Corban: A Hebrew word adopted into the Greek of the New Testament and left
untranslated. It occurs only once
(Mark 7:11) It means a gift or
offering consecrated to God. Anything over which this word was once
pronounced was irrevocably dedicated to the temple. Land, however, so
dedicated might be redeemed before the year of jubilee
(Leviticus 27:16-24)
Our Lord condemns the Pharisees for their false doctrine, inasmuch as
by their traditions they had destroyed the commandment which requires
children to honour their father and mother, teaching them to find
excuse from helping their parents by the device of pronouncing
"Corban" over their goods, thus reserving them to their own selfish
use.
