Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Mark 7:1-23, Washed hands and the tradition of the elders
Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem object that Jesus' disciples eat with unwashed hands. Jesus answers that what defiles comes from inside.
Mark 7:1-23, in every translation this tool compares.
Mark stops to explain the washing customs for readers who do not know them. The visitors ask why the disciples ignore the tradition of the elders; Jesus answers with Isaiah and an example about dedicating money to God instead of supporting parents. Then he tells the crowd that nothing going into a person can make them unclean, and Mark draws the conclusion that all foods are clean.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/teachers-of-the-law\/","n":"Teachers of the law","s":"Trained experts in the law of Moses, also called scribes, some local and some from Jerusalem, who taught by citing earlier teachers.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/unclean-by-touch\/","n":"Unclean by touch","s":"Under the law, skin disease, bleeding, corpses, tombs and certain animals made a person ritually unclean, and touch could pass it on.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
On Corban, Keener notes that property could be vowed to the temple and so made off limits to others, and that some used this to keep from others, including aged parents, what should have cared for them. Wright compares it to a tax accountant finding a loophole. The Letter of Aristeas, older than the first century, already has Jews washing their hands before prayer, and the Essenes immersed their whole bodies before eating (Garland). The Corban vow barred the parents from benefiting from the property while the son kept it (Garland).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Mark 7:1, 7:3, 7:4, 7:5, 7:7 and 7:11
- N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone, comments on Mark 7:1-13 and Mark 7:14-23
- David E. Garland, Mark, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Mark 7:3 and 7:11
