Matthew 15:4-6

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 15:1-9

Evil manners, we say, beget good laws. The intemperate heat of the Jewish teachers for the support of their hierarchy, occasioned many excellent discourses of our Saviour's for the settling of the truth, as here. I. Here, is the cavil of the scribes and Pharisees at Christ's disciples, for eating with unwashen hands. The scribes and Pharisees were the great men of the Jewish church, men whose gain was godliness, great enemies to the gospel of Christ, but colouring their opposition with a... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 15:1-9

15:1-9 Then the Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem approached Jesus. "Why," they said, "do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do so transgress, because they do not wash their hands before they eat bread." Jesus answered them: "Why do you too transgress God's commandment, because of your tradition? For God said, 'Honour your father and your mother,' and, 'He who curses his father and mother, let him die'; but, as for you, you say, 'Whoever says to his father or his... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 15:1-9

The laws of cleanness and uncleanness had a further wide area of application. They laid down what a man might eat, and what he might not eat. Broadly speaking all fruit and vegetables were clean. But, in regard to living creatures, the laws were strict. These laws are in Leviticus 11:1-47 . We may briefly summarize them. Of beasts only those can be eaten who part the hoof and chew the cud. That is why no Jew can eat the flesh of the pig, the rabbit, or the hare. In no case may the flesh of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 15:1-9

Now we come to the particular impact of this on the passage we are studying. It was clearly impossible to avoid all kinds of ceremonial uncleanness. A man might himself avoid unclean things, but how could he possibly know when on the street he had touched someone who was unclean? This was further complicated by the fact that there were Gentiles in Palestine, and the very dust touched by a Gentile foot became unclean. To combat uncleanness an elaborate system of washings was worked out. These... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 15:1-9

Jesus did not answer the question of the Pharisees directly. What he did was to take an example of the operation of the oral and ceremonial law to show how its observance so far from being obedience to the Law of God, could become actual contradiction of that Law. Jesus says that the Law of God lays it down that a man shall honour his father and his mother; then he goes on to say that if a man says, "It is a gift," he is free from the duty of honouring his father and his mother. If we look... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 15:4

For God commanded, saying ,.... That he might not be thought to suggest this without any foundation, he gives them an instance, wherein a command of God was transgressed, by the observance of their tradition: the command he refers to, stands in Exodus 20:12 and is this; Honour thy father and mother . This was a plain command of God, written with his own hand, and delivered by Moses to them; it was of a moral nature, and of eternal obligation: and to be understood, not merely of that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 15:5-6

But ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or mother ,.... That is, it was a tradition of their's, that if a man should say to his father and mother, when poor and in distress, and made application to him for sustenance, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honour not his father, or his mother, he shall be free : or, as Mark expresses it, "it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free, and ye suffer... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 15:4

Honor thy father and mother - This word was taken in great latitude of meaning among the Jews: it not only meant respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to nourish and support him, to enrich. See Numbers 22:17 ; Judges 13:17 ; 1 Timothy 5:17 . And that this was the sense of the law, as it respected parents, see Deuteronomy 27:16 , and see the note on Exodus 20:12 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 15:5

It is a gift - קרבן korban , Mark 7:11 , an offering of approach; something consecrated to the service of God in the temple, by which a man had the privilege of approaching his Maker. This conduct was similar to the custom of certain persons who bequeath the inheritance of their children to Churches or religious uses; either through terror of conscience, thus striving to purchase the kingdom of glory; or through the persuasion of interested hireling priests. It was in this way that, in... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 15:5

Verse 5 5.But you say, etc. The mode of expression is defective, and is more fully exhibited by Mark, who adds, you suffer them not to do anything more to their father or to their mother The meaning is, that the scribes were altogether wrong in acquitting those persons who fail to perform their duties to their parents, provided that this deficiency be supplied, on their part, by a voluntary sacrifice, which might have been omitted without offending God. For we must not understand Christ’s words... read more

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