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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 15

1 Then Pharisees and experts in the law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,” 6 he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,⁠ 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, 9 and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” 10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”⁠ 12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.⁠ 14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”⁠ 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.” 21 After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!” 23 But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, “Send her away because she keeps on crying out after us.” 24 So he answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”⁠ 25 But she came and bowed down before him and said, “Lord, help me!” 26 “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said.⁠ 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”⁠ 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. 29 When he left there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a mountain, where he sat down. 30 Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 As a result, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they praised the God of Israel.⁠ 32 Then Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way.” 33 The disciples said to him, “Where can we get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy so great a crowd?” 34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven—and a few small fish.” 35 After instructing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 38 Not counting children and women, there were 4,000 men who ate. 39 After sending away the crowd, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 60:21 and Matthew 15:13

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

In Matthew, Jesus echoes the language of Isaiah 60 that describes removing plants not planted by God, making a point in a Jewish debate over the proper way to understand and follow the Torah.

Passages

Isaiah 60:21

Hebrew Bible
19 The sun will no longer supply light for you by day, nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you; the Lord will be your permanent source of light—the splendor of your God will shine upon you. 20 Your sun will no longer set; your moon will not disappear; the Lord will be your permanent source of light; your time of sorrow will be over. 21 All your people will be godly; they will possess the land permanently. I will plant them like a shoot; they will be the product of my labor, through whom I reveal my splendor. 22 The least of you will multiply into a thousand; the smallest of you will become a large nation. When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Matthew 15:13

New Testament
11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Matthew 15:12-14 ... These verses are peculiar to Matthew and reflect what took place after Jesus and his disciples had retired from the crowd and entered the house (compare Mark 7:17). The disciples' question shows that the Pharisees understood enough of Jesus' parable to take offense (verse 12). The disciples' request to have the parable explained (verse 15) does not reveal them as being more obtuse than the Pharisees but shows that, in common with most Jews at the time, they held the Pharisees in high regard and therefore wanted to be certain of exactly what Jesus had said that had offended them so badly. Therefore verses 12-14 are not out of place. Jesus must disillusion his disciples as to the reliability of the Pharisees and teachers of the law as spiritual guides, as well as explain the parable. This is not to say that these verses turn the entire section (verses 1-20) into a personal attack on the Pharisees rather than on their use of the law; for the chief point for which they are blamed relates to their misunderstanding of the law. Jesus uses two images. The first (verse 13) predicts the rooting up of any plant the heavenly Father has not planted. Israel often saw herself as a plant God had planted (Psalm 1:3; Isaiah 60:21; compare 1QS 8:5; CD 1:7; 1 Enoch 10:16; Psalms of Solomon 14:2), and the prophets turned the image against them (Isaiah 5:1-7) ..."
Frank Ely Gaebelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Pickering & Inglis, 1984), 350.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 60:21 and Matthew 15:13

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