“This is the picture Jesus is painting: Parents, perhaps aged and decrepit, are hungry, naked, and homeless. … But they have children—children who are prosperous and well to do. … Surely there is enough for all and to spare. But no, the children say: ‘It is corban.’ That is: ‘We have vowed it to sacred purposes. You, our parents, may go cold and hungry and homeless; our property is not available to help you. We have a great zeal toward the Lord, and our property is vowed to him; and we cannot break our vows.’
“Or: ‘It is corban; I have vowed that my property shall be as if it were dedicated to sacred purposes, and though I may continue to use it all my life, you shall have none of it because of my vow.’
“‘… It is more important that I keep my vow than that I fulfill my obligation to support my parents. The oral traditions of the elders take precedence over the divine law written by Moses.’
“It seems difficult to believe that religion could sink to such depths, and that a people who professed to serve the Jehovah of their fathers could so easily clear their consciences and feel themselves free from keeping his law. Already Jesus has called them hypocrites and said their worship is in vain” (The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. [1979–81], 2:407–8).
“The Lord is dealing with a believing soul who cannot hear his words or give fluent answer to them. And so what is more natural than to make use of common signs, known to and understood by the deaf and speech inhibited man, to indicate what the Master could and would do … ?” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:373).