Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and,‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
tradition of the elders - "The Jews of our Lord’s time believed that, in addition to the written law of Moses, there was an oral law given to Moses on Sinai and passed down from him by word of mouth till it reached the Great Synagogue or Council of Elders which succeeded Ezra after the return from the exile. This council lasted until 291 B.C. and seems to have been the source of the many accretions to the law of God which have been found in Judaism." (KJV Commentary)
wash - They were concerned with the ritual, not with cleanliness.
"Only traditional interpretation and expansion of the law required this. The written law did not (Lev 22:1-16). Only priests needed to make an ablution before eating to cleanse themselves from anything unclean." (Ryrie)
"Mark refers to the traditional custom of the Pharisees, which had become general among the people, not to eat without diligently washing their hands. Indeed these ablutions had grown to be exceedingly numerous and very binding. Before and after every meal and whenever they came from the marketplace or town square, they had to wash or take a bath according to certain ceremonial restrictions. All cups, pots, and brazen vessels as well as tables and perhaps dining couches must be thoroughly cleansed. The Pharisees carried their ablutions to such an extent, as to completely overshadow with their ritual the fundamental moral principles of the Scriptures. The Pharisees claimed that these oral traditions had been handed down in part from Moses, consisted partly of decisions made by the judges from time to time and partly of explanations and opinions of eminent teachers. The body of these traditions continued to accumulate until after the time of Christ, when they were codified in the Mishna and its commentaries. Traditional rites and restrictions stood higher in the esteem of the Jews than their Scriptures. Where Scripture and tradition seemed opposed, the latter was treated as the higher authority." (Pentecost)
honor - provide for
Honor your father and your mother - Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16
Whoever reviles … - Exodus 21:17
Isaiah - Isaiah 29:13
"Christ replied in Matthew 15:8-9 to the question of the leaders by referring them to the Scriptures. He quoted Isaiah 29:13 where the prophet revealed that God would not accept the worship of the nation because they were concerned with external observations and did not worship Him with the heart…Christ now proceeded to show how the Pharisees had very cleverly used their traditions to find ways of circumventing the stringent requirements of the law. He quoted the law of Moses, which required a son to support an indigent parent. This put a financial responsibility on the son. The Pharisees by their tradition had found a way to circumvent the law and absolve themselves of this responsibility. They ceremonially dedicated all that they had to God by pronouncing the word Corban over and over (Mark 7:11)…It must not be thought that the pronunciation of the votive word “Corban,” although meaning “a gift,” or “given to God,” necessarily dedicated a thing to the Temple. The meaning might simply be, and generally was, that it was to be regarded like Corban — that is, in regard to the person or persons named, the thing termed was to be considered as if it were Corban, laid on the altar, and put entirely out of their reach." (Pentecost)
"Christ accused them of also expanding (and negating) the commandment about honoring parents by devoting goods to God, which then could not be used to support the parents (vv 4-6)." (Ryrie)
wash - They were concerned with the ritual, not with cleanliness.
"Only traditional interpretation and expansion of the law required this. The written law did not (Lev 22:1-16). Only priests needed to make an ablution before eating to cleanse themselves from anything unclean." (Ryrie)
"Mark refers to the traditional custom of the Pharisees, which had become general among the people, not to eat without diligently washing their hands. Indeed these ablutions had grown to be exceedingly numerous and very binding. Before and after every meal and whenever they came from the marketplace or town square, they had to wash or take a bath according to certain ceremonial restrictions. All cups, pots, and brazen vessels as well as tables and perhaps dining couches must be thoroughly cleansed. The Pharisees carried their ablutions to such an extent, as to completely overshadow with their ritual the fundamental moral principles of the Scriptures. The Pharisees claimed that these oral traditions had been handed down in part from Moses, consisted partly of decisions made by the judges from time to time and partly of explanations and opinions of eminent teachers. The body of these traditions continued to accumulate until after the time of Christ, when they were codified in the Mishna and its commentaries. Traditional rites and restrictions stood higher in the esteem of the Jews than their Scriptures. Where Scripture and tradition seemed opposed, the latter was treated as the higher authority." (Pentecost)
honor - provide for
Honor your father and your mother - Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16
Whoever reviles … - Exodus 21:17
Isaiah - Isaiah 29:13
"Christ replied in Matthew 15:8-9 to the question of the leaders by referring them to the Scriptures. He quoted Isaiah 29:13 where the prophet revealed that God would not accept the worship of the nation because they were concerned with external observations and did not worship Him with the heart…Christ now proceeded to show how the Pharisees had very cleverly used their traditions to find ways of circumventing the stringent requirements of the law. He quoted the law of Moses, which required a son to support an indigent parent. This put a financial responsibility on the son. The Pharisees by their tradition had found a way to circumvent the law and absolve themselves of this responsibility. They ceremonially dedicated all that they had to God by pronouncing the word Corban over and over (Mark 7:11)…It must not be thought that the pronunciation of the votive word “Corban,” although meaning “a gift,” or “given to God,” necessarily dedicated a thing to the Temple. The meaning might simply be, and generally was, that it was to be regarded like Corban — that is, in regard to the person or persons named, the thing termed was to be considered as if it were Corban, laid on the altar, and put entirely out of their reach." (Pentecost)
"Christ accused them of also expanding (and negating) the commandment about honoring parents by devoting goods to God, which then could not be used to support the parents (vv 4-6)." (Ryrie)
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