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8 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.

9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

in their fingers in order to be conveyed to the mouth. But if they had gone to the market-place, where they would be exposed to all sorts of men and of things, then, having returned home, they would not eat without a more thorough application of water, namely, either a bathing of their whole persons, or a dipping of their hands into water, so as to be sure that water had covered every part which had been exposed to any impurity. An attention to these different practices, and to the precise meaning of the different words used in the original, sheds light on this passage, and shows that what Mark has said in the fourth verse, is not a mere repetition of what he had said in the third verse. The different circumstances in which a person had been, a little while before, taking food, rendered it necessary, in order to satisfy his scruples of conscience, to use water in different ways; sometimes a partial use would suffice, but at other times a more serious and thorough use of the purifying element was demanded. Though it is not certain, that on returning from market, the Jews always bathed their whole persons, yet learned authorities clearly show that there were among the Jews two methods of applying water for ceremonial purifying. These two methods may be expressed by calling the one a washing of the hands, by pouring water on them, and the other, an immersing, either of the whole person, or of the hands, in water. The washing of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and tables. More in accordance with the original, the immersion of cups, &c.

10 For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

or

11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father mother, It is corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

In Lev. 11: 32, it is directed, in regard to any vessel, on which the dead body of an unclean animal had fallen, "whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water," in order to be cleansed; except earthen vessels, which, being thus polluted, were required to be broken in pieces. Lev. 11: 33. This precept of Moses appears to have been extended, after his time, to cases of uncleanness from other causes than the touch of a dead body; and the rule appears to have become general, that the purifying of unclean vessels was to be performed by dipping them in water. The word rendered tables, in this verse, means the couches on which the Jews reclined at their meals. These, too, according to Jewish rules, were to be cleansed by being covered in water; and so precise were the regulations in regard to such cleansing, that, should there be any thing adhering to those articles, such as pitch, which might prevent the water from actually touching the wood in a particular spot, the cleansing would not have been duly performed. According to the same regulations, even beds (heds, however, then used, were different articles from those which we use; see Matt. 9:6) were required to be cleansed by immersion. Nor would the size of an article be an insuperable hinderance to such a cleansing; for the rules allowed a cleansing, part by part, provided the whole should ultimately thus be covered with water.

11. Corban; a word signifying, in the Hebrew of Mark's time, a gift, that is, a gift devoted to God for the

12 And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father, or his mother;

13 Making the word of God of none effect, through your tradition, which ye have delivered and many such like things do ye.

14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me, every one of you, and understand.

15 There is nothing from without a man, that, entering into him, can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

17 And when he was entered into the house, from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from with

service of the temple. See on Matt. 15: 5.

12. And ye suffer him no more to do aught, &c. A person having presented to the temple what he ought to have employed for the comfort of his parents, was, in this way, hindered from doing them service; for what had been devoted to the temple was devoted in connection with imprecations upon himself, if he should otherwise employ it; so that it could not be reclaimed.

17. The parable. See on Matt.

15: 15.

19. Purging all meats. The word meats is here equivalent to our phrase sorts of food. The word rendered purging signifies, here, making law

out entereth into the man, it cannot defile him:

19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

21 For, from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

22 Thefts,covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

24 And from thence, he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon; and entered into a house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet;

ful; as things which, according to the ceremonial law, were clean, were allowed to be used. The clause purging all meats, that is, rendering lawful all sorts of food, refers to the sentiment which the Saviour had just expressed concerning food, namely, that it affects not the heart, but only the body, the animal frame. fact respecting food, namely, that it does not affect the heart [the moral nature], but only the body [the animal nature], renders lawful all articles of food; so that real defilement does not depend on what a man eats and drinks.

That

22. An evil eye; an envious eye, that is, envy. See Matt. 20: 15.

24-30. Compare Matt. 15: 21--28.

26 (The woman was a Greek, | a Syrophenician by nation ;) and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

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 dogs.

23 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

29 And he said unto her, For this saying, go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

31. Decapolis. See on Matt. 4: 25. In passing from the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the region of Decapolis, Jesus made a circuitous route. His reason for so doing, might have been to avoid, for the present, meeting with the scribes and Pharisees, who cherished a hostile spirit towards him, and with whom he did not wish to come in collision, except when it was necessary. 32. To put his hand upon him; an act in connection with which healing was performed. See Matt. 9: 18. Luke 4: 40.

33. He took him aside,&c. Jesus had some special reasons for performing the cure in the way here described. What his reasons were, we can only conjecture. As the man was deaf, he might not have received much knowledge respecting Jesus; and the Saviour took this method, perhaps, to excite in his mind the expectation of a cure. On other occasions, he employed other external acts in connection with the performing of a miracle.

31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.

32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

33 And he took him aside, from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue,

34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.

35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.

See the passages referred to on the preceding verse, and compare John 9:6, 7. Such acts as these, having no natural power to impart a blessing, might have been employed so as to show clearly that the power of performing cures did properly consist in his own will, and did not depend at all on outward circumstances. While our Lord saw fit, in order to prepare a person for the blessing, to employ some outward acts as significant of a cure to be performed, he also showed, that his power could exert itself in connection with any outward acts, or without any outward acts.

34. He sighed; like a person under strong emotion, deeply affected by human woes, and offering silent prayer. Compare Rom. 8: 26, in which passage the inward workings of a deeply-affected heart are expressed by a word [groanings] in the original, of the same import as the word here translated sighed.

35. The string of his tongue was loosed; literally; the band of his tongue

36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more, a great deal, they published it;

37 And were, beyond measure, astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

IN

CHAPTER VIII.

N those days, the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,

2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat :

3 And if I send them away, fasting, to their own houses, they will faint by the way; for divers of them came from far.

4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread, here in the wilderness?

was loosed; meaning, that which bound his tongue from performing its office, namely, the disease, or the natural infirmity. In other words, his tongue was unbound; that is, his impediment was removed.

36. That they should tell no man. Jesus did not perform his works to excite popular applause, nor to provoke the ill-will of the scribes and Pharisees. When there was reason to believe that such would be the results of proclaiming his benevolent miracles, he rather preferred that publicity should not be given to them. He was contented with making a salutary impression on those who had been personally benefited, and those

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10 And straightway he entered into a ship, with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.

11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

who had witnessed his deeds. He knew that thus an influence would be operating on the hearts of individuals, far more in accordance with his designs, and far more useful, than any popular excitement that might be created in his favor.

37. He hath done all things well. How seasonable and how appropriate the reflection! And shall not WE adopt it respecting our Lord Jesus Christ, as procuring pardon, and holiness, and eternal life for the guilty and perishing children of men?

CHAPTER VIII.

1-10. Compare Matt. 15: 32-39. 11-21. Compare Matt. 16: 1–12.

12 And he sighed deeply in | his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? Verily, I say unto you, There shall no sign be given to this generation.

20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not un

13 And he left them, and en-derstand? tering into the ship again, departed to the other side.

14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.

15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.

23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.

24 And he looked up, and said, I see men, as trees, walking.

17 And when Jesus knew it, 25 After that, he put his hands he saith unto them, Why reason again upon his eyes, and made ye, because ye have no bread? him look up; and he was restorperceive ye not yet, neither un-ed, and saw every man clearly. derstand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

22. Bethsaida. The connection does not enable us to decide whether this was the Bethsaida on the east of the sea, or the town of the same name on the west. To touch him; so that he might be healed. See on 7: 32.

23. And he took, &c. Jesus had some special reasons for proceeding in this manner, as he had in the case related in 7: 31-35. What they were, we cannot tell with certainty. 24. Men, as trees, walking

VOL. I.

His

26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cesarea Philippi: and by the way, he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

sight was beginning to return; and he could discern objects, though indistinctly. His knowing something respecting the appearance of trees, and that the objects before him were not in reality trees, shows that he had not been blind from his birth. His blindness had resulted from dis

ease.

27-38. Compare Matt. 16: 13— 27. Towns of Cesarea Philippi; the villages around Cesarea Philippi.

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