Mark 7:4. And from the market. It is doubtful whether this means: when they come from the market, or, what comes from the market. We prefer the former (see below).

Except they bathe, lit., ‘baptize; ‘according to another reading, ‘sprinkle themselves.' The original means, either baptize themselves, or, for themselves. The former is the more obvious sense. In either case, it was a religious ceremony.

Washings, or, ‘baptisms,' i.e., ceremonial, religious washings. The passage clearly proves the wider usage of the terms ‘baptism ‘and ‘baptize ‘in Hellenistic Greek, whether by immersion, or pouring, or sprinkling. Christianity does not prescribe any particular mode as essential. Disputes about the form of baptism savor much of what our Lord is rebuking in the discourse which follows. Cups. Drinking vessels.

Pots. The word here used is derived from the Latin, meaning a vessel holding the sixth part of a larger one. It was probably wooden, holding about a pint and a half.

Brazen vessels. Earthen ones were broken when defiled (Leviticus 15:12). ‘Couches,' not ‘tables,' is the meaning of the word which is found here in many authorities, the couches on which persons then reclined at meals. All these things were ceremonially washed, or baptized, in case of defilement. Ordinary washing for cleanliness is not referred to. It is probable that the Pharisees multiplied the occasions of defilement, as they had done the articles which could be defiled, but it is scarcely possible that these baptisms took place before or after every meal. These usages were based on Leviticus 12-15, but the main authority for them was not derived from this source, as is evident from the language of the Pharisees (Mark 7:5) and of our Lord (Mark 7:8-9).

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Old Testament