, but
from giving to another or receiving from him, some particular object
whether of food or any other kind whatsoever. The thing thus interdicted
was considered as corban. A person might thus exempt himself from any
inconvenient obligation under plea of corban. Our Lord denounced
practises of this sort (Matt. 15:5; Mark 7:11), as annulling the spirit
of the law."

The revised version, Matt. 15:5 is made to read "But ye say, Whosoever
shall say to his father or his mother, That wherewith thou mightest have
been profited by me is given to God; he shall not honor his father (or,
his mother)." The following account of this pernicious custom appears in
the _Commentary on The Holy Bible_ edited by Dummelow, "'Corban,'
meaning originally a sacrifice or a gift to God, was used in New
Testament times as a mere word of vowing, without implying that the
thing vowed would actually be offered or given to God. Thus a man would
say 'Corban to me is wine for such a time,' meaning that he took a vow
to abstain from wine. Or a man would say to a friend 'Corban to me for
such a time is whatsoever I might be profited by thee,' meaning that for
such a time he vowed that he would receive neither hospitality nor any
other benefit from his friend. Similarly, if a son said to his father or
mother, 'Corban is whatsoever thou mightest have profited by me' he took
a vow not to assist his father or mother in any way, however much they
might require it. A vow of this kind was held by the scribes to excuse a
man from the duty of supporting his parents, and thus by their tradition
they made void the word of God."

4. The "Dogs" that Eat of the Crumbs.--The woman's fervid rejoinder,
"Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their
masters' table," (Matt. 15:27), is thus commented upon and paraphrased
by Trench (_Notes on the Miracles_, p. 271): "The rendering of her
answer in our translation is not, however, altogether satisfactory. For,
indeed, she accepts the Lord's declaration, not immediately to make
exception against the conclusion which He draws from it, but to show how
in that very declaration is involved the granting of her petition.
'Saidest thou dogs? It is well; I accept the title and the place; for
the dogs have a portion of the meal,--not the first, not the children's
portion, but a portion still,--the crumbs which fall from the master's
table. In this very putting of the case, Thou bringest us heathen, Thou
bringest