Concise Bible Dictionary:
This may be described as that which is handed down as oral teaching. It may be from God, as in 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; and 1 Corinthians 11:2 (where it is translated “ordinance”), instruction handed down before the word of God was complete. Or it may be from man, as was the tradition of the elders of Israel, which was strongly denounced by the Lord, and declared to be a subverting of the commandments of God (Matt. 15:2-6; Mark 7:3-13; Gal. 1:14). In Colossians 2:8 it is the mere teaching of the moralists, of which much has survived to the present day. What man institutes, man holds to most tenaciously.
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Matthew 15:3. Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
See also Mark 7:9.
Lightfoot (Horae Hebraicae, on verse 2) gives a number of curious illustrations from the old Talmudical writers, showing the value which they set on traditions: “The words of the scribes are lovely, above the words of the law; for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the scribes are all weighty.” “The words of the elders are weightier than the words of the prophets.” “A prophet and an elder, to what are they likened? To a king sending two of his servants into a province. Of one he writes thus: Unless he shows you my seal, believe him not; of the other thus: Although he shows you not my seal, yet believe him. Thus it is written of the prophet. He shall show thee a sign or a miracle; but the elders thus: According to the law which they shall teach thee.”
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