<p>7:5 <em>And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him: Why don't your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders- </em>The word&nbsp;<em>presbeteros</em>&nbsp;would&rsquo;ve been understood by all to refer to members of the Sanhedrin. And yet the later New Testament uses the word about elders within the Christian church, who got to that status regardless of social position but purely on the basis of spiritual qualification; thus a spiritually qualified slave or young believer in their 20s could be a&nbsp;<em>presbeteros</em>&nbsp;in the new Israel which was being consciously created by the Lord in parody of the old Israel.&nbsp;</p><p>Often Paul sees similarities between the Pharisees' behaviour as recorded in the Gospels, and that of people he brushed against in his life (e.g. Mt. 15:2 = Gal. 1:14; Col. 2:8; Mt. 15:9 = Col. 2:22; Tit. 1:14; Mt. 16:6 = 1 Cor. 5:6,7; Gal. 5:9; Mt. 23:31,32 = 1 Thess. 2:15). We too are to translate the Gospels into our own life situations.</p><p><em>But eat their bread with unclean hands?</em>- Rabbi Joses claimed that &ldquo;to eat with unwashen hands is as great a sin as adultery.&rdquo; And Rabbi Akiba in captivity used his water ration to wash his hands rather than to drink, resulting in him almost dying of dehydration.&nbsp;</p>