71 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'See, I have given thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother is thy prophet; 2 thou—thou dost speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother doth speak unto Pharaoh, and he hath sent the sons of Israel out of his land. 3 'And I harden the heart of Pharaoh, and have multiplied My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 and Pharaoh doth not hearken, and I have put My hand on Egypt, and have brought out My hosts, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments; 5 and the Egyptians have known that I 'am' Jehovah, in My stretching out My hand against Egypt; and I have brought out the sons of Israel from their midst.' 6 And Moses doth—Aaron also—as Jehovah commanded them; so have they done; 7 and Moses 'is' a son of eighty years, and Aaron 'is' a son of eighty and three years, in their speaking unto Pharaoh.
8 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 9 'When Pharaoh speaketh unto you, saying, Give for yourselves a wonder; then thou hast said unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast before Pharaoh—it becometh a monster.' 10 And Moses goeth in—Aaron also—unto Pharaoh, and they do so as Jehovah hath commanded; and Aaron casteth his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it becometh a monster. 11 And Pharaoh also calleth for wise men, and for sorcerers; and the scribes of Egypt, they also, with their flashings, do so, 12 and they cast down each his rod, and they become monsters, and the rod of Aaron swalloweth their rods; 13 and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken.
14 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'The heart of Pharaoh hath been hard, he hath refused to send the people away; 15 go unto Pharaoh in the morning, lo, he is going out to the water, and thou hast stood to meet him by the edge of the River, and the rod which was turned to a serpent thou dost take in thy hand, 16 and thou hast said unto him: Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee, saying, Send My people away, and they serve Me in the wilderness; and lo, thou hast not hearkened hitherto. 17 'Thus said Jehovah: By this thou knowest that I 'am' Jehovah; lo, I am smiting with the rod which 'is' in my hand, on the waters which 'are' in the River, and they have been turned to blood, 18 and the fish that 'are' in the River die, and the River hath stank, and the Egyptians have been wearied of drinking waters from the River.' 19 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand against the waters of Egypt, against their streams, against their rivers, and against their ponds, and against all their collections of waters; and they are blood—and there hath been blood in all the land of Egypt, both in 'vessels of' wood, and in 'those of' stone.' 20 And Moses and Aaron do so, as Jehovah hath commanded, and he lifteth up 'his hand' with the rod, and smiteth the waters which 'are' in the River, before the eyes of Pharaoh, and before the eyes of his servants, and all the waters which 'are' in the River are turned to blood, 21 and the fish which 'is' in the River hath died, and the River stinketh, and the Egyptians have not been able to drink water from the River; and the blood is in all the land of Egypt. 22 And the scribes of Egypt do so with their flashings, and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken, 23 and Pharaoh turneth and goeth in unto his house, and hath not set his heart even to this; 24 and all the Egyptians seek water round about the river to drink, for they have not been able to drink of the waters of the River.
25 And seven days are completed after Jehovah's smiting the River,
81 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Go in unto Pharaoh: and thou hast said unto him, Thus said Jehovah, Send My people away, and they serve Me; 2 and if thou art refusing to send away, lo, I am smiting all thy border with frogs; 3 and the River hath teemed 'with' frogs, and they have gone up and gone into thy house, and into the inner-chamber of thy bed, and on thy couch, and into the house of thy servants, and among thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs; 4 yea, on thee, and on thy people, and on all thy servants do the frogs go up.' 5 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy hand, with thy rod, against the streams, against the rivers, and against the ponds, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt.' 6 And Aaron stretcheth out his hand against the waters of Egypt, and the frog cometh up, and covereth the land of Egypt; 7 and the scribes do so with their flashings, and cause the frogs to come up against the land of Egypt. 8 And Pharaoh calleth for Moses and for Aaron, and saith, 'Make supplication unto Jehovah, that he turn aside the frogs from me, and from my people, and I send the people away, and they sacrifice to Jehovah.' 9 And Moses saith to Pharaoh, 'Beautify thyself over me; when do I make supplication for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to cut off the frogs from thee and from thy houses—only in the River they do remain?' 10 and he saith, 'To-morrow.' And he saith, According to thy word 'it is', so that thou knowest that there is none like Jehovah our God, 11 and the frogs have turned aside from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; only in the River they do remain.' 12 And Moses—Aaron also—goeth out from Pharaoh, and Moses crieth unto Jehovah, concerning the matter of the frogs which He hath set on Pharaoh; 13 and Jehovah doth according to the word of Moses, and the frogs die out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields, 14 and they heap them up together, and the land stinketh. 15 And Pharaoh seeth that there hath been a respite, and he hath hardened his heart, and hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken.
16 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, and it hath become gnats in all the land of Egypt.' 17 And they do so, and Aaron stretcheth out his hand with his rod, and smiteth the dust of the land, and the gnats are on man and on beast; all the dust of the land hath been gnats in all the land of Egypt. 18 And the scribes do so with their flashings, to bring out the gnats, and they have not been able, and the gnats are on man and on beast; 19 and the scribes say unto Pharaoh, 'It 'is' the finger of God;' and the heart of Pharaoh is strong, and he hath not hearkened unto them, as Jehovah hath spoken.
20 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Rise early in the morning, and station thyself before Pharaoh, lo, he is going out to the waters, and thou hast said unto him, Thus said Jehovah, Send My people away, and they serve Me; 21 for, if thou art not sending My people away, lo, I am sending against thee, and against thy servants, and against thy people, and against thy houses, the beetle, and the houses of the Egyptians have been full of the beetle, and also the ground on which they are. 22 'And I have separated in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people are staying, that the beetle is not there, so that thou knowest that I 'am' Jehovah in the midst of the land, 23 and I have put a division between My people and thy people: to-morrow is this sign.' 24 And Jehovah doth so, and the grievous beetle entereth the house of Pharaoh, and the house of his servants, and in all the land of Egypt the land is corrupted from the presence of the beetle. 25 And Pharaoh calleth unto Moses and to Aaron, and saith, 'Go, sacrifice to your God in the land;' 26 and Moses saith, 'Not right to do so, for the abomination of the Egyptians we do sacrifice to Jehovah our God; lo, we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes—and they do not stone us! 27 A journey of three days we go into the wilderness, and have sacrificed to Jehovah our God, as He saith unto us.' 28 And Pharaoh saith, 'I send you away, and ye have sacrificed to Jehovah your God in the wilderness, only go not very far off; make ye supplication for me;' 29 and Moses saith, 'Lo, I am going out from thee, and have made supplication unto Jehovah, and the beetle hath turned aside from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people—to-morrow, only let not Pharaoh add to deceive—in not sending the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah.' 30 And Moses goeth out from Pharaoh, and maketh supplication unto Jehovah, 31 and Jehovah doth according to the word of Moses, and turneth aside the beetle from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people—there hath not been left one; 32 and Pharaoh hardeneth his heart also at this time, and hath not sent the people away.
151 Then come unto Jesus do they from Jerusalem—scribes and Pharisees—saying, 2 'Wherefore do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they do not wash their hands when they may eat bread.' 3 And he answering said to them, 'Wherefore also do ye transgress the command of God because of your tradition? 4 for God did command, saying, Honour thy father and mother; and, He who is speaking evil of father or mother—let him die the death; 5 but ye say, Whoever may say to father or mother, An offering 'is' whatever thou mayest be profited by me;— 6 and he may not honour his father or his mother, and ye did set aside the command of God because of your tradition. 7 'Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people doth draw nigh to Me with their mouth, and with the lips it doth honour Me, but their heart is far off from Me; 9 and in vain do they worship Me, teaching teachings—commands of men.'
10 And having called near the multitude, he said to them, 'Hear and understand: 11 not that which is coming into the mouth doth defile the man, but that which is coming forth from the mouth, this defileth the man.' 12 Then his disciples having come near, said to him, 'Hast thou known that the Pharisees, having heard the word, were stumbled?' 13 And he answering said, 'Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up; 14 let them alone, guides they are—blind of blind; and if blind may guide blind, both into a ditch shall fall.' 15 And Peter answering said to him, 'Explain to us this simile.' 16 And Jesus said, 'Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 do ye not understand that all that is going into the mouth doth pass into the belly, and into the drain is cast forth? 18 but the things coming forth from the mouth from the heart do come forth, and these defile the man; 19 for out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, whoredoms, thefts, false witnessings, evil speakings: 20 these are the things defiling the man; but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile the man.'
(Read Matthew 15:1-9)
Additions to God's laws reflect upon his wisdom, as if he had left out something which was needed, and which man could supply; in one way or other they always lead men to disobey God. How thankful ought we to be for the written word of God! Never let us think that the religion of the Bible can be improved by any human addition, either in doctrine or practice. Our blessed Lord spoke of their traditions as inventions of their own, and pointed out one instance in which this was very clear, that of their transgressing the fifth commandment. When a parent's wants called for assistance, they pleaded, that they had devoted to the temple all they could spare, even though they did not part with it, and therefore their parents must expect nothing from them. This was making the command of God of no effect. The doom of hypocrites is put in a little compass; "In vain do they worship me." It will neither please God, nor profit themselves; they trust in vanity, and vanity will be their recompence.
(Read Matthew 15:10-20)
Christ shows that the defilement they ought to fear, was not from what entered their mouths as food, but from what came out of their mouths, which showed the wickedness of their hearts. Nothing will last in the soul but the regenerating graces of the Holy Spirit; and nothing should be admitted into the church but what is from above; therefore, whoever is offended by a plain, seasonable declaration of the truth, we should not be troubled at it. The disciples ask to be better taught as to this matter. Where a weak head doubts concerning any word of Christ, an upright heart and a willing mind seek for instruction. It is the heart that is desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17:9, for there is no sin in word or deed, which was not first in the heart. They all come out of the man, and are fruits of that wickedness which is in the heart, and is wrought there. When Christ teaches, he will show men the deceitfulness and wickedness of their own hearts; he will teach them to humble themselves, and to seek to be cleansed in the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.
