Mark 7:2

2 They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean - that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

Mark 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:2

And when they saw some of his disciples
An opportunity soon offered of giving them an handle against him: for observing some of his disciples to sit down to meat, they took notice that they

eat bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands,
and they found fault;
with them, and charged them with the breach of the traditions of the elders, and took an occasion from hence of quarrelling with Christ. The Jews use the same phrase the evangelist here does, and interpret it in just the same manner: so, speaking of things eaten, (twbawom Mydyb) , "with defiled hands"; that is, says the commentator ^F9, it is all one as if it was said, (Mydy tlyjn alb) , "without washing of hands"; which was esteemed a very great crime, and especially if done in a contemptuous way: for they say ^F11,

``he that despiseth washing of hands, shall be rooted out of the world; for in it is the secret of the decalogue:''

and particularly to eat with unwashed hands, was unpardonable in a disciple of a wise man; for they looked upon this to be the characteristic of one of the vulgar people, a common and illiterate man: for they ask ^F12,

``who is one of the people of the earth, or a plebeian? he that does not eat his common food with purity.''

By this also they distinguished a Jew from a Gentile; if he washed his hands, and blessed, he was known to be an Israelite, but if not, a Gentile ^F13; (See Gill on Matthew 15:2).

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Bartenora in Misn. Cholin, c. 2. sect. 5.
F11 Zoharin Numb fol. 100. 3.
F12 T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 61. 1.
F13 Bevaidbar Rabba, fol. 228. 4.

Mark 7:2 In-Context

1 Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus.

2 They noticed that some of his disciples were eating their food with hands that were ritually unclean - that is, they had not washed them in the way the Pharisees said people should.

3 (For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;

4 nor do they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they follow many other rules which they have received, such as the proper way to wash cups, pots, copper bowls, and beds. )

5 So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"