Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 7:13

"making void the word of God by your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do." — Mark 7:13 (ASV)

Jesus cited a specific example of how the tradition could do this. He quoted (from LXX)Exodus 20:12 and 21:16. In the latter the seriousness of failure to keep the fifth commandment is underscored—death is the penalty for anyone who curses his father or mother. But by means of the traditions of the Pharisees, the responsibility of children to their parents could be easily circumvented.

A son need only declare that what he had intended to give his father and mother be considered “Corban,” i.e., a gift devoted to God, and it could no longer be designated for his parents. By devoting the gift to God, a son did not necessarily promise it to the temple nor did he prevent its use for himself. What he did was to exclude legally his parents from benefiting from it (v.12). So the very purpose for which the fifth commandment had been given was being set aside (“nullified”) by the tradition.