You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:
7. Well hath Isaiah prophesied concerning you. Our Lord now proceeds farther; for he decides on the question in hand, which he divides into two clauses. The first is, that they relied on outward ceremonies alone, and set no value on true holiness, which consists in sincere uprightness of heart; and the second is, that they worshipped God in a wrong way, according to their own fancy.
These men from Jerusalem, who should have been better, were worse. They accused Christ's disciples of breaking tradition by eating with unwashed hands, a decent custom the Pharisees had turned into a religious duty. That this was the worst charge they could bring shows how inoffensively His disciples lived.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 15:1-9
Ye hypocrites,.... After our Lord had given so full a proof of their making void the commandments of God by their traditions, he might very justly, as he does, call them hypocrites; who pretended to so much religion and holiness, and yet scrupled not, upon occasion, to set aside a divine command; who affected so much sanctity, as to be displeased with the disciples, for...