Chapter 205 of 404

Corpse-impurity

In Mk 5:41, Jesus touched a corpse, bringing it to life. Whatever the other sources for impurity, touching a corpse caused one to contract even greater impurity. ¹⁴⁰ Although dead creatures in one’s fluid (Matt 23:24) and flowing blood (cf. Mk 5:25-34) produced impurity, corpse-uncleanness (Matt 23:27-28//Lk 11:44) was more severe, extending seven days.¹⁴¹ In Jewish tradition, if so much as one’s shadow touched a corpse or a tomb, one contracted impurity.¹⁴²

Jesus complains that the Pharisees are like hidden tombs that defile people through contact without the people even realizing it (Lk 11:44). Matthew’s version of the saying claims that the tombs are whitewashed to make them look respectable (Matt 23:27). Jesus may have originally alluded to the practice in the spring of using whitewash to warn passersby and Passover pilgrims to avoid unclean tombs lest they become impure and hence barred from the feast,¹⁴³ an idea consistent with the parallel in Luke.¹⁴⁴ (Matthew highlights instead the whitewash’s function as a beautifying agent to cover the tomb’s corruption.)¹⁴⁵ Some scholars think that Jesus also may have intended a play on words between the terms for tomb (qeber) and inward part (qereb).¹⁴⁶

We should not overplay the contrast with the Pharisees here, as if all of them would have disagreed completely with Jesus regarding purity, or he would have challenged all of them equally regarding spiritual purity.¹⁴⁷ Some Pharisees may have agreed with Jesus’ emphasis on inner rather than outer purity (Mk 7:15), but they normally stated it only in private¹⁴⁸ (perhaps out of fear that people would stop observing the practices literally).¹⁴⁹

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