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Matthew 15

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Tradition vs. God's Command 1–9

1
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, ​
2
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. ​
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But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ​
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For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
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But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; ​
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And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. ​
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Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
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This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. ​
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But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

What Truly Defiles a Person 10–20

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And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: ​
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Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. ​
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Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? ​
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But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. ​
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Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. ​
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Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
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And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
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Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? ​
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But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. ​
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For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: ​
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These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman 21–28

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Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. ​
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And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. ​
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But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. ​
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But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
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Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
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But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. ​
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And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. ​
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Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. ​

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand 29–39

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And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. ​
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And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:
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Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. ​
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Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. ​
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And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
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And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
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And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
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And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. ​
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And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. ​
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And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
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And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Matthew 15

Verse 1

scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem — The scribes (grammateus, a writer, an expounder of the law) here come from the capital, as in Mark 3:22, 'the scribes which came down from Jerusalem'. Their question in v.2 concerns not Scripture's text but a received custom.

Verse 2

the tradition of the elders — Paradosis is what is handed down. Mark 7:3 explains the custom: the Pharisees and all the Jews, 'except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders'. The accusers charge the disciples with parabaino, going beyond a bound; Jesus returns the same verb in v.3.

Verse 3

transgress the commandment of God by your tradition — The verb is the accusers' own from v.2, parabaino, to step aside from a bound; Jesus turns it on them. The contrast is between 'the commandment of God' and 'your tradition'. Mark 7:8 puts it: 'laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men'.

Verse 5

It is a gift — Doron, a gift or offering. A son declaring his goods given to God could say to his parents that whatever help they might have had from him was so devoted. This set aside the commandment quoted in v.4 from Ex 20:12, 'Honour thy father and thy mother'.

Verse 6

of none effect — Akyroo, to deprive of authority, to void. Mark 7:13 has the same charge, 'Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition'. 'Honour' is timao, the verb of the commandment in v.4; the tradition freed a man from the very duty God named.

Verse 8

draweth nigh unto me with their mouth — Quoted from Isa 29:13, 'this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me'. The charge is not that the worship is absent but that it is lips only; Jesus applies the prophet's words to the men before him.

Verse 10

Hear, and understand — Syniemi, to put together in the mind. Jesus turns from the scribes and Pharisees to 'the multitude' and speaks the saying of v.11. Mark 7:14 gives the call more fully: 'Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand'.

Verse 11

defileth a man — Koinoo, to make common, that is, ceremonially unclean. The saying answers the charge about unwashed hands (v.2) by moving defilement from what is eaten to what is spoken. Mark 7:15 states it as 'There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him'.

Verse 12

the Pharisees were offended — Skandalizo, to trip up, from skandalon, the trap-stick of a snare. The Pharisees stumbled at the saying of v.11. The disciples report it, and Jesus does not retract it but answers with the figure of the plant in v.13.

Verse 13

Every plant — Phyteia, a planting; the verb 'planted' is phyteuo. God's own people are 'the branch of my planting' (Isa 60:21). What the Father has not planted is 'rooted up' (ekrizoo, pulled out by the root); compare John 15:2, 'Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away'.

Verse 14

blind leaders of the blind — Hodegos is a guide who shows the way. Jesus uses the saying again of the same men: 'Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel' (Matt 23:24); Luke 6:39 gives it as a parable. The 'ditch' (bothynos) is a pit or cistern.

Verse 17

the draught — Aphedron, a privy. Jesus answers by the plain course of food: it enters the 'belly' (koilia) and passes out, and never reaches the heart. Paul states the same limit: 'Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them' (1 Cor 6:13).

Verse 18

come forth from the heart — Words are the outflow of the heart, as Jesus says elsewhere: 'out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh' (Matt 12:34). Defilement is therefore a moral matter, traced to its source in the kardia, not to the mouth through which it passes.

Verse 19

evil thoughts — Dialogismos is inward reasoning or scheming, listed first as the root of the rest. Murder, adultery, theft and false witness follow the order of Ex 20:13–16; 'blasphemies' (blasphemia) closes the list with sins of speech. Mark 7:21–23 gives a longer catalogue of what 'come from within'.

Verse 21

departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon — Anachoreo, to withdraw. The region is that of the cities of Matt 11:21, where Jesus had said their people would have repented at his works. Mark 7:24 adds that he 'entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid'.

Verse 22

a woman of Canaan — Chananaia, a Canaanite; Mark 7:26 calls her 'a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation'. She addresses Jesus as 'Son of David', the title used by the blind men in Matt 9:27, and asks mercy (eleeo) for a daughter 'grievously vexed with a devil' (daimonizomai).

Verse 23

answered her not a word — The silence is stated plainly: logos, not a word. The disciples ask that she be dismissed (apolyo, to send away), as they had asked of the crowd in Matt 14:15. Their reason, 'she crieth after us', shows she kept following behind them.

Verse 26

dogs — Kynarion, a little dog, the household kind, not the word for a street dog. 'The children' are Israel, to whom 'pertaineth the adoption' and the covenants (Rom 9:4). Mark 7:27 gives the order: 'Let the children first be filled'.

Verse 27

Truth, Lord — Nai, yes: she grants his saying and argues from within it. The 'crumbs' (psichion, little bits) fall from the masters' table to the dogs beneath it; in Mark 7:28 she says, 'Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs'.

Verse 28

great is thy faith — Megas pistis. As with the centurion, 'as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee' (Matt 8:13), the healing is at a distance, and 'from that very hour' (hora) matches 'the selfsame hour' there. Both petitioners were outside Israel, and both are answered by a word.

Verse 29

went up into a mountain, and sat down there — Mark 7:31 places the journey 'through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis' to the sea of Galilee. Jesus ascends (anabaino) and sits, the teacher's posture of Matt 5:1, but here the multitudes come for healing, not for the sermon.

Verse 31

the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see — These are the signs of Isa 35:5–6: 'the eyes of the blind shall be opened… the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing'. The crowd 'glorified' (doxazo) 'the God of Israel', the God of the promise.

Verse 32

I have compassion — Splanchnizo, to be moved in the inward parts (splanchna), the verb used of Jesus' pity in Matt 14:14. Here he is the one who calls his disciples and states the need: three days with him, nothing to eat, and the danger of fainting on the way if they are sent off fasting.

Verse 36

gave thanks — Eucharisteo, to give thanks; the same verb as in John 6:11 at the feeding of the five thousand. The sequence of took, gave thanks, brake, gave is the one repeated at the supper: 'he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it' (Luke 22:19).

Verse 37

seven baskets full — The basket here is spyris, a woven hamper; at the five thousand it is a different word, kophinos, with 'twelve baskets' (Matt 14:20). Jesus later recalls both feedings and asks about the baskets of each, in the same two words (Matt 16:9–10). All 'were filled' (chortazo), and fragments remained besides.

Verse 39

the coasts of Magdala — Magdala is of Aramaic origin, meaning 'the tower'. Mark 8:10 names the same landing 'the parts of Dalmanutha'. Jesus sends the multitude away (apolyo) and crosses by boat; the next chapter opens with Pharisees and Sadducees coming to ask a sign (Matt 16:1).