(32) Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because
they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest
they faint in the way.
(33) And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill
so great a multitude?
(34) And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
(35) And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
(36) And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his
disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
(37) And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets
full.
(38) And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
(39) And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.‖
15:1 Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem.............................................
―Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,‖
Jerusalem is the headquarters of the conspiracy against Y‘shua with the legalistic Pharisees as the leaders
of it. Already, we have seen the Herodians combining with these men for the purpose to put Y‘shua to death
(Mark 3:6; Matt 12:14; Luke 6:11). Soon, Y‘shua will warn the disciples against the Sadducees also (Matt
16:6).
15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when
they eat bread―Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they
eat bread.‖
The story in this chapter one that has consistently been misused to teach that the Messiah did away with the
Levitical food commandments (kosher laws). The text plainly shows that this is not the subject at hand, yet
many ignore this in order to teach against the Torah. (See comments on verses below).
The context of the discussion is stated clearly in this verse (and at the end of the topic, in verse 20). The
subject is not the kosher laws, but that of "washing of hands". There is more to this tradition than what the
Scripture reveals, however. (Hence, the advantage of knowing the Hebrew background to the discussion.)
There were varying mystical beliefs among some Jews of Y‘shua's day – not all firmly grounded in the Torah.
Some of these ideas had to do with how a person could become spiritually "clean" or "unclean". (A concept
that is, of course, quite biblical.) One such teaching was that during the night, evil spirits could come into a
man's body. These spirits would exit the body through the hands (more precisely, the fingertips). The body
would become spiritually "clean" again in the morning, with the exception of the fingertips/hands. It was
taught that the hands had to be washed in order to remove any defilement that would cause anything
touched (i.e., food) to become unclean.
Y‘shua is showing the legalistic Pharisees that this hand-washing tradition that was not based on the Torah
(for the normal man on the street), was in fact nullifying the Torah. They were calling unclean, foods that
YHWH Himself had declared clean, simply by eating with unwashed hands. He also chastises these
teachers for breaking the true Torah commandments (while laying these unnecessary burdens on the
people) by citing their own lack of properly following the commandment of honouring father and mother (see
comments further on in this section.) This is the lesson of verses 2-20.
Another Scripture cited in the same incorrect fashion is Peter's vision of the unclean animals in Acts chapter
- Here, too, the context and explanation are ignored in order to support false doctrine. Dreams in Scripture
commonly use specific items and themes to represent certain people, places, things and teachings. In the
case of Peter's dream in Acts 10, he clearly explains this vision several times throughout the book of Acts.
Not once does Peter say that YHWH showed him that the laws of kashrut are done away with. Rather, in
every case, he explains the meaning of the dream as being that Gentiles were not to be considered as
"unclean" and could directly come to faith through Y‘shua – something that YHWH had not provided for
before Y‘shua's death. (See comments to verse 24 below.)