Mr 7:1
7:1 Then {1} came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain
    of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.

 (1) None resist the wisdom of God more than they that should be
     wisest, and they resist because of their zeal for their own
     traditions: for men please themselves in superstition more
     than in any other thing, that is to say, in a worship of
     God fondly devised by themselves.

Mr 7:2
7:2 And when they saw some of his disciples {a} eat bread with
    {b} defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they
    found fault.

    (a) Literally, "eat bread": an idiom which the Hebrews use,
        understanding bread to represent every type of food.
    (b) For the Pharisees would not eat their food with unwashed
        hands, because they thought that their hands were
        defiled with the common handling of things;
        Mt 15:11,12.

Mr 7:3
7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash
    [their] hands oft, eat not, {c} holding the tradition of the
    elders.

    (c) Observing diligently.

Mr 7:4
7:4 And [when they come] from the {d} market, except they wash,
    they eat not. And many other things there be, which they
    have received to hold, [as] the washing of cups, and {e}
    pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.

    (d) That is to say, after coming from civil and worldly
        affairs they do not eat unless they first wash
        themselves.
    (e) By these words are understood all types of vessels which
        we use daily.

Mr 7:5
7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why {f} walk not
    thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but
    eat bread with unwashen hands?

    (f) Why live they not?  This is a Hebrew idiom: for among
        them the "way" is taken for "lifestyle".

Mr 7:6
7:6 {2} He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias
    prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people
    honoureth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from
    me.

 (2) Hypocrisy is always joined with superstition.

Mr 7:7
7:7 {3} Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching [for]
    doctrines the commandments of men.

 (3) The more earnest the superstitious are, the more mad they
     are in promising themselves God's favour because of their
     deeds.

Mr 7:8
7:8 {4} For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the
    tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and
    many other such like things ye do.

 (4) The deeds of superstitious men not only do not fulfil the
     law of God (as they blasphemously persuaded themselves) but
     these deeds utterly take away God's law.

Mr 7:9
7:9 {5} And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the
    commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

 (5) True religion, which is completely contrary to superstition,
     consists in spiritual worship: and all enemies of true
     religion, although they seem to have taken deep root, will
     be plucked up.

Mr 7:10
7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and,
     Whoso curseth father or mother, let him {g} die the death:

     (g) Without hope of pardon, he will be put to death.

Mr 7:19
7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
     and goeth out into the draught, {h} purging all meats?

     (h) For that which goes into the draught purges all meats.

Mr 7:22
7:22 Thefts, {i} covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
     lasciviousness, an {k} evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
     foolishness:

     (i) All types of craftiness by which men profit themselves
         at other men's losses.
     (k) Corrupted malice.

Mr 7:24
7:24 {6} And from thence he arose, and went into the {l} borders
     of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would
     have no man know [it]: but he could not be hid.

 (6) That which the proud reject when it is offered to them,
     that same thing the modest and humble sinners as it were
     voraciously consume.
     (l) Into the uttermost coasts of Palestine, which were next
         to Tyre and Sidon.

Mr 7:26
7:26 The woman was a {m} Greek, a {n} Syrophenician by nation;
     and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out
     of her daughter.

     (m) By nationality, profane.
     (n) A neighbour of or near to Damascus.

Mr 7:27
7:27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled:
     for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to
     cast [it] unto the {o} dogs.

     (o) "Dog" here signifies a little dog, and he uses this
         term that he may seem to speak more reproachfully.

Mr 7:28
7:28 And she answered and said unto him, {p} Yes, Lord: yet the
     dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

     (p) As if she said, "It is as thou sayest Lord, for it is
         enough for the dogs if they can but gather up the
         crumbs that are under the table; therefore I crave the
         crumbs and not the children's bread."

Mr 7:31
7:31 {7} And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon,
     he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the
     coasts of {q} Decapolis.

 (7) As the Father created us to this life in the beginning in
     his only son, so does he also in him alone renew us into
     everlasting life.
     (q) It was a little country, and it was so called because
         it consisted of ten cities under the jurisdiction of
         four surrounding governments; Pliny, book 3, chap. 8.