COME... GATHERED AROUND: "Synagogued"! An official
delegation, as in Mar 3:22.
Mar 7:2
FOOD: Or "bread" (AV). Cp Mt 16:16: the "leaven" of the
Pharisees. Is this the bread left over from the miracle (6:43)?
Mar 7:3
CEREMONIAL: AV mg: "Diligently, in the original, with
the fist: Theophylact, up to the elbow."
Mar 7:8
YOU HAVE LET GO OF THE COMMANDS OF GOD AND ARE HOLDING ON
TO THE TRADITIONS OF MEN: "Most rules and traditions have their basis in a
principle or a belief. For example, the rule that says we should wear safety
glasses when using power tools is based on the safety principle that 'Prevention
is better than cure.' The rule is good in itself, but if the principle is better
served by wearing a face shield, then the rule of wearing safety glasses becomes
obsolete.
"The Pharisees had made traditions and rules around the
principles given in the Law of Moses. Essentially they were a hedge around the
law to prevent people from breaking the law, and in a way, it worked well. But
in other ways it went too far because the people lost sight of God's laws due to
all the other rules they had to watch out for. Jesus said to them, 'You have let
go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of
men.'
"We too can be governed by a multitude of rules and traditions
intended to help us serve God, but which occasionally become a burden or
hindrance. Our worship music, Bible version, dress code, times of meetings,
order of services or layout of a plan are all things that are based on
principles yet are often enforced by rules. So let us consider the principles
behind the rules and re-evaluate our standing before God" (RP).
Mar 7:11
CORBAN: Selfish Jews claimed that their possessions
were dedicated to God (ie Lev 1:2; 2:1; 3:1; Num 7:12-17) to avoid
responsibilities of caring for parents. The corban-gift could not be taken back,
or disavowed, for any reason at all!
WHAT COMES OUT OF A MAN: Cp Deu 23:13 (where
"excrement" is, lit, "that which comes out") with Mar 7:15,20,21 and Mat
15:18,19 (where sin is equated with excrement). In Deu 23 God is said to be
walking in the midst of the camp (as he is in Gen 3, in the midst of the
garden), and that He is too holy to look upon that which is "indecent". Could
this explain, in part, the need that Adam and Eve felt to cover themselves?
(Does this suggest that after their sin, for the first time, they have need to
relieve themselves, and this induces shame at the indecency -- hence the need to
"cover themselves": Gen 3:7?)
Mar 7:17
HIS DISCIPLES ASKED HIM ABOUT THIS PARABLE: They were
unwilling to accept Christ's revolutionary teaching as literal.
Mar 7:19
THEN OUT OF HIS BODY: The food does not "defile" the
man; the man "defiles" the food.
JESUS DECLARED ALL FOODS "CLEAN": What God has cleansed
is not common or unclean (Act 10:9-16,28). Cp Rom 14:14; 1Co 8:8.
Mar 7:20
A statement with broad application: all poss "sin" is that
(and only that) which comes out of a man's heart!
Mar 7:21
OUT OF MEN'S HEARTS: Lit, "heart". The heart, center of
thoughts, not emotions. One heart for all men. All human nature is in same
category.
Mar 7:22
ENVY: "An evil eye" (KJV). "When the Householder in the
parable rebukes the labourers who grudge the latecomers equal pay, he says, 'Is
thine eye evil, because I am good?' [Mat 20:15] Are they greedy and envious
because he is generous? The evil eye results from an attachment to earthly
treasure which corrupts the spirit and blinds the heart. The 'good' or 'single'
eye, on the other hand, is that of the liberal man whose vision is unclouded by
greed and his mind not divided by envy" (TM 210).
Mar 7:24
Christ purposefully went into lands of Gentiles, the very edge
of the Jewish "table" (Mat 15:27; Mar 7:28). To get disciples away from evil
influence of Pharisees (Mat 15:1; Mar 7:1)?
Mar 7:25
The only person to "best" Jesus in a battle of wits was a
Gentile (not a Jew), a woman (not a man).
At Jesus' feet, the place of: rest (Luk 8:35); pardon (Luk
7:38); healing (Luk 17:16); teaching (Luk 10:39); comfort (Joh 11:32);
intercession (Mar 7:25); and worship (Mat 28:9).
Mar 7:26
SYRIAN PHOENICIA: The most hated of Gentile nations --
a people whom the Jews were to exterminate (Deu 20:17). Called a woman of Canaan
in Mat 15:22.
Mar 7:27
LET THE CHILDREN EAT ALL THEY WANT: Or, "first be
filled" (AV). Implying others to be filled later, ie the Gentiles.
DOGS: "Kunarion", puppies, derived from "kuon", dogs.
"Indeed she showed one of the best qualities of a dog, in holding on and not
letting go until she got what she desired."
"The use of the noun 'kuon' in the disparaging sense in which
it appears throughout the NT must be distinguished from 'kunarion', the
diminutive form, which denoted the 'house dog' as distinct from the 'yard dog'
or the 'dog of the streets'. Jesus referred to the 'kunarion', or house dog, in
his discourse with the Gentile woman (Mat 15:26,27; Mark 7:27,28)"
(EBCn).
Mar 7:28
LORD: She also called him "Son of David" (Mat
15:22).
DOGS: She accepts his judgment: she is indeed a
"dog"!
THE CHILDREN'S CRUMBS: Cp baskets of fragments taken up
after feeding of 5,000 (Mat 14:19-21; Mar 6:33-44; 8:19; Luk 9:10-17; Joh
6:9-13) and the 4,000 (Mat 15:32-38; Mar 8:1-9,20). Neatly suggesting the Jewish
"children" are quite unappreciative of the good things they have, to let them
fall as crumbs from the table. ("It is better to feed a dog than a man, because
a dog is more grateful": Arabian proverb.)
Mar 7:29
One of Christ's miracles performed at a distance, all having
to do with Gentiles. Foreshadows "healing" of Gentiles by preaching of
gospel.
Mar 7:31
AND WENT THROUGH SIDON, DOWN TO THE SEA OF GALILEE AND INTO
THE REGION OF THE DECAPOLIS: This was the area where Legion, when he had
been healed, went talking about Jesus (Mark 5:20).
Mar 7:33
TOOK HIM ASIDE: Let us, like Moses, "turn aside to see
this great sight" (Exo 3:3).
SPIT: Humiliation, degradation (Isa 50:6; Mar 14:65;
15:19). Also, Num 12:14; Deu 27:9; Job 30:10.
All the occasions of Jesus touching, or being touched, in the
context of healing (notice that not one of them is in John's gospel): Mat
8:3,15; 9:20,21,29; 14:36; 17:7; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 3:10; 5:27,28,30,31; 6:56;
7:33; 8:22; 10:13; Luk 5:13; 6:19; 7:14,39; 8:44-47; 18:15; 22:51.
"The Lord God has given His Son the tongue of the learned that
he might speak a word in season to him that is weary. Sometimes our ears are
dull of hearing, and when they are we usually find that we have also an
impediment in our speech. To take us away from the multitude to the isolation of
a sick bed, or into that mental detachment which comes from solitude, is perhaps
the only way towards healing which will give us ears to hear the joyful sound of
his Gospel, and voice to speak forth his praise" (MP 204).
Silence was his settled policy for most of his ministry (Mat
9:30; 17:9; 12:16; Mar 1:34; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26; Luk 5:14), with one notable
exception (Mar 5:19 -- Legion with his family). But in last days of ministry, a
change of course (Mat 21:1-11; Joh 7:37; 9:3; 11:4). "If they whom the Lord
forbade to preach him could not keep silence, what should the zeal be of those
whom he has sent forth with a strict command to preach?" (WGos 352).