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7.1. Traditions and Commandments

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him,
 
"Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"
 
6 And he said to them,
 
"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

" ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

7  in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."

9 And he said to them,
 
"You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said,
‘Honor your father and your mother’;
and,
‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’
11 But you say,
‘If a man tells his father or his mother,
"Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban" ’
(that is, given to God)— 12 
then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.
And many such things you do."
 
Isaiah 29 (Isaiah was a prophet of Israelk who lived in Jerusalem around 710 BC. In the extract below he was setting out the LORD's view of His people at that time and of their unwillingness to listen or understand His ways.)
 

13 And the LORD said:

"Because this people draw near with their mouth 
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 14 
therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."
15  Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, 
 
"Who sees us? Who knows us?"
 
16  You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
 
"He did not make me";
 
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
 
"He has no understanding"?
 
 
 
Exodus  (This book, one of five written by Moses around 1350 BC, sets out the record of the escape of the children of Israel from slavery and captivity in Israel.
 
Included in the book is the first giving opf the Ten Commandments (chapter 20 below) and a further instruction (from chapter 23) regarding the commandment to honour father and mother.) 
 
Chapter 20
 
 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s."
 
Chapter 21
 
17 "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. ..."
 
 
 

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