Matthew 15

Matthew 15:1

Twelve baskets full. Baskets were taken by the Jews on journeying, to carry their provisions, etc., that they might not have to depend on Gentiles, and so incur the risk of ceremonial pollution.

Matthew 15:2

Five thousand men. Thus there was one loaf to every thousand men. Christ is the bread if life, satisfying the hunger of the soul for love, forgiveness, immortality, usefulness, progress, knowledge. He gives that bread to his disciples and bids them to distribute it to the multitude. Such is its blessed and divine nature that the more they distribute to hungry, famishing souls, the more they have remaining for themselves.

Matthew 15:3

Straightway. After satisfying to the full the wants of the multitude. Compare Mr 6:45-56 John 6:15-21. Jesus constrained his disciples. They were loath to go without their Master. Yet he wished to be alone. He had come to the “desert place” for retirement; the multitude followed, and sought after the miracle to proclaim him King. His disciples probably sympathized. Hence he sent them, too, away, and stayed to pray and reflect alone. To go before him unto the other side. John says, toward Capernaum (John 6:17).

Matthew 15:4

When he had sent the multitudes away. They were in an excited condition; hence, great prudence, perhaps an exercise of some constraining power, was necessary. He went up into a mountain apart to pray. The refuge of Christ in every great crisis was lonely prayer.

Matthew 15:5

In the midst of the sea. About twenty-five or thirty furlongs, or three and a half miles from the shore (John 6:19), about the middle of the lake. For the wind was contrary. The wind came rushing down from the mountains, and in attempting to make land at Bethsaida, where the Lord had directed, it was in their faces. Sudden gusts are common on the Sea of Galilee. Thompson says he encountered one of such fury that no rowers could row a boat across the lake. There had now arisen one of those sudden and violent squalls to which all inland waters, surrounded by lofty hills intersected with deep gorges, are liable.

Matthew 15:6

In the fourth watch. The Jews, who used to divide the night into three watches, latterly adopted the Roman division into four watches, as here; so that, at the rate of three hours to each, the fourth watch, reckoning from six p.m., would be three o’clock in the morning. Jesus went unto them. The Lord saw their trouble from his mountain-top, and through the darkness of the night, for his heart was all with them; yet would he not go to their relief till his own time came.

Matthew 15:7

A spirit. An apparition, an unreal appearance of a real person. The Greek word “phantasma” is not that unusually rendered “spirit”. He would appear to them at first like a dark, moving speck upon the waters, then as a human figure; but in the dark, tempestuous sky, and not dreaming that it could be their Lord, they take it for a spirit, “pneuma” (Lu 24:37). Cried out. In fright.

Matthew 15:8

It is I. Literally, “I am”. The same language used by Jesus in Jerusalem (John 8:58), for which the Pharisees would have stoned him, and in the Old Testament to designate Jehovah (Exodus 3:14). Here I should prefer to give it this meaning: Christ says not merely, “It is I, your Friend and Master”; he says, at least implies, it is the “I AM”, who is coming to you, the Almighty One who rules wind and waves, who made them, and whom they obey. Be not afraid. How often has he to speak this word of encouragement, even to his own! almost always when they are brought suddenly, or in an unusual way, face to face with him. See Genesis 15:1 21:17 Jude 6:23 Matthew 28:5 Lu 2:10.

Matthew 15:9

Bid me come unto thee. Peter is led by no praiseworthy motives, but rather by vain glory.

Matthew 15:10

And he said, Come. I suppose the Lord bade Peter to come in order to teach him a lesson.

Matthew 15:11

When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. He stepped into the water, but the roaring winds and rushing billows were too much for his faith.

Matthew 15:12

O thou of little faith. Peter’s act did not exemplify his faith, but his doubts. True faith never attempts wonders merely for the sake of doing them. It is a fact that ought to be noted that the Gospels narrate the failures in miraculous power on the part of the apostles as well as their success. No book of myths would do this. At the same time it is always made plain why they failed.

Matthew 15:13

The wind ceased. They were safe, for the Lord was with them. Under his arms there is always safety.

Matthew 15:14

They that were in the ship came and worshipped him. Not only did they approach him with an outward unforbidden gesture of worship, “but they avowed him, for the first time collectively, to be the Son of God”.

Matthew 15:15

They came into the land of Gennesaret. A small district four miles long and two or three wide, on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, to which it gave one of its names. Josephus describes it as the garden of the whole land, and possessing a fertility and loveliness almost unparalleled.

Matthew 15:16

And brought unto him all that were diseased. His fame was so well known in that region that his coming at once caused a commotion. In a country where there are no skilled physicians and little known of sanitary laws, there is great need of a Healer. Geikie, who traveled through this same region with a medical friend, says that crowds would gather with their sick as soon as they knew there was a physician. Hence the importance of medical missions.

Matthew 15:17

The hem of his garment. The numbers that pressed upon him seemed almost too large for him to be able to heal them singly by laying his hands upon them, therefore many begged that they might be allowed to touch “if it were but the border of his garment” (Mr 6:56). Soon after followed the ever-memorable discourse, so strikingly in accordance with the present passover season, in the synagogues of Capernaum, respecting the “Bread of Life” (John 6:22-65).

Matthew 15:19

Christ and the Pharisees. The Woman of Canaan. SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 15: Eating with Unwashed Hands. Keeping the Traditions of Men. What Defileth a Man. The Blind Leaders of the Blind. In the Bounds of Tyre and Sidon. The Appeal of the Woman of Canaan. Great Faith and Its Results. Feeding the Four Thousand. Scribes and Pharisees . . . of Jerusalem. Representatives of these bodies, not doubt to counteract the influence of Christ. Compare Mr 7:1-13. These were always bitter opposers of Jesus.

Matthew 15:20

Why do thy disciples transgress? Not the law of Moses, but the tradition of the elders, which had as much authority with the Pharisees as the written law. The tradition of the elders. Purported to be precepts never written in the Scriptures, but handed down from the times of Moses and the elders by oral means. These precepts were spoken of the “law upon the lip”, and have been embodied in the Talmud. They were additions to the written word. See Galatians 1:14. For they wash not their hands. The orthodox Jews insisted on washing the hands before eating, not to remove the filth, but less they might have touched something ceremonially unclean. This commandment was purely traditional, but so rigidly did they insist upon observing it that the Rabbi Akiba, imprisoned by the Romans and with scarcely water to sustain life, preferred to use all provided for his ceremonial ablutions, and to die of thirst.

Matthew 15:21

Why do ye also transgress? The Lord does not deny their charge, but strikes at the evil by showing that their human traditions led them to break God’s written law.

Matthew 15:22

For God commanded. See Exodus 21:17. He that curseth, etc. The Ten Commandments promised long life to those who honored father and mother (Exodus 20:12 Deuteronomy 5:16). Here the Lord quotes the punishment of dishonoring them. (See also Leviticus 20:9.) On nothing did Moses insist more than respect for parents.

Matthew 15:23

Ye say. Following tradition, you say one thing while God says in the law just the opposite. The scribes taught that a Jew by calling his possessions “Corban” (a gift to God, Mr 7:11) was absolved from the duty of caring for his parents, even though he did not afterward devote his property to sacred uses. Thus, by an artifice, the law with respect to parents could be set aside. The Talmud furnishes a curious illustration of this perversion of the command. The Mishna says: ``He that curses his father or his mother is not guilty, unless he curses them with an express mention of the name of Jehovah.''

Matthew 15:24

Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect. Modern Pharisaism does the same. Church tradition leads to dogmas that set aside God’s commands. The corruption of the simplicity of early Christianity is due to following human tradition.

Matthew 15:25

[Ye] hypocrites. The world so rendered might mean one self-deceived as well as a deceiver, but was always a rebuke. Well did Esaias prophesy of you. See Isaiah 29:13.

Matthew 15:26

This people. The Jews. Quoted from Isaiah 29:13. Their heart is far from me. The essential of true worship is that the heart be wholly given to God. Even the forms commanded by God are worthless unless they are obeyed from the heart.

Matthew 15:27

In vain do they worship me. Quoted from Isaiah 29:13. This worship is all idle, empty, and without profit, because they teach as doctrines the commandments of men. This rebuke to the Pharisees, who had added to the law of Moses many traditional human precepts, applies equally to all modern religionists who have modified or added to the Christianity of Christ and the apostles. Whatever one cannot find in the New Testament is of such a character; observance of saints’ days, of Christians, of Lent, the removal of the cup in the Lord’s Supper from the laity, infant sprinkling, party creeds and party shibboleths, are all of men and not of God. The devout worshiper should go right to the New Testament for his religion, and reject every ordinance or precept that is not to be found there.

Matthew 15:28

He called the multitude. In order to show them that the Pharisaical expounders of the law did not understand its real sense.

Matthew 15:29

Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man. The Mosaic law forbade Jews to eat what was ceremonially unclean, in order to teach the need of moral purity. The Rabbis added stringent precepts to prevent the slightest contact with ceremonial uncleanness, but were careless about moral purity. Christ shows that a pure heart is far more important than clean food, in the ceremonial sense, in the stomach. Pharisees in all ages have paid more attention to the letter than to the spirit, to the symbol than to that which is signified. That which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. The impure words that indicate an impure heart. What one eats does not render him defiled before God, but what he says. See Matthew 15:18-23.

Matthew 15:30

The Pharisees were offended. Found fault. They would insist that he set aside the law, whereas it was tradition that he rejected.

Matthew 15:31

Every plant. A general truth, but here refers to the doctrines not of God, like “the tradition of the elders” (Matthew 15:2).

Matthew 15:32

Let them alone. The Pharisees. His disciples were troubled by their opposition. They be blind leaders of the blind. They pretend to be spiritual guides of the people, while spiritually blind themselves. The blind are unsafe guides of the blind. See PNT Romans 2:19.

Matthew 15:33

Declare unto us this parable. The figure was used in Matthew 15:11.

Matthew 15:35

Is cast out. What is eaten passes through the body and passes away. It does not defile the soul.

Matthew 15:36

Come forth from the heart. The emotional nature; the mind. Evil deeds are begotten of evil thoughts; evil words are the expression of these evil thoughts. These indicate a sinful heart and make a man sinful, or defiled.

Matthew 15:39

Jesus . . . departed into the coasts. Compare Mr 7:24-30. Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were the two principal cities of Phoenicia, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tyre was about twenty miles south of Sidon, and about one hundred miles in a straight line northwest of Jerusalem. In the days of David and Solomon, Tyre was the leading seaport of the world. It was afterwards taken by the Babylonians, the Persians, and Alexander, but up to the time of Christ it remained a great commercial city. Since then its harbor has been filled with sand, and there remains only a wretched shadow of its former greatness. Both were Gentile cities in a Gentile country. That is the only instance in the Lord’s ministry when he went beyond the bounds of Palestine.