Bible Commentaries

Mr 7:1-23.

DISCOURSE ON CEREMONIAL POLLUTION. ( =

Mt 15:1-20).

See on

Mt 15:1-20.

Mr 7:24-37.

THE SYROPHŒNICIAN WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER--A DEAF AND DUMB MAN HEALED. ( =

Mt 15:21-31).

The Syrophœnician Woman and Her Daughter

(Mr 7:24-30).

The first words of this narrative show that the incident followed, in point of time, immediately on what precedes it.

24. And from thence he arose, and went into the borders--or "unto the borders."

of Tyre and Sidon--the two great Phœnician seaports, but here denoting the territory generally, to the frontiers of which Jesus now came. But did Jesus actually enter this heathen territory? The whole narrative, we think, proceeds upon the supposition that He did. His immediate object seems to have been to avoid the wrath of the Pharisees at the withering exposure He had just made of their traditional religion.

and entered into an house, and would have no man know it--because He had not come there to minister to heathens. But though not "sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"

(Mt 15:24),

He hindered not the lost sheep of the vast Gentile world from coming to Him, nor put them away when they did come--as this incident was designed to show.

but he could not be hid--Christ's fame had early spread from Galilee to this very region

(Mr 3:8; Lu 6:17).

25. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit--or, as in Matthew

(Mt 15:22),

"was badly demonized."

heard of him--One wonders how; but distress is quick of hearing.

and fell at his feet:

26. The woman was a Greek--that is, "a Gentile," as in the Margin.

a Syrophœnician by nation--so called as inhabiting the Phœnician tract of Syria. JUVENAL uses the same term, as was remarked by JUSTIN MARTYR and TERTULLIAN. Matthew

(Mt 15:22)

calls her "a woman of Canaan"--a more intelligible description to his Jewish readers (compare

Jud 1:30, 32, 33).

and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter--"She cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil"

(Mt 15:22).

Thus, though no Israelite herself, she salutes Him as Israel's promised Messiah. Here we must go to

Mt 15:23-25

for some important links in the dialogue omitted by our Evangelist.

Mt 15:23:

But he answered her not a word--The design of this was first, perhaps, to show that He was not sent to such as she. He had said expressly to the Twelve, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles"

(Mt 10:5);

and being now among them Himself, He would, for consistency's sake, let it be seen that He had not gone thither for missionary purposes. Therefore He not only kept silence, but had actually left the house, and--as will presently appear--was proceeding on His way back, when this woman accosted Him. But another reason for keeping silence plainly was to try and whet her faith, patience, and perseverance. And it had the desired effect: "She cried after them," which shows that He was already on His way from the place.

And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us--They thought her troublesome with her importunate cries, just as they did the people who brought young children to be blessed of Him, and they ask their Lord to "send her away," that is, to grant her request and be rid of her; for we gather from His reply that they meant to solicit favor for her, though not for her sake so much as their own.

Mt 15:24:

But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel--a speech evidently intended for the disciples themselves, to satisfy them that, though the grace He was about to show to this Gentile believer was beyond His strict commission, He had not gone spontaneously to dispense it. Yet did even this speech open a gleam of hope, could she have discerned it. For thus might she have spoken: "I am not SENT, did He say? Truth, Lord, Thou comest not hither in quest of us, but I come in quest of Thee; and must I go empty away? So did not the woman of Samaria, whom when Thou foundest her on Thy way to Galilee, Thou sentest away to make many rich!" But this our poor Syrophœnician could not attain to. What, then, can she answer to such a speech? Nothing. She has reached her lowest depth, her darkest moment: she will just utter her last cry:

Mt 15:25:

Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me!--This appeal, so artless, wrung from the depths of a believing heart, and reminding us of the publican's "God be merciful to me a sinner," moved the Redeemer at last to break silence--but in what style? Here we return to our own Evangelist.

27. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled--"Is there hope for me here?" "Filled FIRST?" "Then my turn, it seems, is coming!--but then, 'The CHILDREN first?' Ah! when, on that rule, shall my turn ever come!" But ere she has time for these ponderings of His word, another word comes to supplement it.

for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs--Is this the death of her hopes? Nay, rather it is life from the dead. Out of the eater shall come forth meat

(Jud 14:14).

"At evening-time, it shall be light"

(Zec 14:7).

"Ah! I have it now. Had He kept silence, what could I have done but go unblest? but He hath spoken, and the victory is mine."

28. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord--or, as the same word is rendered in

Mt 15:27.

"Truth, Lord."

yet the dogs eat of the children's crumbs--"which fall from their master's table"

(Mt 15:27).

"I thank Thee, O blessed One, for that word! That's my whole case. Not of the children? True. A dog? True also: Yet the dogs under the table are allowed to eat of the children's crumbs--the droppings from their master's full table: Give me that, and I am content: One crumb of power and grace from Thy table shall cast the devil out of my daughter." Oh, what lightning quickness, what reach of instinctive ingenuity, do we behold in this heathen woman!

29. And he said unto her--"O woman, great is thy faith"

(Mt 15:28).

As BENGEL beautifully remarks, Jesus "marvelled" only at two things--faith and unbelief (see

Lu 7:9).

For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter--That moment the deed was done.

30. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed--But Matthew

(Mt 15:28)

is more specific; "And her daughter was made whole from that very hour." The wonderfulness of this case in all its features has been felt in every age of the Church, and the balm it has administered, and will yet administer, to millions will be known only in that day that shall reveal the secrets of all hearts.