the Week of Proper 7 / Ordinary 12
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THE MESSAGE
Colossians 2:21
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”?
(Touch not, taste not, handle not:
(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
"Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't even touch that thing"?
"Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch"?
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"?
"Don't handle this. Don't taste that. Don't touch this."?
"Don't touch this!" "Don't eat that!" "Don't handle the other!"
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
"Don't eat this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch that"?
As, Touch not, Taste not, Handle not.
Do not touch; do not taste; do not follow;
"Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch the other"?
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,"
Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
"Do not handle [this], do not taste [that], do not [even] touch!"?
Handle not, nor taste, nor touch
Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands,
"Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch"
"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!"1 Timothy 4:3;">[xr]
you are not to touch, nor to taste, nor to handle?
But, touch thou not, and taste thou not, and handle thou not:
Touche not, taste not, handle not?
Handle not, nor taste, nor touch
"Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch"
(Touch not, taste not, handle not:
"Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
That ye touche not, nether taaste,
Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch
(Touch not; taste not; handle not;
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"
"Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,"
"Don't handle! Don't taste! Don't touch!"?
These rules say, "You must not put your hand on this." "Do not put this into your mouth." "You must not put your finger on that."
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"?
Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch; -
Touch not: taste not: handle not.
"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"
Touche not tast not handell not:
-- thou mayest not touch, nor taste, nor handle --
Touch not this, taist not that, handle not that.
"don't eat this, don't taste that, nor touch it:"
They tell you, "Don't pick up that. Don't taste this. Stay away from this or that."
"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Genesis 3:3, Isaiah 52:11, 2 Corinthians 6:17, 1 Timothy 4:3
Reciprocal: Genesis 9:3 - even Leviticus 11:8 - they are unclean Matthew 15:17 - that Mark 7:3 - the tradition Mark 7:19 - General 1 Timothy 4:8 - bodily
Cross-References
David took the spear and water jug that were right beside Saul's head, and they slipped away. Not a soul saw. Not a soul knew. No one woke up! They all slept through the whole thing. A blanket of deep sleep from God had fallen on them.
"In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, when men and women are deep in sleep, fast asleep in their beds— God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings To turn them back from something bad they're planning, from some reckless choice, And keep them from an early grave, from the river of no return.
Life collapses on loafers; lazybones go hungry.
A Vision of a Ram and a Billy Goat "In King Belshazzar's third year as king, another vision came to me, Daniel. This was now the second vision. "In the vision, I saw myself in Susa, the capital city of the province Elam, standing at the Ulai Canal. Looking around, I was surprised to see a ram also standing at the gate. The ram had two huge horns, one bigger than the other, but the bigger horn was the last to appear. I watched as the ram charged: first west, then north, then south. No beast could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts. "While I was watching this, wondering what it all meant, I saw a billy goat with an immense horn in the middle of its forehead come up out of the west and fly across the whole country, not once touching the ground. The billy goat approached the double-horned ram that I had earlier seen standing at the gate and, enraged, charged it viciously. I watched as, mad with rage, it charged the ram and hit it so hard that it broke off its two horns. The ram didn't stand a chance against it. The billy goat knocked the ram to the ground and stomped all over it. Nothing could have saved the ram from the goat. "Then the billy goat swelled to an enormous size. At the height of its power its immense horn broke off and four other big horns sprouted in its place, pointing to the four points of the compass. And then from one of these big horns another horn sprouted. It started small, but then grew to an enormous size, facing south and east—toward lovely Palestine. The horn grew tall, reaching to the stars, the heavenly army, and threw some of the stars to the earth and stomped on them. It even dared to challenge the power of God, Prince of the Celestial Army! And then it threw out daily worship and desecrated the Sanctuary. As judgment against their sin, the holy people of God got the same treatment as the daily worship. The horn cast God's Truth aside. High-handed, it took over everything and everyone. "Then I overheard two holy angels talking. One asked, ‘How long is what we see here going to last—the abolishing of daily worship, this devastating judgment against sin, the kicking around of God's holy people and the Sanctuary?' "The other answered, ‘Over the course of 2,300 sacrifices, evening and morning. Then the Sanctuary will be set right again.' "While I, Daniel, was trying to make sense of what I was seeing, suddenly there was a humanlike figure standing before me. "Then I heard a man's voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, ‘Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.' He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground. "He said, ‘Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.' As soon as he spoke, I fainted, my face in the dirt. But he picked me up and put me on my feet.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Touch not, taste not, handle not. This the apostle says, not of himself, but in the person of the Jewish doctors; who urging the use of the ceremonial law, to which they added decrees and constitutions of their own, said, "touch not" the dead body of any man, the bone of a man, or a grave, any man or woman in their uncleanness; not only their flesh, but the bed they lay on, or the seat they sat on; or any creature that was by the law unclean; of a Gentile, or any notorious sinner, or common man: hence the Pharisees used to wash themselves when they returned from market, lest they should have been by any means accidentally defiled by touching any thing unclean. There is a treatise in their Misna, called Oholot, which gives many rules, and is full of decrees about things ××××¢
××××××, "that defile by touching". And so they likewise said, "taste not", neither the fat, nor the blood of any creature which might be eaten itself, nor swine's flesh, nor the flesh of any creature that chewed the cud, or divided the hoof; nor might the Nazarites taste wine, or strong drink, or vinegar made of either, or moist grapes, or even the kernels and husks; and if a man ate but the quantity of an olive of any of the above things, he was, according to the Jewish canons, to be cut off, or beaten x: and they also said, "handle not"; or, as the Syriac and Arabic read, "do not come near", or "draw not nigh", to a Gentile, to one of another nation, or any unclean person, to whom they forbid any near approach or conversation; or "handle not" any of the above things. Some think that these several rules have respect only to meats; as "touch not", that is, do not eat of things forbidden ever so little; nay, "taste not", do not let anything of them come within your lips; yea, "handle not", do not so much as touch them with your fingers. Others think that touch not regards abstinence from women; see 1 Corinthians 7:1; and respects the prohibition of marriage by some in those times; and "taste not", the forbearance of certain meats, at certain times, which God had not restrained any from; and "handle not", that is, make no use of, or enjoy your own goods, and so designs that voluntary poverty which some entered into under the direction of false teachers.
x Maimon. Maacolot Asurot, c. 7. sect. 1. & c. 14. sect. 2. & Nezirut, c. 5. sect. 3.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Tough not; taste not; handle not - These words seem intended as a specimen of the kind of ordinances which the apostle refers to, or an imitation of the language of the Jewish teachers in regard to various kinds of food and drink. âWhy are ye subject to ordinances of various kinds, such as this - Touch not, taste not, handle not?â That is, such as prohibit you from even touching certain kinds of food, or tasting certain kinds of drink, or handling certain prohibited things. The rapid succession of the words here, without any connecting particle, is supposed to denote the eagerness of the persons who imposed this injunction, and their earnestness in warning others from contaminating themselves with the prohibited things. Many injunctions of this kind are found in the writings of the Jewish rabbis; and the ancient Jewish sect of the Essenes (Notes, Matthew 3:7) abounded in precepts of this kind.
See Schoetgen, and Pict. Bib. in loc. âThey allowed themselves no food that was pleasant to the taste, but ate dry, coarse bread, and drank only water. Many of them ate nothing until sunset, and, if anyone touched them who did not belong to their sect, they washed themselves as if they had been most deeply defiled. Perhaps there was at Colossae a society of this kind, as there were in many other places out of Judea; and, if there was, it is not improbable that many Christians imitated them in the uniqueness of their rules and observances;â compare Jenningâs Jew. Ant. i. 471, and Ros. Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. If this be the correct interpretation, then these are not the words of the apostle, forbidding Christians to have anything to do with these ordinances, but are introduced as a specimen of the manner in which they who enjoined the observance of those ordinances pressed the subject on others.
There were certain things which they prohibited, in conformity with what they understood to be the law of Moses; and they were constantly saying, in regard to them, âdo not touch them, taste them, handle them.â These words are often used as a kind of motto in reference to the use of intoxicating drinks. They express very well what is held by the friends of total abstinence; but it is obvious that they had no such reference as used by the apostle, nor should they be alleged as an authority, or as an argument, in the question about the propriety or impropriety of the use of spirituous liquors. They may as well be employed in reference to anything else as that, and would have no authority in either case. Intoxicating drinks should be abstained from; but the obligation to do it should be made to rest on solid arguments, and not on passages of Scripture like this. This passage could with more plausibility be pressed into the service of the enemies of the total abstinence societies, than into their support; but it really has nothing to do with the subject, one way or the other.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Touch not; taste not; handle not — These are forms of expression very frequent among the Jews. In Maccoth, fol. xxi. 1: "If they say to a Nazarite, Don't drink, don't drink; and he, notwithstanding, drinks; he is guilty. If they say, Don't shave, don't shave; and he shaves, notwithstanding; he is guilty. If they say, Don't put on these clothes, don't put on these clothes; and he, notwithstanding, puts on heterogeneous garments; he is guilty." See more in Schoettgen.
