Matthew 15
Tradition! Tradition! Matthew 15:1-11
Matthew 15:1-3 The main focus of Jesus up to this point in Matthew has been to teach Torah. Notice the simple words that the Pharisees and scribes say “Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders?” These are not commands of Torah. They are straight up tradition! The religious leaders are wondering why Jesus does not require his disciples to follow the elders.
This is revealing because many religious people even today confuse the command of God with the tradition of men. This problem crops up because regardless of whether or not our traditions are biblical, we want to hang on to them. It is intriguing that when unbiblical traditions are challenged, often they are clung to with more passion than the biblical ones.
Yeshua challenged the traditions of the elders. He did not even address the washing of hands which is not found in Torah. The washing found in Torah had to do with a baptism or mikvah that the priests were required to go through before entering the Holy Place. This prevented them from dying (Ex 30:17-21).
Matthew 15:4: What he challenged was a violation of Torah. The leaders had created a legal loophole that enabled them to not only ignore the Ten Commandments, but to effectively rewrite them as well. Jesus was not concerned with the insignificance of washing of hands. He was concerned about the way that they had distorted important parts of Torah at the very root of the Ten Commandments. He was concerned that they had purposefully found a way around the fifth commandment. “Honor your Father and Mother”, (Exodus 20:12; Deut 5:16). The term “honor” does not mean to pay homage to, rather it means to support them financially and to look after them. Jesus took this one step further, by not honoring them; they were in effect speaking evil to them. The contrast is important because it establishes a violation of Torah (Leviticus 20:9; Exodus 21:17; Ezekiel 22:7).
Matthew 15:5-6: The scribes and Pharisees had found a way around paying the debts of their parents by claiming that they had committed all of their possessions to God. By claiming that everything they owned was committed to God, they were no longer using it as their possessions. Now they were stewards of God’s possessions, and could not give away what was God’s. By committing their possessions as temple vows they were able to retain ownership and able to make it a sin to use the money (Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Numbers 30:3-5). In that manner they were able to retain all of their wealth, relabeled it to make it appear to be God’s and not have to give any away. They took the law and twisted it to meet their own agenda. It is a demonstration of the deviousness of human nature. Today we have a similar work around by creating a “corporation”. The corporation becomes its own entity and personal risk is removed.
Matthew 15:7-9: Notice the focal point of Yeshua’s attack. He was not attacking their failure to follow Torah. He was attacking their teaching traditions as truth. We look at this today and shake our fingers at the leaders condemning them for changing the Ten Commandments. Yet we do the same thing. Let’s look at the context of Isaiah 29:13-14.
The reason I find this fascinating is because this exact argument came up over the Easter holiday. I posted some stuff on Facebook that looked at the pagan origins of Good Friday and of Easter. People got really upset! They claimed to have done research and fought hard against the truth claiming that it was a lie. When encouraged to do their own research to check out the pagan origins, they came up with excuses almost exactly like the words that Isaiah 29:11-12 record. Yet in effect, by changing Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of First Fruits into Good Friday and Easter, they have echoed the attitude that the church is greater than God and has better festivals (Isaiah 29:16). This is rather scary.
Church tradition that has changed Torah does not just have to do with taking care of parents. This warning goes against any tradition that changes God’s instruction to men. When we as a Christian church disregarded the Jewish festivals and replaced them with pagan ones, we stepped into the very shoes of these leaders. We are teaching the doctrines and precepts of men as gospel (Matt 15:11). To carry Yeshua’s words to full effect, this means that the majority of the church has dull hearts and worships in vain… Not a good place to be.
Perhaps another way to look at this is that if the teachings of the church are focused on humanism, psychology, or keeping in sync with the world, then they are also teaching this error. One such teaching that comes to mind is that on divorce. The Bible specifically states that divorce is never an option; Paul concedes that if an unbelieving spouse decides to leave, you cannot stop them. Another one is the teaching on homosexuals; now Torah is wrong and it is an alternative lifestyle. How about the teaching on drunkenness, we now call it alcoholism, and it is not a sin, it is a disease! Pornography is not sin, it is a sexual addiction, those who are addicted are in need of help, and psychiatric care is available. Re-definition goes on at a constant rate to justify sin in our lives. Answers steer people away from the Bible and into humanistic counseling…
The Bible is our guidebook for life; it is time that the Christian Church abandons worldviews and redefine life according to the Word of God. The intent of Torah is in the definition of the word; it is instruction for living life. What God calls sin is sin. Sin by definition is a deviation from the instruction of God. Regardless the cute names that we create for sin, it does not belong in our churches. Marriages need to be brought in line with the word of God, when difficulties arise, go to God for the answers and work out the problems. Homosexuals need to repent and turn to the healing power that God has provided. This is not an easy road due to the way that this sin permeates the entire person. Drunkards, go to Jesus for help for He is the Highest Power. Pornographers have great company through the entire Bible. You are not sexually addicted; you are living in bondage to sin.
Doctrines of men have no limits. Once the true guiding line is compromised, everything else deviates off of that line to where it no longer becomes recognizable. The compromise of the straight line soon deviates so much that pagan philosophies and religions soon seem very similar to the true Biblical ones. Therefore, they are embraced by church members because these people have had a constant diet of half-truths and error. The only way to return to truth is to return to the original plumb line. It is time to return to God’s instruction and strictly interpret life according to it.
Matthew 15:10-11: Yeshua teaches on hand washing and tradition. He echo’s the essence of the lament of the Lord when His people abandon Him and His forsake Torah (Jer 9:1-16, Especially Jer 9:4-6; 13-15).
Jesus was reflecting the exact lament of the prophets of the Old Testament (Tanakh) as they described the way that God’s people abandon Torah and the effect (Ps 10:7; 12:22; 52:2-4; 58:3-4; Is 37:23; 59:3-5, 13-15; Jer 9:3-6). He is not teaching a new thing here. Yeshua was teaching the heart of God that is echoed through the scriptures. He is teaching that uncleanliness of heart does not come from dirty hands, it comes from abandoning His true instruction. The end result of abandoning the true instruction is to spout foolish statements from the mouth (Matt 15:11). James (Jacob) puts it well when he says that each man is drawn into sin by his own lusts and thereby incorporate spiritual death (James 1:14-15). Friendship with the world is hostility toward God (James 4:4). It is time to resist the devil, draw near to God, cleanse our hearts according to Torah (God’s instruction) and be exalted by the Lord (James 4:7-10). But, James (Jacob) is not very popular among many Christians since he focuses on Torah.
Blind guides of the blind, matthew 15:12-14
The Pharisees took offense at the statement that Yeshua was making regarding tradition. I have pondered this statement considering the ramifications of it. No matter how you take it, the message is powerful. Tradition is a breeding ground for death. Tradition based upon God’s Torah or the instruction found in the Bible is not called Tradition. It is called commandment, or biblical command but not “tradition”. It can be rightly said that tradition does come from consistently following God’s procedures yet these are never referred to as tradition. What is referred to as tradition is actions or methods of doing things that are rooted in both biblical command and by human invention. Here is a quote from Zodhiates:
“A tradition, doctrine or injunction delivered or communicated from one to another, whether divine (1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6) or human (Matt. 15:2, 3, 6; Gal. 1:14; Col. 2:8). In Mark 7:3, 5, the expression “the tradition of the elders” occurs. The Pharisees delivered to the people by tradition their ancestors’ many injunctions which were not written in the Law of Moses. For this reason the sect of the Sadducees rejected them, saying that what was written should be esteemed obligatory, but that which came from oral tradition need not be observed. Thus, Josephus explains the expression “the traditions of the elders” or of the Pharisees. The words of the elders were considered more desirable than the words of the prophets.”[1]
What we have is a division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees held that the traditions of the elders held equal or “better” weight than the prophets. Today we use the same terminology by saying that we live under a more complete “revelation” of God through the New Testament without realizing we are echoing the very attitude that Yeshua rebuked. There is absolutely nothing new in the New Testament. It is simply a commentary on the Old Testament where God reveals how the original message was to be carried out. If anything “new” is found it is in the application, not in the message.
Being “offended” is an interesting term since it means to “cause to stumble”. If you were to transliterate the Greek word it would be “skandalizo”, where we get our idea of scandalized from. The common use of Greek and the Hebrew usage of a similar word indicated a boomerang or being caught in a snare. The idea is that of being trapped as a bird in a snare.
When we see Yeshua’s response, it does not seem so harsh due to the word usage (Matt 15:13-14). The Pharisees were convicted that their method fell short of God’s intention. They were trapped by their very words. Jesus said that the ones that are not planted by the Father will be uprooted. The teaching of the blind following the blind is not a New Testament concept. Ezekiel warned against this when the word of the Lord against false prophets (Ezekiel 14:8–11).
God promises to make those who follow falsehood (that which does not line up with Torah) like the tail of a dog. Prophecy states that the tail will wag the dog (Isaiah 9:13–17). Jesus stated that those who are animate about following tradition are not only foolish, God will not change their path. He will allow the tail to wag the dog! He will allow the foolish traditions to lead the blind guide into pits and those who are engaged in the same falsehood will join them.
Perhaps you say, “but God is Love, He will never allow His people to be deceived like that!” Tell that to the Old Testament saints that fell into the same trap. In the Old Testament there are many, many instances where Israel embraced the pagan gods and built traditions around them. Every time this happened, it eventually led to judgment. In the New Testament passage that we are looking at Jesus is rebuking the teachers over creating the foundation for tradition based religion. He has constantly taught pure Torah. Every illustration points backwards to help the people see how that Torah is applied to everyday life.
What shocks me about this section is simply the refusal of people to turn away from their traditions. The Pharisees will eventually build a case against Jesus so that they can justify having Him killed. I am deeply saddened when I share the truth of the Messiah with Christians who are not willing to consider a deeper relationship with Him. Pagan holidays are justified because they are comfortable, and the church has put a new meaning on them. They are still pagan! If I paint over garbage and call it art, it is still painted garbage!
A blind guide to the blind is a hopeless illustration. John stated that God came to His people and they chose blindness rather than the light (John 1:5, 11). Paul also spoke of this as an encouragement to believers and as a reality check to see where they were spiritually (Romans 2:17–20).
Jesus explains the parable of the stomach, Matthew 15:15-20:
Matthew 15:15-17: Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of understanding, and followed with the explanation in a rather graphic sense of the word. Where He stated that things go into the mouth, into the stomach and is eliminated was stronger in the Greek, it literally meant, “thrown out into the latrine” (NASB footnote). What goes into man does not defile him spiritually; the body digests food and gets rid of it. The physical body deals with food that is unclean by passing it through the system. This is not speaking of unclean foods according to Torah. It is simply talking about dirty food.
Six commandments, in order! Matthew 15:18-20: Jesus taught Torah! Commandment five: Honor your father and mother, Matthew 15:4. Commandment 6: You shall not murder (Matthew 15:19), “evil thoughts and murders”. Commandment 7: You shall not commit adultery (Matthew 15:19), “adulteries, fornications). Commandment 8: You shall not steal (Matthew 15:19), thefts. Commandment 9: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Matthew 15:19), false witness, slanders. Commandment 10: You shall not covet (Matthew 15:19), all items. Jesus taught Torah, the root of Torah is the Ten Commandments or Ten words!
The heart of man is corrupted by one thing. It is corrupted by failing to follow God’s instruction. Jesus gave us all six of the Commandments that deal with human to human relationship. Failing to acknowledge God by replacing Torah with Tradition covered the first four commandments. The parable demonstrated that what defiles a man is to violate the Ten Commandments! This is simply astounding on a grand scale.
In closing Wiersbe stated:
“God wants us to give Him our hearts, and not just our lip service. We believe in the heart ( Rom. 10:9–10 ), love from the heart ( Matt. 22:37 ), sing from the heart ( Col. 3:16 ), obey from the heart ( Rom. 6:17 ; Eph. 6:6 ), and give from the heart ( 2 Cor. 9:7 ). No wonder David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God!” ( Ps. 51:10 )”[2]
Unwashed hands do not make a man unclean spiritually. Unwashed hands may cause him to get sick. The only thing that makes us unclean spiritually is abandoning God’s instruction (Torah). Following God’s instruction brings liberty and peace. You can almost see Jesus counting off the commandments that were violated on his fingers. This is an important lesson to all of us. The Ten commandments are the basic guide for relationship with God and with man. They were designed to be followed. Perhaps it is time to rethink them.
Lap dogs: Matthew 15:21-28
Today many homes have “lap dogs” as a permanent fixture. These little dogs offer a myriad of benefits. They are small enough that they do not eat much, offer companionship, and are noisy watchdogs. These pet dogs serve a variety of purposes. The woman in this case is calling herself a pet dog of the Hebrew people feeding off of the crumbs that have fallen from their table.
With Replacement Theology heavily in place, many Christians fail to realize that Jesus was a Jew! His name was Yeshua, not the transliterated name of Jesus. As a Hebrew, He came to the Jewish people as a savior to them. The name Yeshua literally means Savior. It looks back in time to the Exodus, and at the current time when salvation was desperately needed. Let’s look at prophecy quickly. Yeshua promised that He was coming to the lost sheep of Israel, He was going to seek out the lost and restore them to His fold (Ezekiel 34:11-12). God called Israel His firstborn son and delivered them from Egypt because of that (Ex 4:22-23). Calling Him “Son of David” reveals that this woman knew that Jesus was not called to the Gentiles, He was called to minister to the Jews (Ezekiel 34:24). Prophecy also stated that God would deliver them from being prey to the nations (Gentiles) which most likely looks forward to the Millennium (Ezekiel 34:29). The woman knew what she was saying. By referring to herself as a “pet dog” instead of a “dog” inferred that no harm would come from her to the Hebrew people. The regular usage of dog referred to a wild dog (Matthew 7:6; Rev 22:15). She was a member of the friendly crowd. Yeshua was challenging her grasp on the scriptures. Look at this comment from Stern:
“…in effect he says, “If, as you say, I am the Son of David, the shepherd who was King of Israel, I was sent to find my lost sheep and am not sent to you. So I’m surprised that you recognize me.” It’s a straightforward Middle-Eastern style friendly joke, not an insult. But his remark also reflects the biblical truth that God cares for his own people first—as Sha’ul put it, “Let us do good unto all, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Ga 6:10). However, God does not neglect the others, as we learn from 1 Kings 7:7ff., where the prophet Elijah asks to be fed first, yet the widow of Tzarfat, coming second, gains a miraculous lasting food supply.”[3]
Messiah: This Gentile woman was familiar with Judaism because she referred to Jesus as “Lord, Son of David” giving Him the address as the coming Messiah. She recognized that Yeshua was the coming Messiah that was coming to the people of Israel. Some may argue that Jesus is not claiming to be the Messiah here, I beg to differ. The statement “I was sent” specifically points to the purpose of Messiah. The concept behind “Messiah” means that a person who was “anointed for a purpose” or “anointed one”. That person was sent to accomplish a mission. Cyrus is one example of a Messiah when he was led by the hand and hand-picked to deliver the Jewish people from the Babylonian captivity, several hundred years before he was even born (Isaiah 45:1). Cyrus was called “anointed”, this is the Hebrew word for messiah. He was called for the purpose of delivering Israel.
Worship: Matthew 15:25: The Greek manuscript gives an interesting verb that is missed in the English, she “began to worship” Him this word is also used in Matt 8:2; 9:18. Regardless the outright rejection of her request and the blatant refusal by Jesus to listen, she worshipped Him as Lord and appealed to Him. The Greek word for worship is the word “proskyneo” which means to literally “prostrate” face down. It means to lie on one’s face on the ground. We as Gentiles have lost this idea and think that bowing down is similar to the Oriental view of simply bowing the head. This woman understood who stood before her and fell flat on her face before Him. The word for worship through the Old and New Testaments carries the idea of falling flat on the face or prostrating. References are too many to list, almost every single instance where “worship” is translated it means in the original language to prostrate.
Matthew has a theme of Jews and Gentiles embracing the Messiah (Mat 8:10-12; 10:5-6). Gentiles come to Him, falling at His feet in worship where the Jews should have been. The underlying story is similar to Mat 8:11-12 where many gentiles will join Abraham at his table.
Dogs: Think about the illustration of dogs for a moment, when they find a scrap under the table they quickly snap it up. During mealtimes the dog’s entire mission in life is to watch and hunt for scraps that fall from the table. I’ve never heard a dog complain when he received seconds. Interesting illustration, we as Gentiles were considered “dogs” by the Jews and through history we have flocked to their Messiah (Romans 1:16). Today there is a correction taking place where the Gentiles who have flocked to the Messiah are recognizing the truth of the Old Testament Torah and are radically changing our religion to bring it in line with biblical truth. It is not a matter of “Replacing” the Jews, it is a matter of “joining” them at the table of Abraham.
Jesus commended the exceptional faith of the woman by removing the demon from her daughter. This is similar to another story that we have studied where the centurion came to Yeshua (Matthew 8:5-13). The woman’s child was healed that very hour.
Many are fighting the idea of blending Christianity with Judaism. Due to 2000 years of history, many Christians feel that we have a much better system than the Hebrew people do. Jesus made it clear that He came to the lost sheep of Israel, not to the Gentile nations. We are considered as “pet dogs” that scramble for the scraps under the table. This attitude is probably much better than the attitude that many have as “superior” to the Jewish people. Since we have replaced all the Jewish customs and festivals with pagan activity, we have effectively re-written the New Testament to become a stand-alone book independent of the Old Testament. This raises huge problems because we constantly have to justify or explain away verses that refer to Torah.
I wonder, why is it that we have so many examples of Gentiles embracing the Jewish Messiah and the marvelous results that take place? Perhaps the purpose for these illustrations is to help us see that even though we are joint-heirs with the Jews, we are still Gentiles. Our system does not replace theirs, our system of worship should mirror theirs. We have got it backwards and sideways.
Mountain Healings; Matt 15:29-31:
Jesus went to a mountain that overlooked the Sea of Galilee. This is very significant, yet it is tucked in so that it appears to be an insignificant footnote in Matthew’s Gospel. Galilee of the Gentiles had a magnificent prophecy attached to it (Isa 9:1). God promised to make this land “glorious” and it will see a great light, increase in gladness and joy (Isa 9:1-3). The Messiah was promised to dwell there as:
Isaiah 9:6–7 (NLT) 6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
The Messiah had been promised to visit Galilee. Jesus showed up inconspicuous, sitting on a mountain. The crowds came to Him for healing and He healed them all. The people worshipped God because of the healings that Jesus performed. The people that came to Him for healing were hopeless cases; they were beyond any medical help available at that time. Even today, these conditions and conditions are nearly impossible to cure. The word for crippled actually refers to “deformed”. Yeshua healed the lame, crippled, blind, and mute. Today these conditions are either impossible to cure or require many years of intensive therapy. All of these hopeless cases were completely cured. Yeshua not only validated the prophecy concerning Galilee, He validated the fact that He is the promised Messiah (Isaiah 35:5-6; 29:18-19). Even though He was in the prophesied land of the Gentiles, He proved the prophecy true that established Him as Messiah.
We know that the majority of the prophecy from Isaiah looks forward to the Millennial reign of Messiah when He returns to take His role as ruler over the earth. What is significant to us today is that this Messiah is our Messiah. He is the one who was prophesied as the one who will occupy the throne of David for eternity. Yeshua quietly sent a clear message to all who were present that He is the Messiah.
Four Thousand Fed (Matthew 15:32-39)
Four thousand men along with their families were following Yeshua at this point. They followed him to a desolate place and were there for three days. The significance of this is any food they may have carried would probably have been used up by this point. The people were extremely hungry, but unwilling to leave. It is not indicated if the people were being taught or if it was a continual healing service. What is clear is the zeal that Yeshua demonstrated had captivated the masses.
The “compassion” of Yeshua looks back to the prophecy that Isaiah gave when considering the way that God had delivered His people from Egypt. It reflected the way that God felt as He led His people into the desert (Isa 63:12-16). I am also reminded of the way that God fed the travelers through the desert as He provided mana and quail for their sustenance. God provided for the widow by miraculously keeping the grain and oil full (1 Kings 17:9-14). There are several examples where God provided food in the Old Testament (Tanakh) when none was available. It is an earmark of the compassionate God that we serve. The God of the Bible is able to bring forth food from nothing.
The main difference between the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand is Jesus takes the initiative to feed the crowd. Remember, the five thousand was used as an object lesson to teach the disciples; “You feed them” (Mt 14:15-16). Numerology may indicate that the seven loaves and the seven baskets left over speak of perfection in God’s divine plan of Yeshua as Messiah.
Yeshua came to the Jews. History has also demonstrated that God focused intently upon the Gentiles for salvation. Replacement theologians over the years have tried to impress on Christians that the Jews had their chance and now it is the “Church” that is top dog. Jesus was not focusing only on the Gentiles here; He was in a gentile region. Therefore, it is quite probable that there was an even mix of Jew and Gentile with the high likelihood that the majority of the people were Jewish. The way that you can bring Gentiles into the mix is by looking back at the Gentile woman from earlier in the chapter. This is not enough to say that He had a primarily Gentile audience. On the contrary, the woman was ignored while Jesus ministered to the Jews (Matt 15:21-28). Another argument for the Gentiles is because this feeding took place in the gentile region of Decapolis (Mk 7:31).
The main purpose of the feeding of the four thousand appears to be to demonstrate that He is the Messiah. He set up the stage by healing impossible diseases which demonstrated that He is the promised Messiah. Then He duplicated the work of YHVH by providing bread and fish for the people to live on.
This closes out the study on Matthew 15. Further editing may take place in the future. If you wish to comment, please e-mail me or if you are viewing this on Facebook, simply comment.
Father as we close out this chapter of miracles, draw each of us to read and understand Your word.
On Yeshua’s journey,
Joe Turner.
[1] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. “An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire ‘BE’ series”–Jkt. (Mt 15:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary : A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996), Mt 15:21.
