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THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
TRADITION AND THE HEART, GIVING CRUMBS TO PUPPIES,
FEEDING 4000
[“The Mouth and the Heart”]
(Key Word: Traditions)
Matthew 15:1-20 – Tradition and the Heart
|| Mark 7:1-23
MT15:1 Now scribes901
and Pharisees from Jerusalem902
approached Jesus, saying, “Why do your disciples903
transgress the traditions of the Ancients?904
901
Scribes: BECK: Bible scholars.
902
From Jerusalem: Over 100 miles.
903
Your disciples:
They do not accuse Jesus. Had these Jews witnessed some habit of the disciples not to ceremonial wash their hands before eating? Or, is this a rumor?
904
Transgress the traditions of the Ancients: Or, GDSP: break the rules handed down by our ancestors; KJV: elders.
MT15:2 For they do not wash
their hands905
when eating bread.”
905
Wash their hands: Or, AMP: for they do not practice [ceremonially] washing. Compare 2 Kings 3:11. “The Pharisees
and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands up to the elbow.” (Mark 7:2-5) The Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 4b) places eating with unwashed hands equal to intercourse with a prostitute.
MT15:3 Jesus responded to them, asking,
MT15:4“For The God said,‘Honor your father and mother.’906
[Exodus 20:12]
And also,‘Let the person who says a bad word against907 father or mother
be put to death.’
[Leviticus 20:9]
906
Honor your father and mother: From the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12; 21:17). Paul also quotes the “first commandment
with a promise.” (Ephesians 6:2) The English word “honor” is from the Greek TIMA from which the name Timothy comes.
907
Says a bad word against: Or, KJV: curseth; ASV: speaketh evil of; NWT: reviles. Jesus quotes Leviticus 20:9. Compare Leviticus 20:9; Deuteronomy 27:16.
MT15:5But
you teach, ‘Whatever I have to help908 my father or mother is a Temple-offering consecrated
to God’909
–
908
Whatever I have to help: ASV: that wherewith thou mightest have been profited by me; RIEU: all the support you might have;
RSV: what you would have gained from me; GDSP: anything of mine that might have been of use to you.
909
Is
a Temple-offering consecrated to God: ASV: is given to God; RIEU: temple-offering. The New Jerusalem Bible footnote explains: “Property thus made over by vow assumes a sacred character.… Such a vow in fact was only a legal fiction.…
Though the rabbis acknowledged its impiety they sustained its validity.”
MT15:6such a person does not honor910 father at all. You have invalidated the Word911of The God by your own tradition.
910
Does not honor: Jesus infers this “honor” is of a material kind not a mere matter of respect. The children
who do not care for elderly parents dishonor them and violate the commandment. Compare 1 Timothy 5:4, 8. The Greek word TIME means honor, esteem, value, or preciousness. The verb TIMAO also means “set a price on” (Matthew 27:9); the noun TIME caries
the sense of price or value (Matthew 27:6; Acts 4:34); and the adjective TIMIOS means esteemed, dear, or valuable (Acts 5:34; 20:24; 1 Corinthians 3:12).
911
You have invalidated the Word: Or, MOF: you have repealed the law of God; GDSP: you have nullified what God has said; PME: empties the commandment.
MT15:7Hypocrites, Isaiah gave a good prophecy912about you when he said,
912
Isaiah gave a good prophecy: The quote is of Isaiah 29:13. The context in Isaiah is also referenced by Romans 11:9; Colossians
2:22; 1 Corinthians 1:19. Or, KJV: well did Esaias prophesy; MOF: it was indeed of you that Isaiah prophesied; PME: Isaiah described you beautifully; RIEU: how right Isaiah was.
MT15:8‘This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is distant.MT15:9Their worship is worthless913
because they teach human commandments as doctrine.’”
[Isaiah 29:13]
913
Their worship is worthless: Or, WMS: their worship of me is an empty show.
MT15:10 Now Jesus called the crowd to gather close, telling them,
“Listen carefully and understand:914
914
Listen carefully and understand: Or, KNX: listen to this, and grasp what it means.
MT15:11Not what enters the mouth defiles a person,915
but what pours out of the mouth defiles a person.”
915
Defiles a person: Or, PME: makes him common or unclean.
MT15:12 Now
the disciples approached Jesus, telling him, “Do you know you offended the Pharisees916
by what they heard you say?”
916
You offended the Pharisees: Or, ME: are deeply offended; GDSP: were shocked to hear you. The disciples seem concerned by Jesus did not come to please everyone. The Greek word here is ESCANDALISTHESAN: they thought what he said scandalous.
MT15:13 Jesus answered them,
“Every plant917 not planted by my Father will be pulled out by
the roots.
917
Every plant: He infers the scribes and Pharisees.
MT15:14Leave them alone.918 They are blind guides.919 So, if someone blind guides another blind person, they will both fall into a pit.”
918
Leave them alone: Or, KNX: let them say what they will.
919
Blind guides: Or, KJV: blind leaders. Knowing what he has already said was offensive, the Nazarene comes back with an even more direct inference.
MT15:15 Peter responded to Jesus, “Make the parable clear to us.”
MT15:16 Jesus told them,
“Are you still without understanding?920
920
Are you still without understanding: Or, RHM: without discernment; GDSP: have even you no understanding; BAS: are you,
like them, still without wisdom; RIEU: You too? Still so dull? Jesus is not caring one twit whose toes he steps on: either the clergy or his own disciples. Raised to respect the clergy, it is possible the disciples do not yet discern the gulf which exists between Jesus and the religious hierarchy.
MT15:17Are you unaware that everything entering the mouth passes through the belly921 and is expelled into a sewer?922
921
Passes through the belly: Or, WEY: stomach; NWT: intestines.
922
Expelled into a sewer: WEY: afterwards ejected from the body; NWT: discharged into the sewer.
MT15:18But the words pouring out of the mouth originate from the heart.923 Those are the things which defile a person.
923
Originate from the heart: NEB: has its origins in the heart; PME: comes from his heart and mind. Compare James 1:14, 15.
MT15:19For it is from the heart these originate:924 evil dialogue,925 murders, adulteries,926 fornications,927 thieveries,928 perjuries and slander,929 abusive speech.930
924
These originate: Mark 7:20, 21 adds several characteristics: “injurious reasonings issue forth: fornications,
thieveries, murders, adulteries, covetings, acts of wickedness, deceit, loose conduct, an envious eye, blasphemy, haughtiness, unreasonableness.” (NWT)
925
Evil dialogue: The Greek is DIALOGISMOI PONEROI. Or, KJV: evil thoughts; KNX: wicked designs.
926
Adulteries: Or, BAS: broken faith between the married.
927
Fornications: The Greek is PORNEIAI and is drawn from “prostitution.” Or, MOF: sexual vice; GDSP: immorality; BAS: unclean desires of the flesh.
928
Thieveries: MOF: stealing.
929
Perjuries and slander:
Or, KJV: false witness; NWT: false testimonies.
930
Abusive speech: The Greek is BLASPHEMIAI. Or, KJV: blasphemies; ASV: railings; RHM: profane speaking; WEY: slander.
MT15:20These are the things defiling a person. Eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
Matthew 15:21-28 – Giving Bread to Puppies
|| Mark 7:24-30
MT15:21 Leaving there Jesus withdrew into the area of931
Tyre and Sidon.
931
Withdrew into the area of: A fifty-mile walk northeast to the coast of Syro-phoenicia.
MT15:22 And, look! a Canaanite932
woman from the region came out yelling, “Have mercy on me, Master, Son of David, for my daughter is horribly demonized!”933
932
Canaanite: The Greek is CANAANAIA is also rendered: NWT: Phoenician. This is modern Palestine the cradle of language which
began with Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English.
933
Horribly demonized: Or, KJV: grievously vexed with a devil; WEY: cruelly harassed; LAM: seriously afflicted with insanity.
MT15:23 But Jesus did not answer her with a single word. The disciples of Jesus approached him, requesting, “Get rid of her,934
because she keeps following us, yelling crazily.”935
934
Get rid of her: Or, KJV: send her away; KNX: rid us of her. The disciples have little patience for this vexed mother.
935
Yelling crazily: The Greek is CRAZEI. Or, MOF: wailing
MT15:24 Now
Jesus answered them,
“I was sent only to936 the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”937
936
I was sent only to: Jesus has a precise commission from his Father and cannot waver from it.
937
Lost sheep of the house of Israel: Jesus was sent from heaven, not to seek the world of mankind, but those willing Jews in Israel.
Jesus is later to say that after he ascends to heaven he would draw all kinds of people. These were the Non-Jews whom he calls “other sheep.” (John 10:16)
MT15:25 But, the woman
approached and bowed to the earth on her knees,938
saying, “Master, help me.”
938
Bowed to the earth on her knees: The Greek is PROSEKUNEI. Or, KJV: worshipped; RHM: began bowing down; WEY: threw herself
at his feet; MOF: knelt before him. See notes elsewhere on worship or PROSKUNEO.
MT15:26 Jesus told her,
“It is not right939 to take the bread of the children940 and throw it to little dogs.”941
939
It is not right: Having said this, Jesus is soon to do what he said it was not right (good, fine) to do.
940
The children: The lost sheep of Israel.
941
Little dogs: The Greek is KYNARIOS. Or, KJV: dogs; RHM: little dogs; BECK: puppies. Some might consider the remark racist or filled with ethnic prejudice. However, he softens his metaphor in “puppies” and we may suspect his manner and facial expression was kindly and sympathetic. He may also have said it more for his disciples’ benefit.
MT15:27 The woman responded, “Yes, Master, but the little dogs do eat from those crumbs spilling from their masters’ table.”
MT15:28 Finally, Jesus said to her,
“O, woman, your faith is great. Let what you want happen.”
And her daughter was healed in that very hour.
Matthew 15:29-31 – Jesus Cures
MT15:29 From there Jesus went overland to the shores942
of the Sea of Galilee. He climbed a mountain and was sitting there.
942
Overland to the shores: Another fifty mile walk inland.
MT15:30 Now
many crowds approached him with their lame, maim, blind, mute, and many others. They cast them before the feet of Jesus and he cured them all.
MT15:31 And the crowd was awestruck943
seeing the mute speaking, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. They glorified the God of Israel.944
They glorified the God of Israel: Compare Matthew 9:33 and Revelation 11:13. Jesus is not attracting attention to himself but to his God. The crowd does not glorify Jesus, but rather his Father.
Matthew 15:32-39 – 4,000 Fed
|| Mark 8:1-10
MT15:32 But Jesus called his disciples around him and said,
“I am feeling compassion945 over the crowd because it is already
three days946 since they approached me and they have had nothing to eat. I do not want to dismiss
them fasting. They may give out on the road.”947
945
Compassion: Or, PME: my heart goes out. This crowd has just experienced unnumbered miracles and the joyous conversation
with tears of happiness must be awesome. We can only imagine their emotions.
946
Three days: Imagine
such a crowd, so filled with energy and elation they have lost the count of time and at least one night has passed. The strength and example of the Nazarene is something to admire.
947
They may give out on the road: Or, RHM: lest by any means they faint; PME: collapse on the way; BAS: they will have no strength for the journey.
MT15:33 His disciples asked him, “Where in this isolated place are there enough loaves of bread to satisfy this crowd?”
MT15:34 Now Jesus told them,
“How many loaves do you have?”948
The disciples said, “Only seven and a few small fish.”949
948
How many loaves do you have: The disciples either are aware of the availability of this food or they carry it themselves.
They have walked over fifty miles and climbed a mountain. Surely there is at least the passing concern they will not have enough.
949
A few small fish: They may have fished at the lake or carried dried fish with them.
MT15:35 Having ordered the crowd to recline on the ground
MT15:36 Jesus took the seven loaves of bread and the fish and giving thanks he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, and the disciples to the crowd.
MT15:37 And everyone ate and was satisfied.950
The surplus of leftovers951
they gathered filled seven provision baskets.
950
Everyone ate and was satisfied: Or, TCNT: everyone had sufficient to eat; NEB: they all ate to their heart’s content.
951
Surplus of leftovers: Or, KJV: broken meat; BER: leftovers filled seven hampers; NEB: the scraps left over.
MT15:38 Those who ate included four-thousand males apart from women and little boys.952
952
Males apart from women and little boys: See Matthew 14:21.
MT15:39 Having
dismissed the crowds Jesus boarded the boat and arrive into the Magadan area.953
953
Arrive into the Magadan area: About a ten mile row along the coast. This is the only occurrence of this place name. The name means “tower” and was the hometown of Mary
Magdalene.
