What is really at stake in Mark 7:1-13? In other words what lies at the heart of the argument between Jesus and the Pharisees? Explain the concepts of “the traditions of the elders” and “Corban.”
The complaint of the Pharisees and Scribes brought against Jesus’ disciples was concerned with the observance of religious meal customs designed to maintain ritual purity and preserve traditions of their elders. The “tradition of the elders” was a body of oral literature handed down from the religious authorities of the past, developed out of a zeal to explain the written law and apply it to contemporary circumstances ( such tradition was later canonized in the Mishnah in ca. A.D. 220)). The Pharisees viewed “traditions of the elders” or “oral” law as having equal authority with the Scripture itself. This particular position reveals clearly the Jews’ piety to carefully observe the written law. The Jews, however, welcomed and celebrated the law as God’s greatest gift to humanity (particularly to the people of Israel). The Law, however, represents the very character of God. In turn, the teachers of the law developed oral traditions and interpretations of what is or not commonly acceptable and applicable in regard to certain rulings. Consequently, the commandment to honor one’s parents was regarded perhaps as the most important of all. As a result, the provision to care for one’s mother and father in their old age was a very concern for the Jews. However, what was at stake is whether a “Corban”, that is “a gift devoted /consecrated to God” could be reversed and granted to one’s parents in need. The Pharisees and scribes utterly reject the latter and maintain what is by nature “sacred” and “set apart” for God is God’s and cannot be given to parents. Hence, Jesus challenges their tradition as unbiblical. They purely judge on the basis of tradition, not in accordance of what is written in the Law of Moses. Jesus points out how easily a tradition can conflict with the moral purpose of God’s Word. He is utterly concerned about the need for an inner purity of the heart, not some inauthentic external behavior. In conclusion, this controversy is of great importance in grasping Jesus’ attitude towards the law and his understanding of Scripture.
Filed under: French Bible
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Moreover, traditions of men which Jesus referred to, for the most part, were not given by God as precepts or laws in the Old Testment. They were developed by the religious leaders and insisted upon the people to be subject to them. For example, there were some boundary markers which distinguished Jews from Gentiles, these constituted as the “badges” of Jewish national identity (i.e. circumcision, the sabbath, dietary laws) . However, these distinctive features were not the traditions of men we referenced to above. I am thinking about several here known in particular as “the traditions of men” that were practiced by many Jews, nonetheless, are absent in the Old Testament:
1- Washing Hands, part of ritual purity but this particular rule is not found in the OT (Mark 7.2-3). For the ancient rabbis maintained that “The hands were regarded as a source of ritual impurity since they are busy (m.Torah 7:8; Para 11:5). This particular rule is developed fully in the mishnaic tractate (Yadayim = hands)
2. Immersing vessels to remove impurity , another set of rules absent in the OT
3. The oral traditions were common in Jesus’ day but were later codified into the Mishnah toward the end of the second century A.D.”The tradition of the elders” (or traditions of men” were the scribal interpretations that were regarded , otherwise, as the “oral law” which the Pharisees in particular highly regarded and held to be as binding as the written Law.
4. We also know that there were certain Pharisees who voluntarily undertook obligations concerning tithes and purity that were not required by the general law.
But I truly believe Jesus was referring to the oral law (traditions of men) which was commonly regarded in the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures, which later codified in the Mishnah and Talmud respectively by the rabbinic scribes. Thus these were the traditions of men that were imposed upon the law of the Old Testament