7:1 Then 1 came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain
of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
(1) None resist the wisdom of God more than they that should be
wisest, and they resist because of their zeal for their own
traditions: for men please themselves in superstition more
than in any other thing, that is to say, in a worship of
God fondly devised by themselves.
7:2 And when they saw some of his disciples a eat bread with
b defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they
found fault.
(a) Literally, "eat bread": an idiom which the Hebrews use,
understanding bread to represent every type of food.
(b) For the Pharisees would not eat their food with unwashed
hands, because they thought that their hands were
defiled with the common handling of things;
(Mt 15:11,12).
7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash
[their] hands oft, eat not, c holding the tradition of the
elders.
(c) Observing diligently.
7:4 And [when they come] from the d market, except they wash,
they eat not. And many other things there be, which they
have received to hold, [as] the washing of cups, and e
pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
(d) That is to say, after coming from civil and worldly
affairs they do not eat unless they first wash
themselves.
(e) By these words are understood all types of vessels which
we use daily.
7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why f walk not
thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but
eat bread with unwashen hands?
(f) Why live they not? This is a Hebrew idiom: for among
them the "way" is taken for "lifestyle".
7:62 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias
prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people
honoureth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from
me.
(2) Hypocrisy is always joined with superstition.
7:73 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching [for]
doctrines the commandments of men.
(3) The more earnest the superstitious are, the more mad they
are in promising themselves God's favour because of their
deeds.
7:84 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the
tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and
many other such like things ye do.
(4) The deeds of superstitious men not only do not fulfil the
law of God (as they blasphemously persuaded themselves) but
these deeds utterly take away God's law.
7:95 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the
commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
(5) True religion, which is completely contrary to superstition,
consists in spiritual worship: and all enemies of true
religion, although they seem to have taken deep root, will
be plucked up.
7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and,
Whoso curseth father or mother, let him g die the death:
(g) Without hope of pardon, he will be put to death.
7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
and goeth out into the draught, h purging all meats?
(h) For that which goes into the draught purges all meats.
7:22 Thefts, i covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an k evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness:
(i) All types of craftiness by which men profit themselves
at other men's losses.
(k) Corrupted malice.
7:246 And from thence he arose, and went into the l borders
of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would
have no man know [it]: but he could not be hid.
(6) That which the proud reject when it is offered to them,
that same thing the modest and humble sinners as it were
voraciously consume.
(l) Into the uttermost coasts of Palestine, which were next
to Tyre and Sidon.
7:26 The woman was a m Greek, a n Syrophenician by nation;
and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out
of her daughter.
(m) By nationality, profane.
(n) A neighbour of or near to Damascus.
7:27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled:
for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to
cast [it] unto the o dogs.
(o) "Dog" here signifies a little dog, and he uses this
term that he may seem to speak more reproachfully.
7:28 And she answered and said unto him, p Yes, Lord: yet the
dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
(p) As if she said, "It is as thou sayest Lord, for it is
enough for the dogs if they can but gather up the
crumbs that are under the table; therefore I crave the
crumbs and not the children's bread."
7:317 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon,
he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the
coasts of q Decapolis.
(7) As the Father created us to this life in the beginning in
his only son, so does he also in him alone renew us into
everlasting life.
(q) It was a little country, and it was so called because
it consisted of ten cities under the jurisdiction of
four surrounding governments; Pliny, book 3, chap. 8.
