What's the Big Deal About Eating Bread with Unwashed Hands Part 2

Please see part 1

The second part of Yeshua's confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees over the disciples eating bread with unwashed hands begins with Mark 7:14.

Mark 7:14-23 (KJV)
¹⁴ And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
¹⁵ There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
¹⁷ And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
¹⁸ And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
¹⁹ Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
²⁰ And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
²² Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
²³ All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

At this point, Yeshua gathered the multitude to hear and understand what He was about to teach regarding the eating of bread with unwashed hands (verse 14). He plainly explained that what is taken into the body cannot defile a man, or in other words, make him spiritually unclean. It is what comes from the man that causes defilement (verse 15).

The disciples then requested that Yeshua explain His statement (verse 17). Although Yeshua reprimanded the disciples for lacking in understanding (After all, He only had a limited amount of time before His disciples needed to be ready to take over His ministry), He complied and began His explanation (verse 18). Verse 19, without the embellishment of later translators, states that what is taken in by mouth goes not into the heart, but into the belly and whatever is unusable by the body is eliminated. This is clearly a description of the digestive process. Through it, all food is purged. Then, verses 20 to 23 demonstrate and list all of the many things that defile a man like evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, and murders.

Reason tells us that the physical process of digestion which eliminates impurities from food, could not possibly cause an unclean food to suddenly become clean in a spiritual sense. Digestion has been a bodily process from the time of Creation. God instituted His Torah Laws while digestion was already occurring. He commanded His people not to eat certain things that were unclean. Digestion continued, but still, certain foods were unclean. Yeshua came to earth as a man. Digestion continued. Nothing changed. It is impossible to believe that Yeshua now claimed that digestion caused all foods to become clean! As discussed in the prior posts, Yeshua could not speak against the Torah or to change it, or mankind would still be lost in sin and condemned without hope.

Just as was seen in part 1 of this post, the topic has nothing to do with unclean foods becoming clean. The primary point of the passage (Mark 7:1-23) is how the Pharisees were misusing tradition, often raising tradition to the level of the written commandments of God, or of even raising it above the Torah. This second part is a further explanation of how food that may have been contaminated by something cannot make someone unclean. It is the actions and thoughts of man that defile.

Mark 7:19's addition has added to the confusion about the continuing applicability of the Torah. Let's open our hearts and minds to the truths that are written there and seek to find the seamless and enduring Torah that exists in both the Old and New Testaments!