Mark 7:3

Mar 7:3-5. For the Pharisees, &c., except they wash their hands oft — Greek, εαν μη πυγμη νιψωνται τας χειρας, except they wash their hands with their fist: or, as some render it, to the wrist. Theophylact translates it, unless they wash up to their elbows; affirming that πυγμη denotes the whole of the arm, from the bending to the ends of the fingers. But this sense of the word is altogether unusual. For πυγμη, properly, is the hand, with the fingers contracted into the palm, and made round. “Theophylact’s translation, however,” says Macknight, “exhibits the evangelist’s meaning. For the Jews, when they washed, held up their hands, and, contracting their fingers, received the water that was poured on them by their servants, (who had it for a part of their office, 2Ki 3:11,) till it ran down their arms, which they washed up to their elbows. To wash with the fist, therefore, is to wash with great care.” A MS. termed Codex Bezæ, instead of πυγμη, the fist, or wrist, has πυκνη, frequently. And when they come from the market, except they wash — Greek, βαπτισωνται, bathe themselves, as the word probably ought here to be rendered, (see Lev 15:11,) they eat not — Having the highest opinion of the importance of these institutions. Indeed, some of their rabbis carried this to such a ridiculous height, that one of them determined the neglect of washing to be a greater sin than whoredom; and another declared, it would be much better to die than to omit it. See many instances of this kind in Hammond and Whitby on the place. The Pharisees, therefore, viewing these washings in this important light, did not doubt but our Lord, by authorizing his disciples to neglect them, would expose himself to universal censure, as one who despised the most sacred services of religion; services to which a sanction was given by the approbation and practice of the whole nation. Accordingly, they asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders? — Hast thou taught them to despise these institutions? But while they pretended nothing but a sorrowful concern for the contempt which the disciples cast on institutions so sacred, their real intention was to make Jesus himself to be detested by the people as a deceiver. But the charge of impiety which they thus brought against him and his disciples, he easily retorted upon them with ten-fold strength. For he shows clearly, that notwithstanding their pretended regard for the duties of godliness, they were themselves guilty of the grossest violations of the divine law. And as they thus transgressed, not through ignorance, but knowingly, they were the worst of sinners, mere hypocrites, who deserved to be abhorred by all good men; and the rather, as God had long ago testified his displeasure against them, in the prophecy which Isaiah had uttered concerning them. He answered, Well hath Esaias prophesied, &c. — See note on Mat 15:7-9.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 7:3. Πυγμῇ) Πυγμὴ, the fist.—πυγμῇ, עד הפרק, up to the wrist. See Lightf.—παράδοσιν, the tradition) Its correlative is παρέλαβον, they have received, Mar 7:4.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 7:3-4 . Explanatory statement about Jewish customs, not in Mt. πάντες οἱ Ἰουδ .: the Pharisees, the thorough-going virtuosi in religion, were a limited number; but in this and other respects the Jews generally followed ancient custom. The expression reminds us of the Fourth Gospel in its manner of referring to the people of Israel the Jews as foreigners. Mark speaks from the Gentile point of view. πυγμῇ ., with the first, the Vulgate has here crebro , answering to πυκνά , a reading found in [61] . Most recent interpreters interpret πυγμῇ as meaning that they rubbed hard the palm of one hand with the other closed, so as to make sure that the part which touched food should be clean. (So Beza.) For other interpretations vide Lightfoot, Bengel, and Meyer.

[61] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. πυγμῇ ([1382][1383][1384][1385][1386][1387][1388]) rather than πυκνά ([1389], Vulg.). [1390] has πυκμη. Syr-Sin. omits.

[1382] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[1383] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1384] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1385] Codex Purpureus. 6th cent. Full text in Texts and Studies v. No. 4, 1899. Contains Mar 5:20 to Mar 7:4; Mar 7:20 to Mar 8:32; Mar 9:1 to Mar 10:43; Mar 11:7 to Mar 12:19; Mar 14:25 to Mar 15:23; Mar 15:33-42. See below on Ψ.

[1386] Codex Monacensis. 10th cent. Contains Mar 6:47 to Mar 16:20. Many verses in 14, 15, 16 are defective.

[1387] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mar 3:35 to Mar 6:20.

[1388] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

[1389] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1390] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

3. οἱ γὰρ Φαρισαῖοι. Another explanation inserted for Gentile readers. Mt. has nothing corresponding to Mar 7:3-4.

πάντες οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. “All strict Jews,” those who wished to be δίκαιοι according to the regulations of the Scribes (Luk 1:6; Luk 2:25; Luk 18:9). The regulations of the Law (Leviticus 11-15; Num 5:1-4; Num 5:19) had been enormously increased by the Scribes, with the result that the right sense of proportion had been lost. People confounded what was ceremonially trivial with what was ceremonially important, and also what was purely ceremonial with what was moral, the former being often preferred to the latter. The longest of the six books of the Mishna (Tohârôth) treats of purification, and thirty chapters are given to the cleansing of vessels. Schürer, II. ii. pp. 106 f. D.C.G. art. “Purification.”

πυγμῇ. The word remains a puzzle in this connexion. “Up to the elbow” and “up to the fist” are impossible translations. “With the fist” is the best rendering; and this may be explained either literally, of rubbing a closed hand in the palm of the other hand, or metaphorically, of vigorous washing, = “diligently” (A.V. marg.).

νίψωνται. The verb is used of washing part of the body (Mat 6:17; Mat 15:2; 1Ti 5:10; Gen 18:4; etc.), λούομαι being used of bathing the whole body (Act 9:37; Heb 10:22; etc.), and πλύνω of washing clothes, nets, etc. (Rev 7:14; Rev 22:14; Luk 5:2). In Lev 15:11 we have all three verbs thus distinguished. See on Joh 13:10.

τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν πρεσβυτέρων. Traditions handed down for generations and sanctioned by great teachers were regarded by the Pharisees and their followers as of equal obligation with Scripture. The traditions were seldom wrong in themselves, but they were treated as of such importance that moral duties were neglected. This inevitably follows when right conduct is regarded as keeping certain rules. The acc. is used because the whole of the tradition (Mar 3:21, Mar 6:17), and not a part (Mar 1:31, Mar 5:41), is held. Only in this and the parallel passage (Mat 15:2-6) is παράδοσις used in the Gospels. In 2Th 2:15, κρατεῖτε τὰζ παραδόσεις is said of holding Christian traditions; cf. 1Co 11:2.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observing diligently.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. Except they wash their hands] πυγμη, the hand to the wrist-Unless they wash the hand up to the wrist, eat not. Several translations are given of this word; that above is from Dr. Lightfoot, who quotes a tradition from the rabbins, stating that the hands were to be thus washed. This sort of washing was, and still continues to be, an act of religion in the eastern countries. It is particularly commanded in the Koran, Surat v. ver. 7, "O believers, when ye wish to pray, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows - and your feet up to the ankles." Which custom it is likely Mohammed borrowed from the Jews. The Jewish doctrine is this: "If a man neglect the washing, he shall be eradicated from this world." But instead of πυγμη, the fist or hand, the Codex Bezae has πυκνη, frequently: and several of the Itala have words of the same signification. Bathing is an indispensable prerequisite to the first meal of the day among the Hindoos; and washing the hands and the feet is equally so before the evening meal. WARD'S Customs.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) For the Pharisees, and all the Jews.—For the sake of the same class of readers, St. Mark adds another explanatory note. The custom of which he speaks was not, he says, peculiar to the Pharisees as a sect; it had passed, through their influence, to the whole body of the people.

Oft.—The Greek MSS. present two readings, one of which this is the natural meaning; another, which means literally, “with the fist,” and figuratively, “with might and main.” The evidence is, on the whole, in favour of the former.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. except they wash their hands oft] Oft, literally, with the fist. “When they washed their hands, they washed the fist unto the jointing of the arm. The hands are polluted, and made clean unto the jointing of the arm.” Lightfoot Hor. Heb. upon St Mark. When water was poured on the hands, they had to be lifted, yet so that the water should neither run up above the wrist, nor back again upon the hand; best, therefore, by doubling the fingers into a fist. The Israelites, who, like other Oriental nations, fed with their fingers, washed their hands before meals, for the sake of cleanliness. But these customary washings were distinct from the ceremonial ablutions; in the former water was poured upon the hands; in the latter the hands were plunged in water. When, therefore, some of the Pharisees remarked that our Lord’s disciples ate with “unwashen hands,” it is not to be understood literally that they did not at all wash their hands, but that they did not wash them ceremonially according to their own practice. And this was expected of them only as the disciples of a religious teacher; for these refinements were not practised by the class of people from which the disciples were chiefly drawn.

eat not] “The Jews of later times related with intense admiration how the Rabbi Akiba, when imprisoned and furnished with only sufficient water to maintain life, preferred to die of starvation rather than eat without the proper washings.” Buxtorf, Syn. Jud.; quoted in Farrar’s Life of Christ, i. p. 443; Geikie, ii. 203–205.

the tradition of the elders] The Rabbinical rules about ablutions occupy a large portion of one section of the Talmud.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the Pharisees, and all the Jews,.... The far greater part of them; all, excepting the Sadducees; and especially the Pharisees, were very tenacious of this tradition of washing hands before eating: hence Pharisees are described as such, , "that eat their common food with cleanness" (n), i.e. of hands: these,

except they wash their hands oft, eat not; or except they wash very cautiously, with great care, diligence, and exactness, as the Syriac version suggests; and about which there are various rules given, to be observed with great strictness (o). Some render the words, "they wash their hands to the elbow"; and this is a rule with the Jews, which is closely to be abode by, that the washing of hands is to be, , "to the joint", which joins the hand and arm together (p): particularly it is observed (q), that

"washing of the hands for the eating of the offering, is unto the elbow, and for common food, to the joints of the fingers: he that eats with an ancient man, and does not wash his hands to the elbow, he may not eat with him.''

Well may it be added,

holding the tradition of the elders; nor do the Jews pretend the authority of the Scriptures as obliging them to such rules; for, they say, the command concerning washing of hands is, , "from the words of the Scribes" (r); and is , "a command of the wise men" (s). The tradition is this:

"they wash hands for common food, but for the tithe, and for the first offering, and for that which is holy, they dip them, and for the sin offering; for if the hands are defiled; the body is defiled (t).''

And this tradition of the elders, the Scribes, and Pharisees, strictly observed.

(n) Gloss in T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 18. 2. Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Chagiga, c. 2. sect. 7. (o) Vid. Maimon. Hilch. Bcracot, c. 6. (p) T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 106. 1, 2. Maimon. Hilch. Beracot, c. 6. 4. Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Eracin, c. 5. sect. 1. Zohar in Deut. fol. 115. 2. (q) T. Hieros. Betacot, fol. 12. 1. (r) Maimon. Hilch. Mikvaot, c. 11. sect. 1. (s) Ib. Beracot, c. 6. sect. 2. (t) Misn. Chagiga, c. 2. sect. 5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

Ver. 3. Except they wash their hands oft] Or up to the elbow, or with utmost diligence, sedulo et accurate. (Syr.) The Pharisees deemed it as great a sin to eat with unwashen hands, as to commit fornication. {a} Do not our modern Pharisees the Papists as much? Fornication is a money matter with them; but to eat an egg in Lent, or the like, a deadly sin. You may see them sometimes in Italy go along the streets with a great rope about their necks, as if they were dropped down from the gallows. And sometimes they wear a sausage or a swines’ pudding in place of a silver or gold chain. Is not this sufficient to deserve heaven by?

{a} Godwin’s Antiq. Heb.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Often washing, &c.[1] Some would have the Greek to signify unless they wash up to the elbows, but I think without sufficient grounds. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Crebo, Greek: ean me pugme. Mr. Bois, prebend of Ely, defends the Latin version, and says Greek: pugme comes from Greek: pukna and Greek: puknos. But Theophylactus would have it to signify, up to the elbows; Greek: achri tou agkonos.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

3. Wash their hands oft — Mark writes for Gentiles, and therefore explains Jewish customs at some length. The word here rendered oft has received very various interpretations. It properly signifies with the fists or clenched hand, and it describes the ceremonial mode of washing one hand with the other.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Except they wash their hands oft. The Greek word here rendered "oft" is pugmh : literally, with the fist, i.e. with the closed hand, rubbing one against the other. This word has caused a vast amount of criticism; and the difficulty of explaining it seems to have led to the adoption of a conjectural reading (puknwv or puknh) rendered "oft;" crebro in the Vulgate. But the Syriac Peshito Version renders the Greek word by a word which means "diligently," and it is interesting and helpful, as a matter of exegesis, to know that it also renders the Greek word (epimelwv) in Luk_15:8 by the same Syriac synonym, "diligently." The "clenched fist" implies vigor and resolution, and points to "diligence," and there are very high authorities in favor of this rendering, as, Epiphanius, Isaac Casaubon, and Cornelius a Lapide, to say nothing of our best modern expositors. It is also adopted in the Revised Version. Holding the tradition of the elders. The Pharisees pretended that this tradition had been orally delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, and then transmitted orally down to their time. These oral precepts were afterwards embodied in the Talmud.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. For the Pharisees … except they wash diligently, eat not. The duty of washing before meat is not inculcated in the law, but only in the tradition of the scribes. So rigidly did the Jews observe it, that Rabbi Akiba, being imprisoned, and having water scarcely sufficient to sustain life given him, preferred dying of thirst to eating without washing his hands.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

3. πυγμῇ] This word has perplexed all the Commentators. Of the various renderings which have been given of it, two are excluded by their not being grammatical—(1) that which makes it mean ‘up to the elbow’ ( and Thl.); ‘including the hand as far as the wrist’ Lightf.: (2) ‘having clenched the hand,’ ‘facto pugno’ (Grot. and others).

The two meanings between which our choice lies are, (3) ‘frequently’ (as E. V. ‘oft,’ and Vulg. ‘crebro’), taking πυγμῇ = πυκνῇ = πυκνῶς, which however is not very probable: or (4), to which I most incline, and which Kuinoel gives, ‘sedulo,’ ‘fortiter,’ diligently; πυγμή, he observes, meaning ‘the fist,’ answers in the LXX to the word אֶגְרֹף, see reff. But this same word אֶגְרֹף is used to signify strength and fortitude, and strong men are called in the Rabbinical writings בעלי אגרופין, ‘lords of fists.’ And the . interpreter renders it by the same word as he does ἐπιμελῶς, Luk 15:8.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Φαρισαῖοι καὶ πάντες οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι—The Pharisees and all the Jews. This custom had become general among the Jews, though it originated with the Pharisees. πυγμῇ—this means with the fist. But the awkwardness of the process has led to doubt from the very first, whether this is the meaning intended. But the doubt has not led to the substitution of any justifiable alternative rendering. The meanings, up to the wrist, or elbow, RV.marg. are both linguistically and grammatically disallowed. With a fist full of water needs too much read between the lines, and, besides, the word denotes the closed fist. Finally, frequently, or diligently, RV., was probably taken in the first instance, in the Lat. Vet. and Syrr., from the reading πυκνὰ. The supposition that πυγμῇ had come to have this figurative meaning, seems forced, and besides, there is no warrant for it in actual usage. Edersheim quotes from the Jewish ordinance the provision that the hands should be held up in order that the water might run down to the wrist, and says that the provision that washing should be performed with the fist is not found in the Jewish law. This is, of course, a serious consideration, but does not seem to compare in importance with the other fact, that the Greek word does not mean this, nor the Greek case. The custom was not necessarily a part of the law, and may have been merely a usage arising from a desire for scrupulous observance. The very fact that the reading πυγμῇ occasions this difficulty, makes the strong external evidence for that reading still more convincing, and with this reading the only translation possible seems to be with the fist.

πυκνὰ, Tisch. א mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Syrr.

τὴν παράδοσιν—the tradition. It is the Greek etymological equivalent of tradition, and denotes what is passed along from one to another, and among the Jews, the body of Rabbinical interpretation of the written law, preserved by oral transmission from one generation to another. The word occurs in the Gospels only in this account and in the parallel passage in Mt. In attacking this, Jesus was assailing the very citadel of the Judaism of his time.1

τῶν πρεσβυτέρων—the elders. The word is used here in the sense of fathers, or ancestors.

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