“It Is Corban”- Wordplay in Matthew 15 and Mark 7

[Mr. M]

Matthew 15:
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that
curses father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But you say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift,
by whatsoever you might have profited by me;

{Mark 7:11 But you say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban,
that is to say, a gift[doron], by whatsoever you might have profited by me;
he shall be free.}

6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you
made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
7 You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 These people draw near unto me with their mouth, and honours me
with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men.
10 And He called near the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goes into the mouth defiles not a man; but that which comes
out of the mouth, this defiles the man.

Mark 7:11 uses the Hebrew korban, then defines the word as gift.
It is literally a gift for drawing near,
[H7133] korban from [H7126] qarab to bring near
They are combined twice in one verse here:

Leviticus 1:2 Speak unto the sons of Israel, and you have said unto them, any man
of you when he does bring near an offering(gift) to YHWH, out of the cattle; out of
the herd, or out of the flock, you do bring near your (gift). qarab korban

So now we find the Lord use Isaiah 29:13 to show forth the contradiction, while
playing on the wording.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as these people draw near me
with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart
far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.

In the Septuagint, the Greek word doran [GG1435] a gift, is used for korban,
as well as in Mark 7:11
Other places in the Gospel using the Greek word for gift-doran, is instructive.
Matthew 5:
23 Therefore if you bring near your gift to the altar, and there remember that
your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled
to your brother, and then come near to offer your gift.

In other words, do not come near to the Lord's altar with a gift when unforgiveness
persists between you and a brother, for your “heart is far from Him ''. This is to
reverence the Lord’s altar above that of the gift.

Matthew 23:
16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing;
but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.
17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18 And, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that
is on it, he is obliged to perform it.
19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.
22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

Leviticus 19:30 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary:
I am the Lord.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

I don't think this is so much about unforgiveness. The Pharisees were donating money to the temple as "an offering". The context of it actually suggests they were doing that rather than using the money to "honor their father and mother", which most likely was taking care of them in old age, in the same way many traditional cultures took care of aged family.

Personally I believe this actually relates to other passages about them doing things like giving alms to the poor in public and other things. They were all about status, and most likely made various kinds of donations for public relations to try to win a seat on the Sanhedrin, or to get some position in their synagogue, or maybe to promote their private business much like todays celebrities get involved with charities for positive press to help their careers.

 

[Mr. M]

I don't think this is so much about unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness was only mentioned in regards to Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:
23 Therefore if you bring near your gift to the altar, and there remember that
your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled
to your brother, and then come near to offer your gift.

In other words, do not come near to the Lord's altar with a gift when unforgiveness
persists between you and a brother, for your “heart is far from Him ''. This is to
reverence the Lord’s altar above that of the gift.

The context of it actually suggests they were doing that rather than using the money to "honor their father and mother", which most likely was taking care of them in old age, in the same way many traditional cultures took care of aged family.

Agreed. The Pharisees use of Korban as an excuse to hold back money that should have supported parents was motivated by greed.

Personally I believe this actually relates to other passages about them doing things like giving alms to the poor in public and other things. They were all about status, and most likely made various kinds of donations for public relations to try to win a seat on the Sanhedrin, or to get some position in their synagogue, or maybe to promote their private business much like todays celebrities get involved with charities for positive press to help their careers.

This is one narrative involving the use of doran(gift) that I omitted.
Since you brought it up, I will post this passage in support of your comments here.
Thanks for your responses Pavel. Good ideas all.

Luke 21:
1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts(doran) into the treasury,
2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.
3 So He said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;
4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out
of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.

Matthew 6:
1 Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.
Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.