Mark 7:12

12 thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother.

Mark 7:12 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:12

And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father, or
his mother.
] According to the Jewish canons F23, if a man vowed a thing which is contrary to a command, he was obliged to keep his vow, and break the command: thus, if a man vowed that his father or his mother should never receive any benefit from what he had, but that his substance was as "Corban", or as any thing devoted to divine service, he was obliged to keep his vow; nor was he allowed after this to do any thing for his father, or mother, however poor or helpless they might be; unless he applied to a wise man to revoke his vow, or to give him liberty to do it; for he could not do it of himself, as wicked as it was; and though he might heartily repent of it, and was ever so willing to make it null and void: and though a dissolution it by a wise man was allowed of, yet hereby they set up their own power and authority against God, and his law; they did not rescind the vow, because it was contrary to the command of God: for notwithstanding its being contrary to the command of God, it was to be observed, though to the breaking of that, unless loosed by a wise man, at the man's request; whereby they established their magisterial power and authority, without any regard to the honour and glory of God; and therefore what follows, is justly observed by our Lord; (See Gill on Matthew 15:5).


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Maimon. Hilch. Nedarim, c. 3. sect. 1.

Mark 7:12 In-Context

10 Moses said, 'Respect your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.'
11 But you weasel out of that by saying that it's perfectly acceptable to say to father or mother, 'Gift! What I owed you I've given as a gift to God,'
12 thus relieving yourselves of obligation to father or mother.
13 You scratch out God's Word and scrawl a whim in its place. You do a lot of things like this."
14 Jesus called the crowd together again and said, "Listen now, all of you - take this to heart.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.