Mark 7:4

Mark 7:4, in plain English

Coming home from the market, they wouldn't eat without ceremonial washing. And they had rules about washing cups, pitchers, kettles — even furniture.

Why it's here

The list of things that needed washing gives you a sense of how detailed and burdensome these traditions had become. Rules upon rules upon rules.

Who's speaking

Mark continues explaining Jewish purity customs.

Where it sits in the story

The purity system had expanded to cover almost everything. Mark's list helps you feel the weight of all these rules — and understand why Jesus' response was so revolutionary.

The scholarly reading

Mark further explains the scope of purity traditions: returning from the marketplace (agorasthen) required washing (baptisontai — literally 'immerse/baptize themselves') due to potential contact with Gentile impurity. Additional traditions covered cups, pitchers, kettles, and even dining couches.

Language and setting

The marketplace was especially problematic for purity because of potential contact with Gentiles, menstruating women, or other sources of ritual contamination. The extensive list of washed items illustrates the expansive reach of the oral tradition.

Voice

Mark continues his explanatory aside about Jewish purity customs.

Significance

Mark catalogs the extensive purity practices: self-immersion after marketplace visits, ritual washing of all manner of vessels and furniture. The tradition's scope reveals how comprehensive the purity system had become.

2and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.

3Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially.

4And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

5So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

6Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

Read all of Mark 7 — Jesus declares all foods clean and then crosses into Gentile territory to heal a woman's daughter. The walls are coming down.