ver in their critical espionage. They dogged His footsteps, noted every
act, and every instance of omission of traditional or customary
observance, and were constantly on the alert to make Him out an
offender.

CEREMONIAL WASHINGS, "AND MANY SUCH LIKE THINGS,"[738]

Shortly after the Passover to which allusion has been made, and probably
in accordance with a plan decided upon by the Jewish rulers, Jesus was
visited by a delegation of Pharisees and scribes who had come from
Jerusalem, and who made protest against the disregard of traditional
requirements by His followers. It appears that the disciples, and almost
certainly the Master Himself, had so far transgressed "the tradition of
the elders" as to omit the ceremonial washing of hands before eating;
the Pharisaic critics found fault, and came demanding explanation, and
justification if such were possible. Mark tells us that the disciples
were charged with having eaten with "defiled", or, as the marginal
reading gives it, with "common" hands; and he interpolates the following
concise and lucid note concerning the custom which the disciples were
said to have ignored: "For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they
wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And
when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many
other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing
of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables."[739] It should be
borne in mind that the offense charged against the disciples was that of
ceremonial uncleanness, not physical uncleanliness or disregard of
sanitary propriety; they were said to have eaten with common or defiled
hands, not specifically with dirty fingers. In all the externals of
their man-made religionism, the Jews were insistent on scrupulous
exactitude; every possibility of ceremonial defilement was to be
carefully guarded against, and the effects thereof had to be
counteracted by prescribed washings.[740]

To the question: "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the
elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread", Jesus gave
no direct reply; but asked as a rejoinder: "Why do ye also transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition?" To the Pharisaic mind this
must have been a very sharp rebuke; for rabbinism held that rigorous
compliance with the traditions of the elders was more important than
observance of the law itself; and Jesus in His counte