night. "When the Lord shall build up Zion He will appear in His glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer." He is on the mountain apart praying, ever living to make intercession for us. He suddenly appears in the time of urgent necessity, and anon the toiling rowers are at the haven where they would be.-Trench. Mark relates that "He would have passed them by." This appearance of things to them, served only to draw out their entreaties. So is it often with the church. He never has an intent like 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. this; for He will not depart from us to do us good, but He will often hide His face, or seem to turn aside. The bride must say, come! "Though Christ appeared at the proper time for rendering assistance, yet the storm did not immediately cease till the disciples were more fully aroused to desire and expect His grace."-Calvin. (3.) They who trust the more, are the more powerfully kept. They who have begun to trust in grace, says Bengel, can the less use nature. Peter feared. He had not thought to swim, but to walk to Christ, the Lord helping. From our Lord's third Passover until His final Departure from Galilee at the Feast of Tabernacles. CHAPTER XV. Time-six months. Moses to Joshua, and so down to their time. A collection of these they pre § 67. OUR LORD JUSTIFIES HIS DIS- tend to have in the Mishna, contain CIPLES FOR EATING WITH UNWASHEN HANDS. Pharisaic traditions.-Capernaum. Matt. Mark. 15. 1-20 | 7. 1-23 Luke. John. ing various precepts and customs of the elders, handed down as binding on their generations. This was one of the traditions: That it was unlawful to eat with unwashen hands. And 1. Of Jerusalem. The most distin-one Rabbi asserted that neglect of guished of their body from Jerusa- washing was a greater sin than lem came, probably, to watch and en- whoredom; another, that it was better snare Him. to die than to omit it. Traditions cannot be of equal authority with documents written by inspiration, as the Scriptures. (See Greenleaf on the Evangelists. Appendix, No. 2.) The very existence and use of Scripture is to dispense with traditions. 2. Tradition of the Elders. By the Elders here, is meant the ancients; and their "tradition" is what they handed down; any precept or custom as taught to them, and to be observed by their successors. The Jews held that there was an oral or veroal law, of indefinite antiquity, unwritten, but delivered by God to Moses, and by | said, Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 3 But he answered and unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition ?b C 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, Hed that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me: 6 And honour note his father or his mother, he shall be free. b Col.2.8,23. Tit.1.14. c Ex.20.12. De.5.16. d Ex. 21.17. Le.20.9. e De.27.16. ments of God. He gives an instance as to the fifth commandment. Men are willing to make void God's law. They are prone to be governed more by current maxims than by Divine precepts. The use of traditions among men, is mostly to set aside the Scrip tures. 4. Honour. This includes respect, obedience and support. T Curseth. Revileth. (Exodus 21. 17. Levit. 20. 9.) God's law has always been most rigorous and severe against filial ingratitude or disrespect. The language is here the strongest possible, "denoting a capital punishment of the worst sort."-Bloomfield. T Let him die the death. "Let him be put to death without mercy." God commanded. Exod. 20. 12-17. They pleaded for traditions, the honour due to their ancestry. Christ takes this very commandment on this point. 5. A gift. Corban, is the Hebrew word meaning gift, and Mark has the word as it is in Hebrew; that is, their | word which they used. It means a consecrated offering, a thing devoted to God. When they put any thing out of their power for a sacred use, they called it corban, dedicated. And this tradition was, that they who, to avoid doing their parents a benefit, should say, as a pretext, that what they had and might help them with, was f 7 Ye hypocrites! well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines & the commandments of men. 10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: f Is.29.13. g Col.2.22. corban, that is, devoted to God, should go free. Thus they encouraged filial ingratitude and hypocrisy, by authorizing the use of a religious term, as a release from filial obligation. 7. Hypocrites. Because both in their zeal for forms of worship and in their pious pretensions for an excuse of pious actions they were full of hypocrisy. God hates filial ingratitude. Christ was a son. He hates vain worship. 8,9. People. (Isa. 29. 13.) Though the prophet spoke of the Jews in his own time, his language still applied prophetically to these, for they were one with those ancient hypocrites. It was a prophecy, remotely, of their character as a nation. 1st. They were insincere and heartless in their worship. It was with their lips-no lack of profession and words. This made it more hypocritical as there was so little in deed and truth. 2d. They followed the commandments (or institutions, ordinances) of men, as the doctrines and law of God. "Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men" (Isa. 29. 13). The commandments of God are to be distinguished from the traditions of men in this, that they are found in the Scripture. Traditions, however, are now enjoined and regarded as authoritative by the Romish church. 11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. 12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were of fended, after they heard this saying? 13 But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. h Ac. 10.15. Ro. 14.14-20. 1Tim, 4.4. Tit.1.15. i Jno.15.2,6. ↑ c.23.16. Lu.6.39. Their error is, that they set up something as binding on the conscience and practice which God has not enjoined, and these usually have the effect to set aside the precepts of revelation. The word of God in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. 15. This parable-or saying, viz. : this last about meats. "When He was entered into the house (says Mark 11, 12. Christ here states a general from the people, His disciples asked Him truth, that it is not the eating or not, in-especially Peter, who was deeply itself, which is the moral pollution, attached to the law and its injunctions. but something from within the man; that is, that sin is not from without, a | thing of externals and ceremonies, of contact and observance, or uncleanness of the flesh, but a thing of the heart. The source of all our corruption is in the evil nature within. Yet Pharisees and proud formalists of every age are offended at this sentiment. 16, 17. Are ye also yet, &c. Mark has it, "Are ye so without understanding also ?" Christ means to represent by this distinction, that the pollution of sin comes from the heart, and not from outside distinctions of clean and unclean, washings, &c. 19. Out of the heart. These dreadful sins have their origin in the heart. They spring from depraved princi13, 14. As they were offended, and ples deep.y seated within. An evil the disciples seem to have been dis- nature in us, is the root of all corturbed by this (vs. 12), Christ took ruption. All evil is there before it occasion to lay down this doctrine: breaks out into acts.-Evil thoughts. that only the truth can ultimately tri- The word means reasonings or umph, and that such a course of in- trivances."-Campbell. This is a genfatuation and delusion as the Phari-eral declaration that actual transgressees pursued, would issue in ruin. Christians need not be over-much concerned, nor make battle always con sions, of all kinds, even the most horrid and malignant, come from this seat in the bosom. Who can deny me, O 20 These are the things which | ing, Have mercy on defile a man: but to eat with Lord, thou son of David!" my unwashen hands defileth not a daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. man. man's native depravity, or that it is 68. THE DAUGHTER OF A SYROPHEentire ? NICIAN WOMAN IS HEALED.-Region of Tyre and Sidon. Matt. Mark. 15. 21-28 17.24–30 Luke. John. 21. The coasts of Tyre and Sidon. These cities were of Phenicia, in the north-west part of Palestine, on the sea-coast. They were in the northwest direction from Jerusalem, and distant from it some 90 to 100 geographical miles. He departed to the confines (or " borders," Mark) of that heathen country. 20. These are, &c. The natural state of the human heart is desperately wicked, "deceitful above all things," an unknown depth of iniquity. Evil acts have their character from the inward tempers. Bad deeds springing from an evil nature are the real defilement. Such being the disease, the remedy must be Divine and Omnipotent. No power but that which made the soul, can renew its fallen nature, We are urged by this to an immediate seeking of Christ 22. A woman of Canaan. Mark for the new birth-" Create in me a calls her a Greek, and says she was clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51). It "a Syrophenician by nation" (among is not man's will that renews, for it is whom she dwelt); that is, from Phethe will that is renewed. "Thy peo-nicia, which was connected with the ple shall be willing. "Born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1). OBSERVE, (1.) The maxims that sanction filial ingratitude or disrespect, God especially hates. The Apostle notes it as a mark of perilous times, when youth shall be disobedient to parents (2 Tim. 3. 1), and yet he prophecies that in the last days such times "shall come." Wo to the children of such a character. (2.) Men may adopt a religion of rites and Vows, even, to escape a religion of the heart and life, and these hate Christ's doctrine, which exposes them. But the true religion will at length prevail. (3.) So far from all sin consisting in acts, all acts of evil have their sinfulness in the heart. province of Syria, under the Roman government: yet a Canaanite, that is, belonging to the people of Canaan. The country was taken by Alexander the Great, and in the time of Christ, these were Greek cities. They called all foreign nations GREEKS. Our Lord's fame was abroad in Syria (4. 24). Attention is here called to her nation, because this is a remarkable instance of grace to the Gentiles. It appears from Mark that He had gone into a house, wishing not to be known; But the ointment bewrayeth ulself. Came out of. For Christ did not enter those coasts. 24. I am not sent but unto, &c. He meant that His mission was first of all to the Jews, rather than to the Gentiles, of which she was one. (Comp. ch. 10, 5 and 6.) This refer 25 Then came she, and wor- | which fall from their masters' shipped him, saying, Lord, help me! 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. q 27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs q c.7.6. Re.22.15. red to His own personal ministry on earth. (Rom. 15. 8, 9.) 25. Worshipped Him, &c. She promptly paid Him divine honour, and acknowledged Him as Lord. This was remarkable for a Gentile. 26. It is not meet, or proper.T The children's bread. The Jews' peculiar privileges. They were ranked as the Children of God-His peculiar people-His house. The gospel blessings were termed their bread, not to be wasted upon others; and as compared with them, the Gentiles are here termed dogs (See Psalm 87. 6). See the commission to the twelve: "Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," not to the Samaritans (10. 5, 6). This was designed not merely to test and draw out her earnestness and faith, but also to show the true order of His work. He would not vex her, but He would call public attention to the fact that she was a heathen and that His work was first with the Jews, yet not so as utterly to exclude the Gentiles, but to receive them by faith. 27. Truth, Lord. "Certainly, let the Jews have the children's bread; this will not prevent my getting the crumbs, if I am a dog, as is true also." Or the rendering may be, "I beseech Thee, Lord, for indeed the dogs," &c. See Phil. 3. 2. Rev. 22. 15. Be it so, that I am a dog, and let me be served as such, with the leavings or the overflowings. 28. Great is thy faith. He pronounced her confidence uncommon, notable ! It persevered so. It hoped table. against hope. It would take no denial. Mark has it: "for this saying, go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter." He who said, "I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me, was called by that peculiar name, "Israel," ""a Prince of God." This is the true Israel. This case illusHe is not a Jew who is one outwardly. tions of Christ's work. Here, as with trated to the people the precise relathe Centurion and the Samaritan leper, He hinted that the Gentiles would more readily receive the gospel than God for Christ's sake, and lo! the the Jews. Strong faith prevails with faithful Gentiles are now of Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. OBSERVE, (1.) That Christ doth sometimes delay to return an answer times His people do not pray earnestto a well-qualified prayer. Somely enough. Sometimes they pray too earnestly for an outward and temporal mercy. Sometimes the mercy they pray for is not good for them, or may be is not yet good for them. Let us not then judge of God's hearing prayer by His present answer (vs. 23). (2.) Christ puts the strongest faith of His own children upon the severest trials. The trial had never been so sharp if her faith had not been so strong.-Burkitt. He who seemed to repel, in words, still drew her by His Spirit. (3.) Christ loves to be followed with faith and importunity. (4.) Humility grants the very worst as to our case, and yet the faith in Christ triumphs. |