Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 7].
added by Mark. Peter reports this item to Mark, probably with a
vivid recollection of his own experience on the housetop in Joppa
when in the vision Peter declined three times the Lord's
invitation to kill and eat unclean animals (Ac 10:14-16). It
was a riddle to Peter as late as that day. "Christ asserts that
_Levitical_ uncleanness, such as eating with unwashed hands, is
of small importance compared with _moral_ uncleanness" (Vincent).
The two chief words in both incidents, here and in Acts, are
{defile} (\koino•\) and {cleanse} (\kathariz•\). "What God
cleansed do not thou treat as defiled" (Ac 10:15). It was a
revolutionary declaration by Jesus and Peter was slow to
understand it even after the coming of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. Jesus was amply justified in his astonished question:
{Perceive ye not?} (\ou noeite;\). They were making little use of
their intelligence in trying to comprehend the efforts of Jesus
to give them a new and true spiritual insight.
7:21 {Evil thoughts} (\hoi dialogismoi hoi kakoi\). These come
out of the heart (\ek t•s kardias\), the inner man, and lead to
the dreadful list here given like the crimes of a modern police
court: {fornications} (\porneiai\, usually of the unmarried),
{adulteries} (\moichaiai\, of the married), {thefts} (\klopai\,
stealings), {covetings} (\pleonexiai\, craze for more and more),
{murders} (\phonoi\, growing out of the others often),
{wickednesses} (\pon•riai\, from \ponos\, toil, then drudge, bad
like our _knave_, serving boy like German _Knabe_, and then
criminal), {deceit} (\dolos\, lure or snare with bait),
{lasciviousness} (\aselgeia\, unrestrained sex instinct), {evil
eye} (\ophthalmos pon•ros\) or eye that works evil and that
haunts one with its gloating stare, {railing} (\blasph•mia\,
blasphemy, hurtful speech), {pride} (\huper•phania\, holding
oneself above others, stuck up), {foolishness} (\aphrosun•\, lack
of sense), a fitting close to it all.
7:24 {Into the borders of Tyre and Sidon} (\eis ta horia Turou
kai Sid•nos\). The departure from Capernaum was a withdrawal from
Galilee, the second of the four withdrawals from Galilee. The
first had been to the region of Bethsaida Julias in the territory
of Herod Philip. This is into distinctly heathen land. It was not
merely the edge of Phoenicia, but into the parts of Tyre and
Sidon (Mt 15:21). There was too much excitement among the
people, too much bitterness among the Pharisees, too much
suspicion on the part of Herod Antipas, too much dulness on the
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