Mark 7:2

And had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashen hands.

The defilement which the scribes and Pharisees thought they observed in the conduct of the Lord's disciples did not pertain to health or hygiene, but had exclusive reference to their omission of the ceremonial washing of hands as required by religious custom of the Jews. Such customs, although no part of God's law, had been elevated to a place of importance even beyond God's law. Barclay tells of a rabbi who was imprisoned by the Romans and who "used the water which was given to him for handwashing rather than for drinking, and in the end nearly perished from thirst, because he was determined to observe the rules of handwashing."[1]