding.
o2 29. The Lord. Healing.
n3 30. The Woman. Returning.
25 For (connect this with v.24, as being evidence why He could not be hid) a certain woman, whose little daughter (see 5:23) had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell toward His feet:
26 Now the woman was a Gentile (used in a general sense for non-Jewish), a Syrophenician by nation (Phenicia in Syria, to distinguish it from Phenicia in North Africa [Libyo-Phenicia]); and she besought Him that He would cast forth the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said to her, "Let the children first be filled (this is a summary of Matt. 15:23,24, and a Divine supplement, here): for it is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the little dogs."
28 And she answered and said (see Deut. 1:41. Matt. 15:26, &c.) to Him, "Yes, Lord: yet the little dogs under the table (a Divine supplement, here) eat of the children's crumbs."
29 And He said to her (vv. 29,30 are Divine supplement, here), "Because of this saying go your way; the demon is gone out of your daughter."
30 And when she was come into her house, she found the demon gone out (i.e. permanently), and the daughter thrown; by the convulsion upon the bed.
31 And again, departing out of the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, He came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis.
J2 p 32. The people. Beseeching.
q 33-35. Compliance.
p 36-. The people. enjoined.
q -36,37. Non-compliance, and astonishment.
32 And (vv.32-37 are a Divine supplement, here) they bring to Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech (not born deaf, and dumb in consequence; but the impediment may have come through subsequent deafness. He could speak, but with difficulty, through not being able to hear his own voice. Cp. v.35); and they beseech Him to put His hand upon him.
33 And He took him aside from the crowd, and thrust His fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tongue;
34 And looking up to the heaven, He groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."
35 And immediately his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue (not a physiological or technical expression, but the bond of demonic influence which is thus indicated. The Papyri contain detailed prescriptions for "binding" a man; and cases are particular common in which a man's tongue is specially to be bound. The Lord alludes to this in Luke 13:16) was loosed (the demoniac's fetters were loosed, and the work of Satan undone), and he spoke correctly. (Denoting the fact of articulation, not the words spoken)
36 And He charged them that they should tell no man:
but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they kept proclaiming it;
37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, "He has done all things well: He makes both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."