The name of the Messiah is Yeshua, a common alternative of the name Yehoshua (יהושע),which means
‘Yah is salvation’ [Matthew 1:21]
The Questions of the Sadducees- Harrold CoppingThe Pharisees and scribes seeing that the disciples of Yeshua were eating without washing their hands asked Him <Why do Your taught ones not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?> – Mark 7:5Yeshua rebukes them by making them see that they favour the traditions of man over the Torah of the Eternal. Later, his disciples ask him to explain his answer and Yeshua clarifies:
Mark 7:1918 And He said to them,“Are you also without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside is unable to defile him, 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purging all the foods?”
[Yeshua’s words in purple](Words in grey do not occur in any Aramaic manuscripts or in early Greek manuscripts)
Some translations end verse 19 as follows…in saying this Jesus declared all foods clean [NIV].
It seems that Yeshuaabrogates or abolishes His Father’s instructions regarding food found in Leviticus 11, and Deuteronomy 4:1-21 and seems to contradict His own words in John 6 and Matthew 5:17-19.
THE CONTEXT OF MARK 7 AS A WHOLE IS RITUAL PURITY (man-made Oral Law). INTERPRETING MARK 7:19 TO MEAN THAT YESHUA DID AWAY WITH THE FOOD LAWS WOULD DISQUALIFY HIM AS THE MESSIAH OF YISRA'EL
(See the qualifications of a true prophet in Deuteronomy 13:1-5. Note that one of the marks of a false prophet is that he/she would teach The Eternal’s people to depart from the way in which He commanded them to walk.)
Based on Deuteronomy 13, if Yeshua taught His disciples to go against the instructions of the Eternal, this would nullify/disqualify Him as being the Messiah of Yisra’el. (Compare with Matthew 5:17-19)
Mark 7 deals with what makes man common, a concept that is found in the man-made Oral Law. This concept is not found in the Scriptures of the Eternal.
The Pharisees believed (man-made traditions of the elders or Oral Law) that hands, bowls, plates, utensils and even dining couches could become ‘common’ through ordinary use and had to be washed (see Acts 10:28). Thus we can think of ‘commonness’ as a higher level of defilement that went beyond what the Eternal had instructed in the Law. They were elevating their traditions to the status of the commandments given by the Eternal.
Some translations of the Scriptures will translate the Greek word «koinais» as “unclean” or defiled but this is misleading. The most literal English translation of koinais is ‘common’. The word for unclean is «akatharsia» and is not used anywhere in Mark 7.
Yeshua makes it clear He is targeting man-made traditions when He mentionsIsaiah 29:13.
The Pharisees were sinning according to the Scriptures (see Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32).
Mark 7:2 and 7:5 are often mistranslated as defiled or unclean and are more accurately translated as ‘common’.
So in verses 14-15 Yeshua directly contradicts this particular tradition of the Pharisees (Oral Law) saying <there is nothing that is outside of a person that can go into him and make him common>.
Commonness is not the same as unclean because it is based in human tradition and not in the law of the Eternal.
The main point of Yeshua’s teaching is:
an evil heart brings forth evil thoughts, fornications, etc.…these are the things that make a person common-not eating bread with unwashed hands.
A better translation of Mark 7:19 shows that Yeshua was not abrogating or doing away with the food laws. Note: the subject of Mark 7:19 is what makes a person common NOT unclean.
J. K. McKee points out in his commentary:
“Thus He declared” is an addition by Bible translators that is not in the Greek text…the text speaks of a person’s bodily elimination of food by excretion.
This is confirmed by the parallel text :
Matthew 15:17.17 “Do you not understand that whatever enters into the mouth goes into the stomach, and is cast out to the sewer?"
A more literal translation ofMark 7:18-19 would read:
Mark 7:18-19
18 And He said to them “Then are you without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot make him common{Ritually unclean}
19 since it enters not his heart but his belly, and goes into the latrine, purging all foods?"
Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures was taken from The Scriptures Copyright by Institute for Scripture Research. Used by permission.
THE CONTEXT OF MARK 7 AS A WHOLE IS RITUAL PURITY (man-made Oral Law). INTERPRETING MARK 7:19 TO MEAN THAT YESHUA DID AWAY WITH THE FOOD LAWS WOULD DISQUALIFY HIM AS THE MESSIAH OF YISRA'EL