In light of the probability of Jesus being cast out of the synagogues by this time, how should we understand the question of the scribes and Pharisees in Mark 7:5? Why would the Jewish authorities be interested enough in Jesus’ ministry to even comment on it? Wouldn’t ignoring him and teach the people to do the same, be a better approach to handling the problem Jesus presented to the Jewish authorities? In a word, “No!” although most of the Jews admired the Pharisees’ way of life, they considered it too strict to follow. The size of the local synagogues in Galilee leaves a testimony showing the influence of the Jewish authorities over the people of the land wasn’t that great. No doubt most Jews would side with their Jewish governors over foreigners, like Rome, but for the most part the people of the land or the common people made up their own minds about who was a prophet, and the authorities, although they often sought to manipulate public sentiment (Matthew 27:20; Mark 15:11), feared to cross the multitudes (cp. Matthew 21:26; Mark 11:32; Luke 20:6).
So, what was behind the scribes and Pharisees’ accusation against Jesus in Mark 7:3? According to Alfred Edersheim:
If the water remained short of the wrist (chuts lappereq), the hands were not clean. Accordingly, the words of Mark can only mean that the Pharisees eat not ‘except they wash their hands to the wrist.’ [Edersheim: Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah; Book 3; chapter 31; page 339]
Bread eaten with unwashed hands was as if it had been filth.[1] Indeed, a Rabbi who had held this command in contempt was actually buried in excommunication.[2] [Edersheim: Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah; Book 3; chapter 31 (40-41); page 338]
According to the Babylonian Talmud:
“Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue. The latter used to say three things: be patient in [the administration of justice], rear many disciples, and make a fence round the Torah.” [Avoth 1.1]
Of course, this statement is illogical on the face. If there was an oral tradition handed down from Moses, and Israel went astray after other gods, as she had done numerous times according to the Old Testament scriptures, how could the oral tradition, once forgotten, be reclaimed. What was written down could be reclaimed by rereading it, but nothing memorized or orally handed down to other generations of Jews could be preserved, once it was forgotten. There is absolutely no evidence in the Old Testament, showing an authoritative oral tradition was handed down from Moses to the first century AD. Moreover, notice in the above excerpt that it was the Great Synagogue, which came after the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, that sought to “build a fence around Torah,” which is what the traditions of the elders was supposed to do. Therefore, it seems that the Jews’ oral tradition began with the Great Synagogue, and, predictably, it became so large that it had to be written down by the 2nd century AD before it was lost to those Jews coming later.
According to Jesus, the traditions that the scribes and Pharisees held were of men, not God, and in fact actually did the reverse of which they were intended, namely to put a fence around Torah (the word of God). Jesus accused them of setting aside the word of God in order to keep their traditions, and he, pointed to the scripture that predicted their wrongdoing (Mark 7:6-9; cp. Isaiah 29:13-16).
Moreover, pointing to the words of Moses and the commandment of God to honor one’s parents (Mark 7:10), Jesus claimed the scribes and Pharisees set aside scripture in favor of their own tradition, which relieved a child’s responsibility to his parents’ welfare (Mark 7:10-13). In other words, if what adult children could have offered their parents was offered to God (really to the religious authorities), their duty to their parents was excused. Thus, clearly Judaism of the first century could not have been the religion of Moses, whom they claimed as their authority. In other words, the authority of the scribes and Pharisees was, in fact, derived, not from Moses but from the elders of the Great Synagogue.
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[1] See Babylonian Talmud; Sotah 4b “Whoever eats bread without previously washing the hands is as though he had intercourse with a harlot…” See also Edersheim in an earlier study: Not Holding to the Tradition of the Elders.
[2] See Babylonian Talmud; Berachoth 19a “Whom did they in fact excommunicate? It was Eleazar b. Hanoch, who raised doubts about washing the hands, and when he died the Beth din sent and had a large stone placed on his coffin, to teach you that if a man is excommunicated and dies in his excommunication, the Beth din stone his coffin.”
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