Matthew 15:1-9, #1

Matthew 15:1-9 #1
You will notice that the Pharisees did not accuse the disciples of violating the law, but accused them of violating the tradition of the elders. The word “tradition” means, “that which was handed down.” The Pharisees believed that God not only gave the law to Moses, but that He also gave oral laws to Moses which in turn he handed down to the elders of the congregation. These oral laws in conjunction with rabbinical explanations became the rule of law for the Jews that in many cases superceded the written law. Part of this tradition was their practice of a special cleansing before they ate. This was not a washing of dirt off their hands, but a ceremonial cleansing. Their belief was that as they interacted in the marketplace there was the possibility of touching someone who was “unclean.” With uncleanness on their hands, eating would put this uncleanness inside them. To avoid this, they would pour water on their hands until it dripped off their wrists. Then turn their hands downward and pour water until it came off their fingers. Jesus and the disciples ignored this since it was not written in the law.We learn an extremely important lesson from this incident. The Pharisees had good intentions. They were thinking about being “clean” in the eyes of the Lord. To them, if God gave some laws concerning “clean and unclean,” then why not take this further in order to really emphasize their intention to be pure? The problem is, that is not what God asked them to do; it was adding to the commands of the Lord. This is similar to 1 Samuel 15 when king Saul was commanded to kill all the animals after conquering the Amalekites. But Saul saved some alive “in order to sacrifice to the Lord.” God condemned Saul for presuming to add to His word. Samuel said, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22).

Consider this, both the Pharisees and Saul were worshiping the Lord, but were condemned for their worship because it was not what the Lord commanded. Denominations today do the same. Adding to the word of God and then calling it worship does not change the fact that it is disobedience and unacceptable to the Lord.
Berry Kercheville