Hypocrites - Mark 7:6-8
Jesus answered them first by calling them
hypocrites, second by quoting Isaiah 29:13, and third by expanding the conversation to the basic principle that the Pharisees often substituted human traditions for the word of God. See
BC 7.
One example of hypocrisy - Mark 7:10-13
Then Jesus gave one specific example of their hypocrisy.
Corban is an Aramaic word that Mark explained meant
Given to God.
Corban was a custom that developed out of Lev. 27:28. In Jesus' day it had become a way for children to avoid the need to honor their parents by supporting them in their later years. If a person declared his property
Corban, and promised to give it to the temple some day in the future he did not need to use it to support his parents. Of course there was no keeping of a record to see if such a promise was ever kept. In Jesus' eyes they were simply using the tradition of men to get out of keeping the command of God.
Need for purity - Mark 7:14-23
Jesus turned from the Pharisees to the crowd and then to the disciples in private. He focused on the core issue. The real need was not clean hands. The real need was a pure heart. An impure heart
defiles a person and leads
to all kinds of evil actions. Jesus said that the need for purity was so much more important and so much more difficult to deal with than the human traditions recognized.
The heart - Mark 7:19
The
heart is the center of a person's being. Food cannot make a person unclean before God. For Jesus all
foods were clean.
7:22 The word
envy translates a Greek phrase that literally means
an evil eye. It describes a person who jealously keeps an eye on both his own property and on the things of others. He will not share his own and looks for an opportunity to take the things of other people.
Envy - Mark 7:22
The word
envy translates a Greek phrase that literally means
an evil eye. It describes a person who jealously keeps an eye on both his own property and on the things of others. He will not share his own and looks for an opportunity to take the things of other people.
More Healings and Growing Opposition. - Mark 7:24-8:26
Jesus extended his ministry further into Gentile territories. Many themes are repeated from the earlier chapters. Particular emphasis is given to the failure of even his disciples to understand who Jesus really is.
Tyre and Sidon - Mark 7:24
Jesus traveled west to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The area was dominated by the cities of
Tyre and
Sidon which were about 25 miles apart. Most of the residents were Gentiles, but some were Jews. Some had earlier traveled to Galilee to see Jesus (3:8).
She was a Gentile - Mark 7:26
That this woman was a Syrophoenecian indicates that she was a part of the ancient native population of the area. Phoenecia was the Mediterranean coastal region of the Roman province of Syria. She was
Greek not in ethnicity, but in life style and language. The main point for Mark was that she was a Gentile.
Dog - Mark 7:27
At that time, as today, the word
dog could be used as an insult. But the Greek word used here (and in the parallel passage in Matt. 15:26, 27) is best translated as
dog or
lap dog or
pet dog. It is to be distinguished from the word used to describe a street
dog, a farm dog, or a stray scavenger dog which in the New Testament could be used as an insult (Matt. 7:6, 2 Pet. 2:22). Jesus did not seem to intend an insult. He may simply have pointed to a household pet as he spoke. Nor did the woman take offense. The form of the word that is translated first is always used in Mark's Gospel to indicate a sequence in time (for example 9:11, 12). The point that was made was simply that there was a temporal order in the ministry of the Messiah. He came first to the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24).
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