Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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• About the Header: “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” in Antoine Galland’s version of One Thousand and One Nights. “Open Sesame” opens the mouth of a cave in which forty thieves have hidden a treasure. For the believer, when Jesus speaks He opens the mouth of the Word of God, a treasure hidden in the darkness for believers, searching for the gold within the Light of revelation.

Mark 7

Defilement Comes from Within

Mark 7:¹ Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.

Mark 7:² Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.

Mark 7:³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way (with the fist), holding the tradition of the elders.

Mark 7:⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.

Mark 7:⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”

Mark 7:⁶ He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

• “Hypocrite” Hebrew Meaning: Pretender, Actor, Wearing a Mask.

‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.

Mark 7:⁷ And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

Mark 7:⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

Mark 7:⁹ He said to them, “All too well you (set aside) reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

Mark 7:¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

Mark 7:¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God),

Mark 7:¹² then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother,

Mark 7:¹³ making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Mark 7:¹⁴ When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand:

Mark 7:¹⁵ There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.

Mark 7:¹⁶ If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Mark 7:¹⁷ When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.

Mark 7:¹⁸ So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him,

Mark 7:¹⁹ because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, (sets off the final phrase as Mark’s comment that Jesus has declared all foods clean) thus purifying all foods?”

Mark 7:²⁰ And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

Mark 7:²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Mark 7:²² thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

Mark 7:²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

A Gentile Shows Her Faith

Mark 7:²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.

Mark 7:²⁵ For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.

• Unclean spirits are represented as “frogs” in Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
• Frogs are amphibians.
• Satan is always described as a reptile: serpent, sea serpent, dragon, crocodile, leviathan, etc.
• God uses reptiles to describe Satan while He uses amphibians to describe unclean spirits.
  • Isaiah 27:1 Israel Will Be Restored – In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea (of people).
• Like reptiles, amphibians are cold-blooded.
• Unclean spirits manufacture lies which make them unclean.

Mark 7:²⁶ The woman was a Greek (Gentile), a Syro-Phoenician by birth (A Syrian of Phoenicia), and she kept (begging) asking Him to cast the demon (daimonion – devil) out of her daughter.

Mark 7:²⁷ But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

Mark 7:²⁸ And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

• See Topic: The Rich Man and Lazarus (Parables Explained)
  • Note! She was a gentile.

Mark 7:²⁹ Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

Mark 7:³⁰ And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute

Mark 7:³¹ Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis (Meaning: Ten Cities) to the Sea of Galilee.

Mark 7:³² Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.

Mark 7:³³ And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.

Mark 7:³⁴ Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

• “Open Sesame (Sez Me)” ~The Arabian Nights

Mark 7:³⁵ Immediately his ears were opened, and the (Lit. bond) impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

Mark 7:³⁶ Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

• Jesus knew the Jewish leaders would be trying to get Him in His words or deeds. Once they got Him, they would kill Him.

Mark 7:³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

• Jesus “circumcised” the ears of the deaf and the mouth of the mute.
• Exodus 6:³⁰ But Moses said before the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
  • Uncircumcised lips – An uncircumcised ear is one that does not hear clearly; an uncircumcised heart one slow to receive and understand warnings; uncircumcised lips cannot speak fluently.
  • Uncircumcised figuratively is to remain unharvested (unfruitful) Leviticus 19:23
  • The root meaning of uncircumcised: H6188 – ʿārēl profane, impure
  • Jesus “purified” them.
  • ALL men are sick. ALL men are sinners. ALL men are impure. ALL men need healing. There is no healing without Jesus. To embrace Jesus is to be “circumcised”; pure, cleansed, and sacred.