Washing: (Mark 7:1-9) The Jews, like other Orientals, used their fingers when
taking food, and therefore washed their hands before doing so, for
the sake of cleanliness. Here the reference is to the ablutions
prescribed by tradition, according to which "the disciples ought to
have gone down to the side of the lake, washed their hands
thoroughly, 'rubbing the fist of one hand in the hollow of the other,
then placed the ten finger-tips together, holding the hands up, so
that any surplus water might flow down to the elbow, and thence to
the ground.'" To neglect to do this had come to be regarded as a
great sin, a sin equal to the breach of any of the ten commandments.
Moses had commanded washings oft, but always for some definite cause;
but the Jews multiplied the legal observance till they formed a large
body of precepts. To such precepts about ceremonial washing Mark here
refers.
