And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
Mark 7:17 belongs to the confrontation in which Pharisees and certain scribes charged Christ's disciples with transgressing the tradition of the elders by eating bread without washing hands. It is part of Jesus' encounter with those Pharisees and scribes over their traditions and ceremonial practices. The ground of complaint was disregard of traditional precepts that encumbered the law of God.
Those precepts were professedly added to guard the law, yet were regarded as more sacred than the law itself. They were preferred above the commandments given from Sinai. The chief issue in the dispute was ceremonial purification.
Numberless rules governed washings and purifications before eating. Neglect of them was counted a heinous sin. Observance of them made life a constant struggle against ceremonial defilement, while attention to trifling distinctions turned minds away from the great principles of God's law.
Mark 7:17 belongs to the confrontation in which Pharisees and certain scribes charged Christ's disciples with transgressing the tradition of the elders by eating bread without washing hands. It is part of Jesus' encounter with those Pharisees and scribes over their traditions and ceremonial practices. The ground of complaint was disregard of traditional precepts that encumbered the law of God.
Those precepts were professedly added to guard the law, yet were regarded as more sacred than the law itself. They were preferred above the commandments given from Sinai. The chief issue in the dispute was ceremonial purification.
Numberless rules governed washings and purifications before eating. Neglect of them was counted a heinous sin. Observance of them made life a constant struggle against ceremonial defilement, while attention to trifling distinctions turned minds away from the great principles of God's law.