CHAPTER 7

(A.D. 32)

JESUS REBUKES THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES

¹Then came together unto Him the Phari sees, and certain of the Scribes, which came from Jerusalem (the religious leaders were becoming alarmed at the tremendous popularity of Jesus).

²And when they saw (means they were earnestly seeking some fault, by which they might accuse Him) some of His Disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashed, hands, they found fault (had nothing to do with sanitary cleanliness; the Pharisees taught that demons, unseen, could sit on the hands of anyone, and consequently, if the hands were not washed, the demons could be ingested).

³For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands often, eat not (ceremonial religion), holding the tradition of the Elders (this tradition was only of man, and not at all of God, as are many traditions in the modern Church).

⁴And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not (spending an inordinate amount of time engaging in this foolishness). And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables (they had a certain religious way to wash these things, all which amounted to nothing).

⁵Then the Pharisees and Scribes asked Him (means they kept on asking Him, demanding an answer), Why walk not Your Disciples according to the tradition of the Elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? (All of this was outward show only, and brought Christ into direct conflict with these religious leaders.)

⁶He answered and said unto them (runs through Verse 13, and constitutes a startling answer, which pull no punches and minced no words), Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites (said this to their faces. You hypocrites actually says in the Greek, You, the hypocrites, which means the outstanding ones of all time), as it is written, This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (hits at the very heart of what true Salvation is and isnt [Isa. 29:13]).

⁷Howbeit in vain (means empty nothings, no profit) do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (the state [Herod] put to death the Preacher of Righteousness [Mat. 14:10], and the Church [the Scribes], corrupted the Word of Righteousness).

⁸For laying aside 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 (said with sarcasm; they washed cups and pots but not their hearts; the ceremonial washing of their hands could not remove the guilt that stained them).

⁹And He said unto them, Full well you reject the Commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition (it was a studied and deliberate rejection).

¹⁰For Moses said (drew their attention back to the Word of God), Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoso curses father or mother, let him die the death (is deserving of death):

¹¹But you say (presents a stark contrast to the Word of God), If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever you might be profited by Me; he shall be free(the Pharisees had made it a practice of claiming they were giving their material possessions to the Temple, which absolved them of responsibility toward their parents, with a crooked Priest then giving it back to them for a small percentage).

¹²And you suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother (to such extremities did these covetous Scribes and Pharisees drive their victims who, were their aged parents, with no way to care for themselves);

¹³Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition (Jesus had just nailed them with the Fifth Commandment), which you have delivered (meaning that their glosses of the Word had come from men and not from God): and many such like things do you (this which Christ had given as an example, was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg).

JESUS EXPLAINS WHAT DEFILES

¹⁴And when He had called all the people unto Him(He called the people closer so they could hear exactly what He was saying), He said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand (the people have a choice, they can hear Him or these hypocritical Pharisees and Scribes; it is the same presently):

¹⁵There is nothing from without a man, that entereth into him can defile him (refers to food, not intoxicating drinks, narcotics, poisons, or tobacco, etc.): but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man (it is evident that what comes out of the heart must exist in the heart).

¹⁶If any man have ears to hear, let him hear (the Lord is telling the people that they have a choice; they can hear him or the Pharisees, but not both!).

¹⁷And when He was entered into the house (probably Peters house) from the people (from teaching the people), His Disciples asked Him concerning the Parable (regarding that which enters into a man, and that which comes from his heart).

¹⁸And He said unto them, Are you so without understanding also? (Shows some disappointment on the part of Christ respecting His Disciples.) Do you not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without enters into the man, it cannot defile him (presents the exact opposite of what the Pharisees, and Scribes taught);

¹⁹Because it enters not into his heart (food is not spiritual), but into the belly, and goes out into the draught, purging all meats? (Refers to the digestive and elimination system of the human body.)

²⁰And He said, That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man (an evil heart produces evil actions).

²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders (the necessity of the creation of a new heart, i.e., a new man, is here declared),

²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness (this statement by Christ, destroys the belief that the natural heart is good, and makes foolish modern efforts to improve human nature):

²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man (proclaims the result of the Fall, and the absolute necessity of the new birth).

HEALING, THE CHILDRENS BREAD

²⁴And from thence He arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon (has the idea from the Greek Text that He did not merely cross over the border into Gentile territory, but instead, went deep into the heart of that country), and entered into an house, and would have no man know it, but He could not be hid.

²⁵For a certain woman (this is the reason He came), whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His Feet:

²⁶The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation (a Gentile); and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil (demon) out of her daughter.

²⁷But Jesus said unto her (begins the odyssey which will proclaim one of the greatest displays of faith ever!), Let the children first be filled (has reference to Israel): for it is not meet (proper) to take the childrens bread, and to cast it unto the dogs (Jesus used the Word for little pet dogs).

²⁸And she answered and said unto Him (proclaims a level of faith which should be a lesson to all Believers), Yes, Lord (the word, Lord, in the Greek Text, as used by the woman, does not refer to Deity or of Jesus being the Jewish Messiah; she would have had scant knowledge of this; she, instead, uses the word, Lord, in the sense of Jesus being an important Person, etc.): yet the dogs under the table eat of the childrens crumbs (now places her in the position of faith, a position which enables her to receive).

²⁹And He said unto her, For this saying (because you have taken a position of humility) go your way; the devil (demon) is gone out of your daughter (means that it is out, and will stay out; it is a permanent cure).

³⁰And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed (refers to a restful repose, which indicated that previously she had not been easily restrained).

JESUS HEALS A DEAF AND DUMB MAN

³¹And again, departing from the coasts (borders) of Tyre and Sidon, He came unto the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts (borders) of Decapolis (He was now on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee).

³²And they bring unto Him one who was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech (proclaims the usual difficulties of the deaf); and they (friends of the deaf man) beseech Him to put His Hand upon him.

³³And He took him aside from the multitude (there was a purpose for this), and put His Fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tongue (He probably spat on His Finger first, touched the mans tongue, and then put both index fingers in the mans ears; the spittle represented His Perfect Life);

³⁴And looking up to Heaven (all help comes from above), He sighed (speaks of the terrible dilemma, due to the Fall, in which man now finds himself), and said unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened (expresses the command).

³⁵And straightway (immediately) his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plain (symbolizes in the physical that which takes place in the spiritual, as it regards the Salvation of the Soul).

³⁶And He charged (commanded) them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;

³⁷And were beyond measure astonished (what Jesus had done, was beyond their comprehension), saying, He has done all things well (means in the Greek that they said this, and continued to say it over, and over): He makes both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak (His whole life on Earth was one connected, continued manifestation of lovingkindness).