Matthew 16:5-12

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

watch - lit. “stare at it” — discern

beware - lit. “hold yourself against it”

leaven - throughout Scripture, a symbol of permeating evil

O you of little faith - "Compare 'great is thy faith' (Matt 15:28). The heathen woman, who only met Christ once, understood His figurative language and said: 'I am a dog.' The disciples, after two years teaching, failed to understand the figurative word 'leaven.' Her faith was consequently great and theirs was little." (Williams)

discussing among yourselves - "Arguing over the fact that they had no bread and showing their lack of faith to remember how He had multiplied loaves and fish before." (Ryrie)

remember - "On two occasions, the Lord had provided bread for large numbers of people, with much left over. The disciples had witnessed this and should have remembered that they had no reason to worry about physical bread in His presence. They were concerned with material things and relying on their own reasoning. This is why the Lord rebuked them. The leaven of the Pharisees is explained in Luke 12:1 as hypocrisy. With this was coupled self-righteousness. The leaven of the Sadducees was false doctrine: they denied the authority of all the Old Testament except the books of Moses, and they did not believe in spiritual realities. Such evil teachings work like leaven, spreading throughout any company beginning to tolerate them; hence the warning of the Lord to beware of them." (Ironside)

Matthew 16:1-4

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

Pharisees and Sadducees - "It must have been startling to those who knew them to see these men together at all, and together on a matter of religious principle, and on a mission to a religious teacher. The Pharisees were the traditionalists of their day. They believed in God, they believed in the work of the Holy Spirit. They believed in the essential purity and holiness of God. They believed in the fundamental things. They believed in angels; they believed in resurrection; they held all the spiritual verities; but they hid them from the people whom they were supposed to teach and lead … under the grave-clothes of ritualism and tradition. The Sadducees were the rationalists of their day. They did not believe in spirits, they did not believe in angels, they did not believe in resurrection. They denied all supernatural elements in religion. They made religion a mere ethical code. The Pharisee had no dealings with the Sadducee; the Sadducee looked with supreme contempt on the Pharisee. The Sadducees had left Jesus alone up to this point. Men absolutely divided as between themselves were united on this occasion … The Pharisees would say, This thing can be, there can be signs out of heaven, but He cannot produce them; therefore let us ask Him to do it. The Sadducees would say, There could be no sign out of heaven, so you are safe in asking Him to do it. We have two opposing ideas, but united in their opposition to Him. And so in a common hostility to Him, a common desire to see His defeat, these men came to Him. Jesus Christ did not say these men were wrong. They came to criticize Him, but they went away criticized; they came to measure Him, but they went away measured." (Morgan)

test him - they did not believe He could do what they asked
adulterous generation...sign of Jonah - adulterous = faithless, treacherous

"The nation was unfaithful in its vows to the Lord.  Here and in Luke 11:29-32 the sign is the warning of judgment to come (cf. Jonah 1:2; 3:4).  In Matthew 12:39 the sign is related to the death and resurrection of the Son of Man." (Ryrie)

"Being familiar with the prophets they knew that certain signs had been indicated therein which were to take place before the manifestation of the Messiah; so they came to Jesus, without any desire to know the truth, but simply as tempting or testing Him, asking that He show them a sign from heaven. They meant a sign indicating that the Messianic age was a hand. Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief. They were quite able to read the signs of the heavens in regard to matters of weather or climatic conditions, but they were absolutely unable to discern the signs of the times. Had their eyes been opened they would have realized that all the miraculous works of Jesus were in themselves the signs of the age to come and told of the presence of the King. Messiah was in their midst. No other sign would be given to them until the sign of the prophet Jonah." (Ironside)

Matthew 15:1-39

What is the theme of this chapter?

Attack by some Pharisees and scribes, followed by miracles.

What is the key verse(s) of this chapter? Verses 24-27

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.”

What can I apply to my life from this chapter (things to do/avoid)?

I thought Pentecost's explanation about hand-washing (and the many other rituals the Pharisees claimed were binding) was interesting:

"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."

Can't you see this in the church today? Traditions and the opinions of eminent theologians have been codified in catechisms and are often treated as higher authorities than Scripture itself. In fact, Scripture is interpreted in light of what tradition and eminent theologians tell us it means. We ALL need to be discerning and compare what we are told against what Scripture in context tells us — especially taking into consideration progressive revelation AND looking at what it meant to the original hearers before trying to apply it ourselves.  Remember, all Scripture is for us, but not all Scripture is directly to us or about us.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Act 17:10-11).

Additional observations/questions:

Matthew 15:29-39

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

This is a separate occasion from that recorded in Matthew 14:13-21 — See Matthew 16:9-10.

Sea of Galilee - "Mark 7:31 states that Jesus traveled through Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Many Gentiles lived in this region, which has led many to the conclusion that the multitude was, largely or in part, Gentile. This may be, but the Bible doesn’t say one way or another. Some of my commentaries say that the disciples didn’t understand why Jesus would feed Gentiles, which explains their question (v 33) about where they would get the food. This part of it makes no sense to me because 1) that wasn’t what they asked, and 2) if, in fact, Jesus had just spent three days healing Gentiles, I doubt they would have questioned why He would feed them."

"His destination was further to the south, in the borders of Decapolis, the territory of the ten allied Greek free cities. This region lay to the east of the Jordan and extended possibly from Damascus on the north to the river Jabbok, which was the border of Perea to the south. The ten cities were occupied by heathen people, the Jews never having recovered them after the Babylonian captivity. The reception accorded to Jesus on arrival in this semi-pagan district seems to have been favorable. Christ apparently was avoiding the territory over which Herod Antipas ruled because the Jews were seeking Herod’s help in order to destroy Him." (Pentecost)

came - a great rush, a hurrying

He healed them - this went on for three days (v 32)

baskets - hampers or market-baskets, much larger containers than those mentioned in Matthew 14:20

four thousand men, besides women and children - "Again Matthew distinguishes the number of men from women and children (cf. Matt 14:21)." (Ryrie)

Magadan or Magdala - a small town outside Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (where Mary Magdalene was from)

Matthew 15:21-28

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Tyre and Sidon - Along the coast northwest of the Sea of Galilee — outside Herod’s jurisdiction. This is the only recorded instance during His ministry when the Lord left Palastine.

a Canaanite woman - Mark (7:26) says she was Greek (meaning Gentile), a Syro-Phoenician by birth.

send her away - Based on the way Jesus responds (in v 24), it is probable that the disciples were urging Him to give her what she wanted so she would go away.

dogs - little dogs, pets

"Children ('the lost sheep of the house of Israel,' v 24) must be fed before dogs.  This Gentile woman, like the centurion, showed great faith (v 28) and was rewarded for it." (Ryrie)

"Most of my commentaries explain this passage with some ideas that make sense to me, but none of them paint the whole picture, so I’ll summarized in my own words.

Jesus came as the Messiah of Israel. His ministry was only to the Jews. When this Gentile woman approached Him as the Son of David, she had no claim on Him. She was one of those who were … without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). On this basis, He said nothing.

When the disciples asked Him (probably) to give her what she wanted so they could be rid of her, He explained, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v.24).

She asked Him again to help her daughter, this time dropping her claim. He again explained the higher position of Israel, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (v.26).

She then asked a third time, and this time she worded her request in such a way that Jesus could grant her request. “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

The word “masters’” is plural. She wasn’t referring to Him as her master but to those who were fed at the table — the Jews. She had come to the understanding that her blessing could only come through Israel.

This is where my commentaries miss the point, in my opinion. This experience wasn’t given to us to show that salvation was about to be taken from Israel and given to the Gentiles. The Lord was still teaching the kingdom message. A major point of that message is that the nations will be blessed through Israel. This passage underlines that point exactly."

Matthew 15:10-20

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

defiles - makes profane

let them alone - take no notice

the parable - "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." 

is expelled - lit. "into the latrine"

slander - injurious speech, criticism, libel, etc.

"Christ used this confrontation as an opportunity to teach them what constituted uncleanness in the sight of God. The Pharisees considered themselves to be clean within and therefore wholly acceptable to God. According to their thinking, only that which touched them from outside could render them unclean and defiled in the sight of God. Christ repudiated this erroneous doctrine and taught that the seat of uncleanness and defilement is not external but internal (Mark 7:15). This concept was so strange to even the Twelve that when they were alone with Christ, they asked him to interpret this saying. Christ explained very clearly that it is not that which touches a man from without that defiles what was clean, but rather the uncleanness comes from within." (Pentecost)

"External washings could not keep the Pharisees (or anyone else) spiritually clean." (Ryrie)

Matthew 15:1-9

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)