Mark 7:1-16 Then came together to him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.… But it was always in connection with some very definite cause; being required either (1) because of physical pollution which had been gathered, or (2) in connection with moral consecration which was purposed.The priests at consecration were washed. So was the leper after his recovery, and so were all after defilement or contact with those defiled. But the tradition of the elders had come to require as many washings in a day as Moses would have required in a month. The secret of this development lay in the adoption of the principle of "The Hedge," i.e., something which guarded the Law by prohibiting not only actions forbidden, but all actions which might by any possibility lead to them. Accordingly, because Moses said that he who was defiled by contact with a corpse should wash, they held it was well to wash always after being out of doors, as you might have touched someone who might have touched some one or something dead...Thus life became a very slavery. Of course "the common people," as they were contemptuously styled, could not afford either time, or thought, or money, to practise such scruples. But a great number associated themselves together, calling themselves "Haberim," or "Comrades," to observe these scruples. The Pharisees belonged to this society, of course, to a man. (R. Glover.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.WEB: Then the Pharisees, and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem. |
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