Jesus defends Mosaic law

In the last few days we have seen that the early church continued to believe that Jewish followers of Jesus should keep kosher.  Long after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the Jerusalem Council suggested the same.  So did Peter when, years after Jesus had returned to heaven, he had his vision of unclean animals descending on a sheet.  So that was one disconnect: If Jesus declared all foods clean even for Jews, why did his Jewish followers continue to keep kosher?

Then we saw that Mark’s gospel was clearly addressed to a Gentile audience.  (Notice that in Mark 7 below Mark translates a Hebrew word for his readers, a word that a Jewish audience would already know.) So some scholars maintain that Jesus’ declaration about foods being cleansed is for and about Gentiles, that there are no unclean foods for them because Gentiles never were–and still are not– bound by kosher laws.

Now let’s go to the actual text of Mark 7, to get a full sense of what precedes this declaration in 19b. I will render the Greek in wooden fashion, word by word, to get you closer to the actual text.

1 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes came to him from Jerusalem.  2 And having seen some of his disciples that with defiled [lit., “common”] hands, that is unwashed, they ate their loaves of bread–3 for the Pharisees and all the Judeans [this is usually translated “Jews” but here the word clearly means those who came from Jerusalem, the capital of Judea; the word literally is “Ioudaioi”] unless they with a fist wash their hands do not eat–holding fast to the tradition of the elders, 4 and from the market unless they baptize themselves they do not eat, and there are many other things that they have received [from their tradition] to hold fast to, [such as] baptizing cups and pots and copper vessels.

Notice that Mark places his focus not on Torah but on “the tradition of the elders” about hand washing and washing cups and pots.  These elders and Pharisees came from Jerusalem in Judea.  They have come down to Galilee, where Jesus and his disciples are. The Galileans had been suspicious of the Judeans for centuries by this time, in fact since the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC, when the exiles returned to Jerusalem and surrounding Judaea with new traditions they had developed in Babylon.  The Galileans rejected these new traditions as innovations unwarranted by the text of Torah.

Notice too that the focus is NOT on kosher, which, let us recall, is clearly commanded by Torah in Lev 11 and Dt 14.  The issue is not eating kosher food but eating with unwashed hands.  The first IS commanded by Torah, and the second is not.

By the way, the word pugme or “fist” indicates that Mark was thoroughly familiar with Pharisaic tradition.  For this school of Pharisees in fact poured water over a loose fist.  Talmudic scholar Daniel Boyarin observes, “This suggests strongly that [Mark’s perspective] (as well as that of Jesus) is firmly from within the Jewish world–nearly the opposite of what has been usually said of Mark” (“Jesus kept Kosher,” in The Jewish Gospels, p. 117).

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but with  defiled hands eat the bread? 6 He said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written that

This people with their lips honors me, but with their     heart they hold off from me far away.

7 In vain do they worship me, teaching as teachings commandments of men.

8 Laying aside the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men. 

Notice several other interesting things:

1. In v 6, Jesus contrasts lips to heart, and in vv 7-8 he contrasts the commandments of men to the commandment of God. In the first contrast, he is emphasizing something in the inner man rather than outward action, and in the second contrast he distinguishes precepts of men from precepts of God.
2. What does Jesus mean here by “the commandments of men”?  He makes it very clear: NOT kosher rules but hand washing and “baptisms” (washing) cups and pots and bronze vessels.

9 And he said to them, well do you set aside the commandment of God, so that your own tradition you can keep.  10 For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and, He who [continually] reviles his father and mother shall be put to death.  11 But you say If a man says to his father or to his mother, Korban [a Hebrew word for “offering”], that is, Gift, whatever you would have gotten from me, 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 rendering void the word of God for your tradition which you have delivered. And many similar things you do.

Here are some more interesting things going on in the text:

1. Jesus speaks approvingly of Moses and quotes from Mosaic law.
2. The issue for Jesus here is not food but a) obeying Mosaic law, b) honoring one’s parents, and c) keeping to Torah (“the word of God”) rather than these Pharisaic traditions.
3. The contrast is not between “mere” ritual and “moral” commandments, but between what is in Torah–explicitly said here to be Moses’ law–and what is newly delivered by the traditions of men (Pharisees).

Bottom line for today: 1) the focus of this text is handwashing not food, and 2) the contrast is between the law of Moses on the one hand, and traditions of men that depart from Mosaic law on the other.

We will translate the rest of this passage tomorrow.