Mark 7:9-13

⁹ He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

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

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),

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

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

Also found in Matthew 15:3-6.

All too well (v.9) = excellently, finely, well — Jesus was using irony and sarcasm.

reject (v.9) = thwart the efficacy of anything, no nullify, make void, frustrate

The Pharisees are charged by our Lord with thwarting the efficacy of that which has been laid down or prescribed by God, namely, His commandments. They have made God’s Word null and void, have nullified it, frustrated it in its soul-saving work. This they did in order to keep their own traditions. — Wuest, pages 145-146.

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honor (v.10) = to honor, revere, venerate. The noun form carries with it the idea of “a valuing by which the price if fixed, an evaluation.” Thus, the act of honoring carries with it a proper estimation of the value of a person or thing. In the case of honor due to parents, it is that respect or reverence for them in view of who and what they are, and their worth, which is their due. — Wuest, page 146.

curses (v.10) = speak ill of, revile, abuse. This isn’t casting a curse on another person.

put to death (v.10) — The penalty for not honoring one’s parents under the O.T. law.

The word “Corban” is a Hebrew word which Mark has transliterated. He explains it as referring to a gift. The Hebrew word refers to a gift or offering to God. The rabbis allowed the individual to keep whatever money should have been given by the son for the support of his parents, if he would declare it as a gift to God. He could keep the money and by merely speaking the word, justify his withholding it from his parents. This was in defiance of God’s command by which a son is required to honor his parents by providing for their necessities when they were in need. — Wuest, pages 146-147.

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The law concerning duty to parents was plain, being doubly emphasized in the Old Testament, but the Jews, with characteristic sophistry, had devised a means of evading it, even under the cloak of piety. A son could pledge his money to be paid into the Temple treasury. This could be done in an ideal sense without any actual payment being made, or the payment could be deferred until after his death. he could even do it in a fit of anger, and could then tell his old parents in their time of need that he could offer them no help, since his money was Corban, i.e. dedicated under oath. — Guthrie, page 866.

making the Word of God of no effect (v.13) = rendering it void, depriving it of force and authority, invalidating.

tradition (v.13) — the oral laws of the Pharisees which were handed down from generation to generation to be kept