Mark7

Jesus confronts the Pharisees and scribes for prioritizing human traditions over God's commandments, particularly regarding ritual washing and the Corban vow. He then teaches the multitude that true defilement comes from the evil within a man's heart, not from external things. Following this, Jesus travels to Tyre and Sidon, where he heals a Syrophoenician woman's daughter, and later, in Decapolis, he miraculously restores hearing and speech to a deaf man.

Debate Over Tradition and Defilement

1
The P'rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua ​
2
and saw that some of his talmidim ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n'tilat-yadayim.
3
(For the P'rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing. ​
4
Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)
5
The P'rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, "Why don't your talmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"
6
Yeshua answered them, "Yesha`yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites -- as it is written, `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. ​
7
Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.'
8
"You depart from God's command and hold onto human tradition. Indeed," ​
9
he said to them, "you have made a fine art of departing from God's command in order to keep your tradition!
10
For Moshe said, `Honor your father and your mother,' and `Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
11
But you say, `If someone says to his father or mother, "I have promised as a korban" ' " (that is, as a gift to God) " ` "what I might have used to help you," ' ​
12
then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.
13
Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this." ​

What Truly Defiles a Person

14
Then Yeshua called the people to him again and said, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand this! ​
15
There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!" ​
16
"Anyone who has ears that can hear, let him hear!"
17
When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidim asked him about the parable. ​
18
He replied to them, "So you too are without understanding? Don't you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean?
19
For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine." (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.) ​
20
"It is what comes out of a person," he went on, "that makes him unclean.
21
For from within, out of a person's heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ​
22
greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness...
23
All these wicked things come from within, and they make a person unclean."

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

24
Next, Yeshua left that district and went off to the vicinity of Tzor and Tzidon. There he found a house to stay in and wanted to remain unrecognized, but keeping hidden proved impossible. ​
25
Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit in her came to him and fell down at his feet.
26
The woman was a Greek, by birth a Syro-phoenician, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. ​
27
He said, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's food and toss it to their pet dogs." ​
28
She answered him, "That is true, sir; but even the dogs under the table eat the children's leftovers." ​
29
Then he said to her, "For such an answer you may go on home; the demon has left your daughter." ​
30
She went back home and found the child lying on the couch, the demon gone.

Healing the Deaf and Mute Man

31
Then he left the district of Tzor and went through Tzidon to Lake Kinneret and on to the region of the Ten Towns. ​
32
They brought him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and asked Yeshua to lay his hand on him.
33
Taking him off alone, away from the crowd, Yeshua put his fingers into the man's ears, spat, and touched his tongue; ​
34
then, looking up to heaven, he gave a deep groan and said to him, "Hippatach!" (that is, "Be opened!"). ​
35
His ears were opened, his tongue was freed, and he began speaking clearly.
36
Yeshua ordered the people to tell no one; but the more he insisted, the more zealously they spread the news. ​
37
People were overcome with amazement. "Everything he does, he does well!" they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!" ​

Study Notes for Mark 7

Verse 1

The arrival of Pharisees and scribes specifically from Jerusalem indicates that this is an official, high-level challenge to Jesus’ authority and teaching methods.

Verse 3

Mark, writing primarily for a Gentile audience, pauses to explain the Jewish custom of ritual washing (not hygiene), which was based on the 'tradition of the elders' rather than the Mosaic Law itself.

Verse 6

Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13, using prophetic Scripture to indict his accusers for their hypocrisy. They prioritize external, visible piety over genuine, internal devotion to God.

Verse 8

This verse summarizes Jesus' critique: by elevating human tradition to the level of divine command, they had effectively sidelined God’s true will.

Verse 11

Corban means 'a dedicated gift' or 'offering.' This tradition allowed a person to dedicate money to the Temple, thereby making it unavailable to support aging parents, violating the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12).

Verse 13

Jesus demonstrates how religious rules, when based on human authority, can become instruments that actively undermine the clear moral obligations of God’s written Law.

Verse 14

Jesus shifts his address from the religious elite (the scribes) to the general public, teaching a profound principle accessible to all who would listen.

Verse 15

This statement is revolutionary, shifting the source of defilement from external ritual and diet (Mosaic Law) to internal moral condition (the heart). This paved the way for the later abolition of the Jewish food laws.

Verse 17

The disciples, still bound by traditional understanding, struggled with this radical teaching and needed private explanation from Jesus.

Verse 19

Mark adds a parenthetical explanation here, clarifying that Jesus' teaching rendered all foods clean. This is a crucial theological point for the early church’s mission to the Gentiles.

Verse 21

Jesus provides a comprehensive list of sins, identifying the 'heart' (the inner life and will) as the true factory of moral corruption and evil.

Verse 24

Jesus moves into Gentile territory (Tyre and Sidon), signaling the expansion of his ministry beyond the strict borders of Israel. His desire for privacy suggests a period of rest or focused teaching for the disciples.

Verse 26

The woman is identified as a Greek (culturally) and Syrophoenician (nationally), explicitly marking her as a Gentile outside the covenant promises of Israel.

Verse 27

Jesus affirms the priority of his mission to Israel ('the children'). The term 'dogs' (kynaria) is a diminutive, likely meaning 'house pets,' softening the analogy compared to a wild dog, but still indicating the Gentiles' secondary place at that time.

Verse 28

The woman’s response shows extraordinary humility and deep faith. She accepts the analogy but argues for the overflowing abundance of God’s grace, which extends even to the 'crumbs' meant for Gentiles.

Verse 29

Jesus commends her bold and persistent faith. This interaction serves as an early sign that the benefits of the kingdom would soon be extended fully to the Gentiles.

Verse 31

Jesus travels back toward Galilee, moving through the Decapolis, a region largely populated by Gentiles. This geography confirms his ongoing ministry to non-Jewish people.

Verse 33

Jesus often used physical actions (touching, spitting, isolating the man) in his healings. These actions were likely intended to communicate compassion and power to a man who could not hear verbal instructions.

Verse 34

Jesus looks up to heaven, acknowledging the source of his power, and speaks the Aramaic word 'Ephphatha' ('Be opened'). Mark includes the original Aramaic to emphasize the specific, immediate, and authoritative command of Christ.

Verse 36

Jesus frequently commanded silence (the 'Messianic Secret') to manage expectations about his role and to prevent premature conflict with authorities, though this command was often ignored.

Verse 37

The crowd’s astonishment reflects the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 35:5-6, where the Messiah is expected to open the ears of the deaf and loosen the tongue of the mute.

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