The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 94

in ver 6, 1<al, then ,tJCh a one tm1l not honour trines." Their worship is vitinted at its ( -r,µ{1d "• not nl'f,crp), eto. The words a.re very root. Commandments of meu. Thie ia beat h..ken e.e put into the Phe.rieees' mouth Christ's designation of rabbinical troditiona in the senae, "The man under thoee oiroum- (oomp. Ool. ii. 22). stanc<'s shall not honour," eto.; he is free Ver. 10.-He oalled the multitude. Jesus from the obligation of helping his parents. had now .fina.Jly broken with the Pha.rieaioa.l The form of the aentenoe (ob µ+, with the party ; he had carried the war into their future verb) is prohibitory rather than pre- oamp. It was necessary that those who bad dicti ve, and implies, "he is forbidden to followed these fa.Jee teachers should know, honour." Cliriat thus sharply emphasizes on _the one hand,_to what irreligion, immo- the contradiction between God's Le.w and raltty, and profamty their dootrines led, and me.n's prrYcrsion thereof. St. Me.rk has, on the other, should learn the unadulterai;J " Ye no longer suffer him to do augl.it for truth, "pure religion and undefiled before his father." Thus; ,ctr.l in the e.podosis, our God and Father." So he oalle around removing tlie full et.op before it in the him the crowd of commou people, who from Authorized Version. Thie is our Lord's respeot had st.ood aloof during the previous own saying. Made . , . of none effect. controversy, and teaohes them a great morel Erncuated it.s reo.l force and spirit. By; truth which concerns every human being. owin~ to, for the sake of, e.s St. Ma.rk says, Hea.r, and understand. The distinction "that ye may keep your tradition." Our which he was a.bout to enunciate was diffl. translators often mistake the meaning of cult for persons trained in Pha.risaice.l the preposition i,a with the aocusative, dogmas to receive and understand; he which never signifies" by mea.ne of." therefore calls special attention to his Yer. 7.-Y e hypooritu. He called them coming words. The depreciation of cere- by this name becauee, while they pretended monial clea.nsings might easily be misunder- that zeal for God's glory led them to these et.ood. Jesus would say-There is indeed explanations and o.mpli.fioa.tions of the Law, cleansing necessary for all men; but it doe1 they were really in.tluenced by covetousness not consist in outward washings, but in and arnrice, and virtually despised that inward holiness. In what follows, our Lord which they professed to uphold. A Jewish ea.ye nothing definitely a.bout the distinotion proverb said that if hypocrites were divided between clean and unolea.n meats laid down into ten parties, nine of them would be found in the Mosaic Law; he would only show in Jerusdem, and one in the rest of the that impurity in the moral sense oame from world. Well did Esai&s prophesy of you within. Thie is leading up to the principle (Isa. xxi..x.. 13). That is, their conduct enunciated by the apostle, "Every creature fulfilled the ea.ying of the prophet, DB eh. of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, xiii. 14. Such " prophecies" were for all if it he received with thanksgiving; for it time, and were suitable for va.rious circum- is sanctified through the Word of God e.nd stances, characters, and ,events. Christ is prayer" (I Tim. iv. 4, 5), wont to fortify hls arguments by the authority Ver. ll.-Not that which goeth into the of Scripture, often rather explaining the mouth defileth a man. The word rendered mind of the Spirit than quoting the e:z:a.ct "defileth" ( ,co.,,o'i) means •• renders common," word>!. in opposition to a:y,a.(••"• "to separate" for Yer. 8.-The quotation is from the Septua- God's use; hence the verb, ethically applied, gint Version, with a. slight variation from signifies "to contract guilt." The rabbis the text at the end. The Hebrew also taught tha1i certain meats of themeel ves pol- differs a little; bat the general meaning is luted the soul, made it abominable in God's not affected. With their mouth. They eight. Thie wae a perversion of the law respeot- nse the prescribed forms of womhip, guard ing clean and unclean food. The pollution or with much care the letter of Scripture, guilt arose, not from the nature of the meat, observe its legal and ceremonial enact- but from the eating of it in contravention men ts, are strict in the practice of e.11 of a. positive command. It was the dis- lUtward formalities. But their heart. obedience, not the food, which affected the Thls is what the prophets so constantly soul. It is remarkable that these distinctions object. Prayers, sa.crifices, etc., are alto- of meats still obtain among half the civilized g<:ther unaccepte.ble unless inspired by in- inhabitants of the world-Buddhists, Hin• ward devotion, and o.ccompanied by purity doos, Mohammedans--e.nd that one of tae of heart. hardest tasks of Christian missionaries ia to Ver. 9.-But in vain, eto. The Hebrew make men understand the non-importance gives, "And their fear of me is a command- of these di1ferencea. We do not eee the.t ment of men which bath been ta.ughithem," Christ here abrogated the Levitical Law, or "learned by rote" (.Revised Venion). but he certainly prepared the way for its 8<-ptuagi.nt, "In vain do they womhip me, supereession and transformation. But he t,·,,.,.:, 'ni men's oomme.ndmeni1 and doc- made no suduen a.nu violent change in thu  en. xv.1-39.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 97