Mark 7:10

10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’

Mark 7:10 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 7:10

For Moses said
That is, God by Moses; for the following precept was spoken by God, and written by him on one of the tables of stone, and delivered into the hands of Moses, to be given to the children of Israel:

honour thy father and thy mother,
( Exodus 20:12 ) , the sanction of which law is,

and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death,
( Exodus 21:17 ) . As the former of these commands is to be understood, not only of honouring parents in thought, word, and deed, but also of providing for them, when in want and distress, through poverty and old age; so the latter is to be interpreted, not merely of wishing or imprecating the most dreadful things upon parents, which some may not be guilty of, and yet transgress this command; but likewise of every slight put upon them, and neglect of them, when in necessitous circumstances: and both these laws were broken by the Jews, through their tradition hereafter mentioned; (See Gill on Matthew 15:4).

Mark 7:10 In-Context

8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.

10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’

11 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’

12 In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents.

Footnotes

• [a]. Exod 20:12 ; Deut 5:16 .
• [b]. Exod 21:17 (Greek version); Lev 20:9 (Greek version).