Matthew 15:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

NIV: For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’

NASB: For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘THE ONE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’

CSB: For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

NLT: For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’

KJV: For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

NKJV: For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

Jesus sounds justifiably angry in these verses. He is talking to a group of Pharisees who have come a long way to challenge His authority as a rabbi. Their current complaint is that He doesn't require His disciples to follow a specific tradition about handwashing. That tradition, though, is not one of the commands of God in Scripture. The implication is that if Jesus isn't cooperating with their man-made rules, then He is not a good teacher.

Jesus has ignored their challenge, which is really a rhetorical trap. Rather than "defend" something which need not be explained, Jesus has chosen to use the attack to point out the Pharisees' deep hypocrisy. While they criticize Jesus for not following a man-made rule, they themselves use man-made rules to avoid following the actual commands of God!

The fifth of the Ten Commandments is what Jesus has in mind: Honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12). Jesus adds a negative version of the command from Exodus 21:17: Whoever reviles—meaning to curse or speak evil of—their father or mother is deserving of death. Clearly, this commandment demands that children care for and respect their parents. And yet, as Jesus will show, the man-made laws which the Pharisees defend enable people to effectively break that commandment.

Matthew 15:1–9 describes Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem challenging Jesus. Their complaint: Christ's disciples have apparently ignored the Pharisees' practice of ritualized washing before eating. In response, Jesus asks them why they allow people to break the actual command of God about honoring one's parents. He says they have made God's Word void for the sake of their tradition. In truth, they criticize those who ignore their commands, but ignore those of God. He applies to them words from the Lord to Isaiah about the Israelites of his day, saying that these Pharisees honor the Lord with their words while their hearts are far away. They worship God in vain, teaching man-made commands as doctrines.

Pharisees and scribes come from Jerusalem to challenge Jesus. They are offended that His disciples break the religious leaders' tradition about ritual handwashing before meals. Jesus turns that attack upside down, pointing out that His critics honor tradition above God's actual commands! He insists that nobody is defiled by what goes in the mouth—by the literal matter itself—but by the overflow of the spirit, such as the words that come out of the mouth. He and the disciples travel out of the country. Jesus casts a demon out of the daughter of a persistent Canaanite woman. They travel to the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus feeds thousands of people from a few loaves and fishes. These last two events set up the eventual spread of the gospel beyond the people of Israel.

Matthew 15 begins with a confrontation between some Pharisees and Jesus. They ask why His disciples break the traditional practice of ritual handwashing. Pointedly, Jesus asks why they allow the obvious intent of God's commandments to be broken through their traditions. Jesus and the disciples travel out of Israel, encountering a Canaanite woman. He praises her faith and casts a demon from her daughter. They travel to the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus heals more people and feeds thousands more from another few loaves and fishes. This sets up another confrontation with religious leaders, warnings about their teachings, and predictions of Jesus' death in the next chapter.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.