Matthew 15:3-6 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But he answered, &c.— It was easy for our Lord to retort upon the Pharisees the charge of impiety which they had brought against his disciples, being themselves guilty of the grossest violations of the divine law, through the regard which they shewed to their own traditions. Accordingly, he produces an instance of an atrocious kind: "God (says he) hascommanded children to honour their parents;" that is to say, among other things, to maintain them when reduced; for as the greater includes the less; so honour, Matthew 15:4 imports assistance and maintenance when they are wanted, as appears from Matthew 15:5. And honour is used for maintenance, 1 Timothy 5:17-18 and elsewhere.—"Nevertheless (says our Lord) you Pharisees presumptuously make light of the divine commandments, and of the aweful sanction annexed; affirming, that it is a more sacred duty to enrich the temple than to nourish one's parents, though they be in the utmost necessity; and pretending that what is offered to the Great Parent is better bestowed, than that which is given for the support of our parents on earth, as if the interest of God was different from that of his creatures. Nay, ye impiously teach, that a man may lawfully suffer his parents to starve, if he can say to them, It is a gift, &c. that is to say, what should have succoured you is given to the temple. Thus have you hypocrites made void the commandment of God, though of immutable and eternal obligation, by your frivolous traditions; and distinguished with a cloak of piety the most horrid and unnatural actions whereof a man can be guilty." See the note on Mark 7:11. Dr. Heylin reads the 5th and 6th verses thus: But you say, that whoever will declare to his father or mother, that what he might assist them with is an oblation, shall hereby be free from his obligation to maintain them. Thus you invalidate the command of God by your tradition. Dr. Doddridge reads it: But you assert, that any one may say to his father or mother, let that be a gift, by which thou mightest receive an advantage from me; and he shall not honour his father and mother. Thus, &c. See Capellus and Sir Norton Knatchbull. The version of 1729 gives the sense of the passage thus: "But your doctrine is this, If any man declare to his father or mother, that whatever he has to give for their relief is dedicated to the temple, he is not obliged to regard," &c.