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.
7:5 The Pharisees and scribes asked him. On the Savior's discourse that follows, Mr 7:5-23, consult notes on Mt 15:1-20.
7:5 The tradition of the elders - The rule delivered down from your forefathers.
7:1-13 One great design of Christ's coming was, to set aside the ceremonial law; and to make way for this, he rejects the ceremonies men added to the law of God's making. Those clean hands and that pure heart which Christ bestows on his disciples, and requires of them, are very different from the outward and superstitious forms of Pharisees of every age. Jesus reproves them for rejecting the commandment of God. It is clear that it is the duty of children, if their parents are poor, to relieve them as far as they are able; and if children deserve to die that curse their parents, much more those that starve them. But if a man conformed to the traditions of the Pharisees, they found a device to free him from the claim of this duty.
