Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Matthew 15:2 - 15:2
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Mat_15:2. Παράδοσις ] ἄγραφος διδασκαλία , Hesychius. The Jews, founding upon Deu_4:14; Deu_17:10, for the most part attached greater importance to this tradition than to the written law. Hence, Berachoth f. 3. 2 : äëéáéí ãáøé ñåôøéí îãáøé úåøä . Comp. Schoettgen. They laid special stress upon the traditional precept, founded on Lev_15:11, which required that the hands should be washed before every meal ( ὅταν ἄρτον ἐσθίωσιν , a rendering of the Hebrew àÈëÇì ìÆçÆí ). See Lightfoot, Schoettgen, and Wetstein. Jesus and His disciples ignored this παράδοσις as such.
τῶν πρεσβυτ .] which had been handed down from the men of olden time (their forefathers). It is not the scribes that are meant (Fritzsche), nor the elders of the nation (Bleek, Schegg), but comp. Heb_11:2. It is the wise men of ancient times that are in view. Observe, moreover, the studied precision and peremptory tone of the question, which has something of an official air about it. The growing hostility begins to show itself in an open and decided manner.