Matthew

Chapter 15
{The Gospel of the King}
{The Religious Opposition to the King - Opposition to Bible Doctrine Verses 1-9}
15:1-2~~Then Pharisees and scribes/experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, 15:2~~ "Why do Your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat."

{Note: The scribes were those who studied the Scriptures and were well versed in it. The Pharisees were taken from the scribes and represented them in the Sanhedran Counsel. The 'tradition of the elders' was the oral law handed down in Israel and eventually reduced to writing in a collection of manuscripts called the Mishna, which contained thousands of non- Biblical rules. Washing hands, although not a commandment of the OT canon was in the Mishna. It was a good practice for sanitary reasons, but the rabbi's made a spiritual issue out of eating with dirty hands. They were took something good and made a false issue (and legalism) out of it. The disciples, being from Galilee {except Judas who was from Judea} obviously weren't very sanitary, like Judeans. Religion is always looking for the opportunity to criticize anyone who loves the Truth and seeks to learn doctrine.}

{Doctrine Verses Tradition (washing hands is good, but it is not an issue in Spirituality)}
15:3~~ He {Jesus} answered them, "Why do you all also transgress/disobey the commandment of God BY {because of the existence of} your tradition?"

{The Corban verses the 5th commandment - Exodus 20:12 - Verses 4:6}
15:4~~"For God commanded and keeps on saying, 'Honor {respect the authority of} your father and mother' and 'Whoever disrespects his father or mother let him die the death {means will die young and miserably}.' "

{Note: The 5th Commandment is Exodus 20:12~~ "Honor {obedience to authority in the home} your father and your mother . . . with the result that your days may be long {refers to your life span - a long life} in the land which the Lord your God gives you."}

15:5-6~~"But YOU say {your traditions says}, 'Whoever says to father or mother . . . a gift {doron} . . . everything that I might have used to help you is 'corban' {idiom meaning the son's estate technically belongs to the temple so I can not give it to help
you) . . . 15:6~~ does not honor his father or his mother.' You nullify the word of God through your {Mishna} tradition."

{Note: Doron means gift. In Mark 7:11, we see this gift is the Greek word 'korban' transliterated 'Corban'. It is taken from the Hebrew word charav {transliterated corban into Greek} and means sacrifice or gift, or to make something a sacrifice. It is used in Leviticus 1,2, & 3 as the Levitical offering brought to the alter. {cf Mk.7:11} This word was taken out of its context by the religious crowd and given a broader meaning. They decided the way to raise money was an income tax gimmick and a way to not support family in need. A Jew would take his assets to a rabbi and for a fee, the estate becomes "korban" which means it would go to the temple {for a fee to the priest} and could still be used without paying taxes on it. So it was used as a means to get out of paying income taxes and taking care of elderly parents. This is NOT honoring to your parents!}

{The indictment of Jesus to the Religious Hierarchy}
15:7-9~~"Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly concerning you when he said {Isaiah 29:13}, 15:8~~ 'This people honors me with their lips, but their frontal lobes are far from Me {what counts with God is WHAT YOU THINK!} . . . 15:9~~ and they worship Me in
vain . . . teaching instead of {as} doctrines the commandments of men.' "

{The Condemnation of Religion}
15:10~~ Then Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, "Listen and understand."

{Jesus' warning against Religion - back to the issue of not washing the hands}
15:11~~"What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth . . . it is what comes out of the mouth {what he says based on what he THINKS} that defiles a person."

15:12~~Then the disciples came to Him {Jesus} and said, "Did you know that the Pharisees were offended by this?"

{Note: Principal - people who do not accept doctrine are offended by doctrine. The disciples are showing they are influenced by the Religious leaders and what they think rather then what the Word has to say - legalism!}

15:13~~And He {Jesus} replied, "Every plant that My heavenly Father did not plant {unbelievers} will be uprooted." {Salvation is 'being planted' once and forever in the family of God.}

{Analogy - separate from religion or follow them into blind reversionism}

15:14~~"Stay away from them! They are blind leaders of the blind. If one blind person leads another blind person both will fall into a ditch."

{Peter under duress always opens his mouth - the disciples were just called 'blind'}
15:15~~But Peter said to Him {Jesus}, "Explain this parable to us."

{Explanation Verses 16-19}
15:16~~Jesus said, "Even after all this, you still don't understanding?"

15:17~~"Do you not understand {repetition!} that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the toilet? "

15:18~~"But the things that come out of the mouth {words} come from the frontal lobe . . . and these things defile a person."

15:19~~"For out of the frontal lobe comes evil thought, murders {mental attitude FIRST}, adulteries, fornications, adulteries, thefts, blasphemies, and slander."

15:20~~"These are the things that defile a person . . . {it is not} not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person."

{The Faith of a Canaanite Woman}
15:21~~After going out of that place, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon {in Phoenicia}.

15:22~~A Canaanite woman from that area came and kept on yelling out, "Have mercy on me {imperative mood - a command - she is claiming a promise of God -her RIGHT!}, Lord {recognizes deity of Christ - a saved Gentile woman}, Son of David {recognizes Jesus is the God-Man - the true King of Israel}! My daughter is demon-possessed!"

{Jesus tests the disciples understanding of Faith Resting a Problem - rely on the Lord}
15:23~~But He {Jesus} did not answer her a word {in order to test the disciples' faith rest}. His disciples came and kept on begging Him {over and over}, "Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us."

{Note: The disciples fail the Faith Rest test. From their self-righteous legalism, they are embarrassed by this Gentile woman and her yelling.}

{Jesus Challenges the Woman's Faith - can she truly rely on the Lord}

15:24~~So He {Jesus} answered, "I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

{Note: She does not qualify under His statement. She is Not a Jew, nor is she lost - she is saved.}

15:25~~But she came and bowed down before Him and said, "Lord, help me!"

{Jesus Amplifies early statement on His mission}
15:26~~He {Jesus} said, "It is not right to take the children's {the Jews} bread and throw it to the dogs."

15:27~~She said, "Truth/Doctrine Lord {this is a correct doctrine}, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs {problem solving} that fall from their masters' table."

{Note: She gives a superceding doctrine right to the Lord! She has the divine viewpoint! She does not need a whole loaf of bread, just claiming her right as a child of God to a 'crumb'.}

15:28~~Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you." And her daughter was healed right then.

{Note: This is said for the benefit of His disciples! Her great Faith was an example to the disciples on how THEY should be!}

{Jesus seeing if the Disciples Learned the Lesson on Faith Rest - Example - Healing Many Others - they fail - Verses 29-39}
15:29~~When He left there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up a mountain, where He sat down {a reflection of His mental attitude}.

15:30~~Then great crowds came to Him {Jesus} bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others with different handicaps. They threw them at His feet, and He healed them.

15:31~~As a result, the crowd was astounded when they kept on seeing the mute chattering, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.

{The Feeding of the Four Thousand Men and maybe again the same number of women and children - maybe Eight to Ten thousand in all} 15:32~~Then Jesus called the disciples and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with Me three days and they have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry for the purpose that they may not faint from exhaustion on the way."

{Note: This means that after all they had seen, He was testing their faith rest once more-a test they failed again.}

15:33~~The disciples said to Him {Jesus}, "Where is enough bread in this desert to feed so great a crowd?"

{Note: What can I do about it . . . the disciples say in unison! Failure of Faith Rest still.}

15:34~~Jesus said to them, "How much bread do you have?" They replied, "Seven loaves and a few little fish."

{Note: More lack of faith. Implying if the fish were larger, they COULD have faith!}

15:35-36~~After instructing the crowd to sit down on the ground {and DO NOTHING - principal - the Lord will handle the problem}, 15:36~~He {Jesus} took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, He broke them and kept on giving them to the disciples, who then distributed them to the crowd.

15:37~~They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up seven baskets full of pieces left over.

15:38~~Not counting children and women, there were four thousand men who ate.

15:39~~ After sending away the crowd, He {Jesus} got into the boat and went to the region of Magdala.

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