Albert Barnes Commentary Mark 7:4

"and [when they come] from the market-place, except they bathe themselves, they eat not; and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels.)" — Mark 7:4 (ASV)

Market. This word means either the place where provisions were sold, or the place where people were gathered for any purpose. In this context, it probably means the former.

Except they wash. In the original, "Except they baptize." In this passage, it does not mean to immerse the whole body, but the hands only. There is no evidence that the Jews washed their whole bodies every time they came from the market. It is probable they washed as a mere ceremony, and often, doubtless, with the use of a very small quantity of water.

The washing of cups. In the Greek, the baptism of cups.

Cups. Drinking vessels. Those used at their meals.

Pots. Measures of liquids. Vessels made of wood, used to hold wine, vinegar, etc.

Brass vessels. Vessels made of brass, used in cooking or otherwise. These, if much polluted, were commonly passed through the fire; if slightly polluted, they were washed. Earthen vessels, if defiled, were usually broken.

Tables. This word means, in the original, beds or couches. It refers not to the tables on which they ate, but to the couches on which they reclined at their meals (see Barnes on Matthew 23:6).

These couches were supposed to be defiled when any unclean or polluted person had reclined on them, and the Jews deemed it necessary to purify them with water. The word baptism is used here—in the original, the baptism of tables—but as it cannot be supposed that couches were entirely immersed in water, the word baptism here must denote some other application of water, by sprinkling or otherwise. This shows that the term is used in the sense of washing in any way. If the word here is used, as is clear, to denote anything except entire immersion, it may be used similarly elsewhere, and baptism is lawfully performed without immersing the whole body in water.