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BIBLE STUDY LESSON 15

SERIES R --- THE GOOD SHEPHERD

OPEN CONFLICT

WHAT MAKES US CLEAN?

From Mark 7:1-23

Once some Pharisees came to Yeshua, along with a delegation of other religious leaders from Jerusalem. They had watched Yeshua’ disciples eating their food without the usual ceremonial washing which these leaders required. These Pharisees had a tradition that they had received from their ancestors which they passed on to all the Jews. No Jew was to eat without first washing his hands in a certain way, nor was he to eat anything bought at the market without first purifying it by sprinkling. This was only one of the many customs which they practiced, such as washing cups, pots, pans, and other pottery in the required way. [Why don’t Your disciples follow the customs of our people, instead of eating with unclean hands?] the Pharisees and religious leaders asked Yeshua. [Isaiah said the right words about you,] Yeshua answered. [Here is what he said: ‘These people can say nice words about the Adonai, but they don’t honour Him with their hearts. Their worship is empty, for they teach their own rules as though they were YHVH’s Laws.’ Don’t you realize that you have given up YHVH’s Laws, just so you can teach man-made traditions?] Yeshua told them, [You have cleverly substituted your own customs for YHVH’s Commandments. For example, Moses gave you a Commandment from YHVH that you should honour your father and mother and that anyone who says evil against his parents must die. But you twist this around by saying that you can’t help your needy parents because you have given all that you have to YHVH. In this way, you ignore YHVH’s Laws so that you can hold on to man-made customs. There are many other examples that I could give, too!] Then Yeshua called to the crowd to listen to Him. [Pay attention to Me, now!] He said. [Nothing that goes into a person from the outside will make him unclean. No, it is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. If you have ears, you should listen!] When Yeshua left the people, He went into a house. There the disciples asked Him what He meant by the things He had just said. [Don’t you understand this anymore than the crowd?] Yeshua asked. [Isn’t it clear that the food you eat will not defile you? Food goes into your stomach, not your heart, and then passes on through the body. No food will make you unclean. It is not what a man puts into his body, but what he takes out of his heart, that makes him unclean. From the heart come the evil thoughts that cause men to lust, kill, steal, desire what others have, do wicked deeds, deceive, slander, or to become proud or foolish. All of these evil things come from within a man and defile him.]

COMMENTARY

THE PHARISEES AND THEIR RULES

The very word {Pharisees} makes people think of the men Yeshua called hypocrites. He compared them to whitewashed tombs that seem clean on the outside but are filled with rotten bones within. Yeshua’ words made the Pharisees very angry, because during New Testament times they were much respected for their obedience to the law. Their anger at Yeshua’ criticism drove them to plot ways to get rid of Him. They wanted to trap Him so that He would be put to death. But not everyone who was a Pharisee was involved in the plot to kill Yeshua. There were some men among them who were honestly trying to lead pious, devout lives. The name {Pharisee} meant {One Who is Separate,} and they wanted to live up to the name by being more strictly observant of the Law -- as they understood it -- than anyone else around them. Nicodemus was one such honest Pharisee. He truly wanted to obey YHVH, and he went to Yeshua because he believed that Yeshua was sent by YHVH. But Nicodemus had to make his visit at night, because he was afraid of his fellow Pharisees and their plot against Yeshua. The Pharisees recognized two kinds of religious Law. The first was the {written Law,} those Commandments YHVH gave to the Israelites through Moses. The second was the {oral law,} This had been handed on by word of mouth through many generations of rabbis. To the Pharisees, it was important and necessary to observe the oral Law. The oral Law was made up of many rules and regulations that covered almost all the activities of the people. They were much more detailed than YHVH’s Commandments. Religious men had created them because they wanted to build a kind of {hedge} or shield around the written Law. If a person followed all the hundreds of little rules, he would be shielded from accidentally breaking YHVH’s written Law. That is one reason why Pharisees wanted to follow them so carefully. For instance, YHVH Commanded that the seventh day was the Shabbat, and that men should rest from their work on that day. The Pharisees were so afraid of accidentally disobeying YHVH that they made up rules that explained what actions were considered {work.} They would not light a fire on the Shabbat. Their children were not permitted to comb their hair. Flies could not be swatted. As time passed, the Pharisees made the mistake of thinking their man-made rules were just as important as YHVH’s Laws, and perhaps even more so. They put their regulations before anything else, even the health of their families. A child with a sore throat could not gargle on the Shabbat. A sick man could be prevented from getting worse, but to heal him was work. The Pharisees also prohibited their members from doing simple, enjoyable things on the Shabbat. They could not go for a walk or visit a friend if they had to travel more than two thousand cubits from their households. That distance -- almost one and a half miles -- was known as the Shabbat day’s journey. But the Pharisees had yet another rule that helped them get around their own Shabbat-travel restrictions. A man’s household was declared to be anywhere that he owned property. To stretch the borders of his household, a Pharisee who planned a long Shabbat-day journey sent his servant ahead the day before. At distances of two thousand cubits, the servant left behind some possession from his master’s household. That allowed the Pharisee to travel the whole distance -- without ever being more than {a Shabbat day’s journey} of two thousand cubits from some portion of his household. The Pharisees also used their Laws to condemn Yeshua as a Lawbreaker. They denounced Him for healing people on the Shabbat. They condemned His disciples for eating grain from the fields on the day of rest. The disciples who picked the kernels of wheat from their stalks, said the Pharisees, were actually harvesting on the Shabbat day. The Pharisees believed that if they lived in perfect obedience to YHVH, it would bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth. They thought that if they were devout and pious enough, if they followed all the Laws they knew, YHVH would send them His Moshiach. Yet when the Moshiach came, the very man-made laws they had come to love prevented them from understanding Him. Yeshua called them {blind guides leading the blind} because they continued to look for YHVH’s Saviour when He was already among them.

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