And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
22. a woman of Canaan ] Called in Mark “a Greek, a Syrophnician by nation.” The two expressions are identical, for the land of Canaan, literally, the low lands or netherlands, at first applicable to the whole of Palestine, was confined in later times to the maritime plain of Phnicia. In Jos 5:12 “the land of Canaan” appears in the LXX. version as the “land of the Phnicians.” The important point is that this woman was a foreigner and a heathen a descendant of the worshippers of Baal. She may have heard and seen Jesus in earlier days. Cp. Mar 3:8, “they about Tyre and Sidon came unto him.”
out of the same coasts ] Literally, those coasts. Jesus did not himself pass beyond the borders of Galilee, but this instance of mercy extended to a Gentile points to the wide diffusion of the Gospel beyond the Jewish race.
Have mercy on me ] Identifying herself with her daughter. Cp. the prayer of the father of the lunatic child: “Have compassion on us and help us,” Mar 9:22.
Son of David ] A title that proves the expectation that the Messiah should spring from the house of David. It is the particular Messianic prophecy which would be most likely to reach foreign countries.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 22. A woman of Canaan] Matthew gives her this name because of the people from whom she sprung-the descendants of Canaan, Jdg 1:31-32; but Mark calls her a Syrophenician, because of the country where she dwelt. The Canaanites and Phoenicians have been often confounded. This is frequently the case in the Septuagint. Compare Ge 46:10, with Ex 6:15, where the same person is called a Phoenician in the one place, and a Canaanite in the other. See also the same version in Ex 16:35; Jos 5:12.
The state of this woman is a proper emblem of the state of a sinner, deeply conscious of the misery of his soul.
Have mercy an me, c.] How proper is this prayer for a penitent! There are many excellencies contained in it
1. It is short;
2. humble;
3. full of faith;
4. fervent;
5. modest;
6. respectful;
7. rational;
8. relying only on the mercy of God;
9. persevering.
Can one who sees himself a slave of the devil, beg with too much earnestness to be delivered from his thraldom?
Son of David] An essential character of the true Messiah.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark saith, A certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it unto the dogs, Mat 7:25-27. Though the woman appears to have been a pagan, yet living so near Galilee, she had doubtless heard of Christ, both what he had done in casting out devils, and also that he was looked upon as the Son of David, and usually called by that name by those who went to him for any cures; she therefore gives him that title. Others think her to have been more specially enlightened, and to have called him the Son of David, not as a usual compellation given him, but as believing him to have been the true Messias promised to the Jews: nor is that impossible, for though the gospel at this time had not shined out upon any considerable number of the heathen, yet God in all times had his number amongst them; and this woman living so near to the Jews, and so near to Galilee, where our Saviour hitherto had most conversed and preached, it is not improbable that she might have received the grace as well as the sound of the gospel, so God might have kindled in her heart a true faith in the Messias. Our Saviours commendation of her faith in the following discourse maketh this very probable. Matthew saith that
he answered her not a word. Mark saith that he said to her, Let the children first be filled, & c. To the observing reader this will appear no contradiction. For by Mark it should appear, that she first came to our Saviour into the house, into which he went that he might be private, and there fell at his feet. Here Christ answered her not a word, took no notice of her at all. But it appeareth by Matthew that Christ soon left the home, and she followed after him upon the way. The disciples said, Send her away; for she crieth after us. Then it was that our Saviour said to her,
Let the children first be filled; his disciples first interposing, saying,
Send her away; for she crieth after us. How many of the papists think that this text patronizes their invocation of saints departed I cannot tell, for these disciples were alive, and we do not read that she spake to any of them to intercede for her. It is certain they did move Christ on her behalf.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And behold a woman of Canaan,…. That is, of Phoenicia, which was called Canaan; so Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman, is, by the Septuagint in Ex 6:15 called the son of a Phoenician; and the kings of Canaan are, by the same interpreters in Jos 5:1 called kings of Phoenicia: hence this woman is by Mark said to be a Greek, that is, a Gentile, as the Jews used to call all of another nation, and a Syrophenician, being a native of Phoenicia, called Syrophenician; because it bordered upon Syria, and had been formerly a part of it, by conquest: so Cadmus, who is reported to have first brought letters from Phoenicia to Greece, is called i a Syrophenician merchant.
Came out of the same coasts; being an inhabitant, it is very likely, either of Tyre or Sidon: this shows that Christ did not go into these places, but only to the borders of them, since she is said to come out of them to him; who, having heard of him, and the miraculous cures wrought by him, and being informed that he was near, at such a place, as the Persic version says, “suddenly came forth out of a corner”; and the Ethiopic reads it, “out of the mountains thereof”; and made to the house where he was privately retired, and would have hid himself, as Mark suggests,
and cried unto him; with a loud voice, with much vehemency, being in great distress,
saying, have mercy on me; meaning, by curing her daughter, with whose case she was so much affected, that she made it, as it were, her own:
O Lord, thou son of David. The first of these characters expresses her faith in his power, dominion, and government, that all persons and things, and so all diseases were at his command, and control; and that being Lord of all, he could remove them at his pleasure: the other shows her knowledge and belief of him, as the Messiah, that being a name by which he was usually known by the Jews;
See Gill “Mt 1:1” and which she, though a Gentile, might come at the knowledge of, either through being a proselyte to the Jewish religion, or through a general report which might reach, especially the neighbouring nations, that the Jews expected a wonderful deliverer to arise among them, under this character of the son of David; and from what she had heard of him, she concluded he must be the person.
My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil, which had took possession of her, and most grievously afflicted her: and her request to him was, that he would cast him out of her: believing he had power so to do, without seeing or touching her, only by a word speaking: her faith was like that of the centurion’s.
i Lucian. Dialog. Deor. Coneil. sect. 2,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
A Canaanitish woman ( ). The Phoenicians were descended from the Canaanites, the original inhabitants of Palestine. They were of Semitic race, therefore, though pagan.
Have pity on me ( ). She made her daughter’s case her own, “badly demonized.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Out of the same coasts [ ] . Lit., as Rev., from those borders; i e., she crossed from Phoenicia into Galilee.
Cried [] . With a loud, importunate cry : from behind. Compare after, ver. 23. Making her daughter ‘s misery her own.
Grievously vexed with a devil [ ] . Lit., is badly demonized. Sir J. Cheke, very evil devilled.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Mat 15:22
. Have compassion on me, O Lord. Though this woman was an alien, and did not belong to the Lord’s flock, yet she had acquired some taste of piety; (416) for, without some knowledge of the promises, she would not have called Christ the Son of David. The Jews indeed had almost entirely departed, or at least had greatly turned aside, from the pure and sound doctrine of the Gospel; but a report of the promised redemption was extensively prevalent. As the restoration of the Church depended on the reign of David, whenever they spoke of the Messiah, it was customary for them to employ the name, Son of David; and indeed this confession was heard from the lips of all. But when the true faith had died out amongst them, it was an amazing and incredible display of the goodness of God that the sweet savor of the promises reached the neighboring nations. Though this woman had not been regularly educated by any teacher, yet her faith in Christ was not a notion adopted by her at random, but was formed out of the law and the prophets. It was therefore not less absurd than wicked in that dog, Servetus, to abuse this example for the purpose of proving that faith may exist without promises. I do not deny that, in this sense, there may sometimes be a sort of implicit faith, that is, a faith which is not accompanied by a full and distinct knowledge of sound doctrine; provided we also hold that faith always springs from the word of God, and takes its origin from true principles, and therefore is always found in connection with some light of knowledge.
(416) “ Quelque goust de piete et vraye religion;” — “some taste of piety and true religion.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) A woman of Canaan.The terms Canaanite and Canaan, which in the earlier books of the Old Testament were often applied in a wider sense to all the original inhabitants of what was afterwards the land of Israel (Gen. 10:18; Gen. 12:6; Jdg. 1:10), were used more specifically of Phnicia and its inhabitants (Exo. 3:8; Exo. 3:17; Ezr. 9:1, and elsewhere), and are employed here with that meaning. St. Mark describes her more definitely as a Greek (i.e., a heathen, the name Greek having gained a wider connotation, much as Frank has done in recent times), a Syro-Phnician by nation.
Came out of the same coasts.Better, of those regions, coming forth (i.e., from some house or village), cried . . .
O Lord, thou son of David.The words show that the fame of the Prophet of Nazareth had travelled beyond the limits of Galilee, and that He was known to the people of the Tyre and Sidon district by the most popular of the Messianic names. This was natural enough, even if we think only of popular rumours as the channel through which the fame had reached her. Luk. 6:17, however, suggests a more direct source of knowledge. Among the multitude that listened to the Sermon on the Plain, and brought those that were vexed with unclean spirits, had been people from the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon. The mother of the demoniac daughter may well have cherished for months the hope that one day the great Deliverer would come within her reach. And now, beyond all expectation, He had come across the boundary of Israel, and she saw Him in her own country. St. Mark adds, significantly, that He would have no man know of His presence, but He could not be hid (Mar. 7:24). The scene, as described by St. Mark, was in the house into which He had retired in order to avoid notice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. A woman of Canaan She was a Gentile, but she had heard of and seems to have believed in the Jewish Messiah. She is called by Mark a Greek, that is, a heathen by religion, and also a Syrophenician by birth. Phenicia was the Greek name of that strip of country inhabited by the ancient Canaanites, lying between the Lebanon range and the Mediterranean. That part of it which was included in the Roman province of Syria was called Syrophenicia. Coasts Territories. Thou Son of David She calls him by his Jewish name and pedigree. She does this to gain his attention and good-will. At the same time it shows that she had become acquainted with Jewish ideas and probably believed in them. Daughter devil Horrible misfortune! disease and insanity are terrible; but what must be the mother’s feelings to find her child struggling under a demon’s grasp? No wonder that when she hears that a man possessing divine power to relieve approaches, she comes to him and with all the energy of desperate prayer pursues him with her outcries.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, you son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.” ’
While Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon a woman came from her home and approached the area where He was. The fact that she ‘cried out’ and that later the disciples said that she ‘cries after us’ (Mat 15:23) suggests that she did not come too close. Perhaps as a Canaanite and a woman she was afraid to approach a Jewish prophet. But she was nevertheless not to be denied, and she cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, you son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.”
Matthew alone calls her a Canaanite, and to Jewish readers that would speak volumes. For the Canaanites were the hereditary enemies of Israel, and were forbidden any part in the congregation of Israel. They were either to be driven out or cut off. Thus this woman had less right even than the Gentiles to expect help from a Jewish prophet.
Her cry to Him as ‘the Son of David’ in connection with a case of demon possession suggests that she connected Him with Solomon, who had had close ties with Tyre and Sidon, and who had a reputation for remedies which aided those possessed by evil spirits (see Titles of Jesus in the Introduction). He too was regularly called a ‘son of David’. This is in fact more likely than that she was specifically using a Messianic title, although to many Jews it may well have been a Messianic title, for it is found as such in the Psalms of Solomon. Thus this may be seen as one of a number of examples in Scripture of ‘unconscious prophecy’. For the title with ‘Lord’ added compare Mat 20:30-31, and contrast Mat 9:27. On her lips ‘Lord’ used in this way must be given a high significance. It was the Gentile way of addressing supreme rulers and deities. She is thus paying Jesus due honour, and acknowledging His high status and connections.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Begins To Move Towards The Gentiles (15:22-28).
Jesus now moves for safety and quiet towards Tyre and Sidon. There were many Jews in the area who had shown an interest in hearing Him (see Mar 3:8; Luk 6:17) and it may be that it was His intention to minister to them. But it may simply be that He was only wanting rest and quiet (Mar 7:24). Then, however, if we take His own words as genuinely representing His thinking, He had a ‘life-changing’ experience. For He was approached by a Canaanite woman and her words brought home to Him that he must now expand His ministry. It appears that He realised from this experience that His Father was now showing Him that He must go among the Gentiles, (in fulfilment of Mat 12:18; Mat 12:21; Isa 42:1-4; Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6). It was not a question of having come to a decision and then changing His mind, but of a willingness to wait for an indication from the Father as to what He should do, something that we should all constantly do when facing difficult decisions, especially spiritual ones.
Analysis.
a
b But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she continually calls after us” (Mat 15:23).
c And he answered and said, “I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mat 15:24).
d But she came and worshipped him, saying, “Lord, help me” (Mat 15:25).
c And he answered and said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Mat 15:26).
b But she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Mat 15:27).
a Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith. Be it done to you even as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour (Mat 15:28).
Note that in ‘a’ the woman pleads for the healing of her daughter, and in the parallel Jesus grants her healing in response to her faith. In ‘b’ Jesus does not answer her and the disciples call for her to be sent away, and in the parallel her plea is the right to be heard and to come near because she is like a pet dog coming to its master’s table. In ‘c’ Jesus points out that He has come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and in the parallel He points out that He has brought the children’s bread which is not for others. Centrally in ‘d’ she worships Him and cries, ‘Lord, help me’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The woman of Canaan:
v. 22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. Matthew calls her a woman of Canaan because she was an inhabitant of the ancient country of Canaan or a descendant of the former tribes of Canaan, Gen 10:15. Mark calls her a Syrophoenician, ( Mar 7:1-37:, after the name of the country where she lived. This woman had heard of Jesus; for His fame had spread far beyond the boundaries of Galilee, especially along the caravan roads. She was acquainted also with the sacred books of the Jews, or at least with their hope of the Messiah. Under the Spirit’s guidance she formed the right conclusion, as shown in her address to the Lord. She calls Him both Lord, acknowledging Him to be the Lord from on high, and Son of David, which was the name of the Messiah. Her petition was a prayer of faith also because she cried for mercy, deeply conscious of the misery of her soul, and of the fact that whatever help she might expect would be her share only out of merciful sympathy on the part of Jesus. Note also: In one of the most terrible afflictions that may fall to the lot of a mother, she turns to the Lord alone; a shining example!
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 15:22 . ] Several tribes of the Canaanites , , who were the original inhabitants of Palestine, went and settled in the north, and founded what was subsequently known as the Phoenician nation, Winer, Realwrterbuch. Lightfoot on this passage.
] She crossed the frontier into the contiguous territory of the Jews, where Jesus happened to be. According to Paulus, the woman came out of her house; according to de Wette, Bleek: from some place nearer the centre of the country. Both views are in opposition to the terms of our passage, which plainly state where she came out from.
.] She so addresses Jesus, because, from living in the neighbourhood of the Jews, she was familiar with their Messianic expectations, and with the Messiah’s title, as well as with the Messianic reputation of Jesus. Looking to what is said in Mat 15:26 , she cannot be supposed to have been a proselyte of the gate. The Gentiles also believed in demoniacal possession.
] “Suam fecerat pia mater miseriam filiae,” Bengel.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
Ver. 22. And cried unto him ] One copy hath it, “And cried behind him,” a which implies either that Christ had turned his back upon her, seeing her now coming towards him; or else that she was abashed to come into his presence, as being of an accursed kindred, devoted to destruction.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord ] She acknowledged her own sin in her daughter’s sufferings. So did that other good woman, 1Ki 17:18 . Her son was dead, her sin was called to remembrance. And so must we see ourselves beaten on our sick children’s backs, as David did, 2Sa 12:16 , and be humbled, labouring to mend by education what we have marred by propagation.
Thou Son of David ] Thou that wast thyself born of a woman, pity a woman; thou that hast the bowels of a man in thee, hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh.
My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil ] The devil doth his worst to her, therefore help. Misery makes men eloquent, beyond truth many times: but surely this woman’s case was very doleful. It was her daughter, dear to her as her own soul, – Filia, quasi . The Greeks call children , the Latins cara. b And those at Rome that prayed and sacrificed whole days that their children might be superstites, long lived, these were first called superstitious persons. Quod nomen patuit postea latius, saith Cicero (De Nat. Deor.). The word afterwards came to be of larger signification. This (perhaps only) daughter was vexed and “grievously vexed,” and that “of a devil;” who ever busy enough to do mischief, yet then chiefly bestirred him to set up his kingdom, when Christ came to pull it down: and as he once strove with Michael about a dead man’s body, but it was that he might thereby set up himself in living men’s souls; so he still seeks to possess himself of our bodies, that thereby he may the better wind and work himself into our hearts.
a Mar 7:24 , , a tergo eius.
b Lambin. in Menech. Plauti, Act. i. scen. 1. Domi domitus fui usque cum charis meis.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22. ] . . does not belong to ., but means of or from those parts.
. ] coming out (they were going by the way, see Mat 15:23 ): i.e. from her house, or town, or village.
The inhabitants of these parts are called Canaanites, Num 13:29 ; Jdg 1:30 ; Jdg 1:32-33 ; and Phnicians, Exo 6:15 (LXX): Jos 5:1 (LXX). Mark calls her , i.e. a heathen by religion, and : and describes her only as having come to our Lord in the house . But by the account in our text, she had been crying after the Lord and the disciples by the way previously; and Mark’s account must be understood to begin at our Mat 15:25 . From Mar 3:8 , Luk 6:17 , we learn that the fame of our Lord had been spread in these parts, and multitudes from thence had come to Him for healing. It was not this woman’s dwelling-place, but her descent , which placed the bar between her and our Lord’s ministrations.
The expression shews her acquaintance with Jewish expressions and expectations; but the whole narrative is against De Wette’s supposition, that she may have been a proselyte of the gate.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 15:22 . : the Phoenicians were descended from a colony of Canaanites, the original inhabitants of Palestine, Gen 10:15 ( vide Benzinger, Heb. Arch. , p. 63). Vide notes on Mk. . , pity me , the mother’s heart speaks. . The title and the request imply some knowledge of Jesus. Whence got? Was she a proselyte? (De Wette.) Or had the fame of Jesus spread thus far, the report of a wonderful healer who passed among the Jews for a descendant of David? The latter every way likely, cf. Mat 4:24 . There would be some intercourse between the borderers, though doubtless also prejudices and enmities.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
out of = from. Greek. apo.
the same = those.
coasts = borders.
Have mercy = Pity
Son Of David. The fourth of nine occurrences of this title (App-98). The woman (a “dog” of the Gentiles) had no claim on the “Son of David”. Hence the silence of the Lord.
grievously = miserably.
vexed with a devil = possessed by a demon; Greek. daimonizomai.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22.] . . does not belong to ., but means of or from those parts.
.] coming out (they were going by the way, see Mat 15:23): i.e. from her house, or town, or village.
The inhabitants of these parts are called Canaanites, Num 13:29; Jdg 1:30; Jdg 1:32-33; and Phnicians, Exo 6:15 (LXX): Jos 5:1 (LXX). Mark calls her , i.e. a heathen by religion, and : and describes her only as having come to our Lord in the house. But by the account in our text, she had been crying after the Lord and the disciples by the way previously; and Marks account must be understood to begin at our Mat 15:25. From Mar 3:8, Luk 6:17, we learn that the fame of our Lord had been spread in these parts, and multitudes from thence had come to Him for healing. It was not this womans dwelling-place, but her descent, which placed the bar between her and our Lords ministrations.
The expression shews her acquaintance with Jewish expressions and expectations; but the whole narrative is against De Wettes supposition, that she may have been a proselyte of the gate.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 15:22. [693], …, having come forth, etc.) For Jesus did not enter the borders of the Canaanites.-, cried out) from a distance, from behind; cf. Mat 15:23; Mat 15:25.[694]-, me) The affectionate mother had made her daughters misery her own; see Mat 15:25; Mat 15:28.- , Son of David) Therefore the woman had heard of the Promise either long ago or lately.
[693] ) of the posterity of Canaan.-V. g.
[694] That is, Mat 15:23, She crieth after us, shows she was in the rear, behind Him; Mat 15:25, Then came she, etc., shows she had previously been at a distance.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
a woman: Mat 3:8, Mat 3:9, Psa 45:12, Eze 3:6, Mar 7:26
Have: Mat 9:27, Mat 17:15, Psa 4:1, Psa 6:2, Luk 17:13, Luk 18:13
son: Mat 1:1, Mat 20:30, Mat 20:31, Mat 22:42-45, Luk 18:38, Luk 18:39, Joh 7:41, Joh 7:42
my: Mat 17:15, Mar 7:25, Mar 9:17-22
Reciprocal: Gen 32:25 – that he Rth 2:10 – seeing 1Ki 8:41 – a stranger 1Ki 17:9 – which belongeth Psa 80:4 – how long Son 5:6 – but my Isa 30:18 – wait Isa 62:6 – keep Mat 4:24 – possessed Mat 7:8 – General Mat 12:23 – Is not Mar 9:18 – teareth him Mar 9:22 – have Mar 10:47 – thou Luk 6:18 – vexed Luk 9:38 – look Luk 11:8 – because of Joh 4:46 – whose Joh 11:6 – he abode Joh 12:21 – we would Rom 1:3 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE WOMAN OF CANAAN
Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil, etc.
Mat 15:22-28
This poor woman was by birth a heathen, a Phnician; and the Phnician religion was one of the very worst, the most cruel and degraded, of all the superstitions of the heathen world. Yet this woman had certainly some knowledge of Gods truth, for she addressed our Lord as the Son of David. The facts of the story are well known to you all: let us consider some of its lessons.
I. Dissimulation of love.Our Lords seeming unkindness, unkindness of manner, was only in appearance. He loved her truly in His heart, and was prepared to shed His blood for her. How often does our Lord seem at first to be unsympathetic with us, and to treat us roughly! When in our distress we call upon Him for succour, He seems so far off from us. We pray to Him, and He makes no sign. He seems not to hear. And if we are faithless we feel disposed to say, I get no help from my prayers. It is of no use praying. He seems not to hear. The truth is He would try our faith and obedience.
II. The grace of meekness.How much we have to learn from the behaviour of this woman of Canaan, and the unstinted praise and blessing which our Lord bestowed upon her! Many persons undoubtedly would have been inflamed with anger. But the woman of Canaan exhibited in a marked degree the essentially Christian virtue of meekness. It is the virtue which enables us to accept injurious treatment or false accusations, or opprobrious or unkind words, in a calm, patient, and gentle spirit. It was an eminent characteristic of our Master and Pattern, the Lord Jesus. It is a supernatural virtue; for mere nature would scorn the idea of meekness. We are all of us naturally inclined to be up in arms when we are ill-treated, or opprobriously or contemptuously spoken to, to resist when we are unfairly treated, and to give back angry words in return for unkind speech.
Bishop Sheepshanks.
Illustrations
(1) Duff, the missionary, was about to begin service in a Boer farmers house, when he noticed that none of the Kaffir servants were present. To his request that they should be brought in, the Boer replied roughly, What have Kaffirs to do with the Gospel? Kaffirs, sir, are dogs. Duff made no reply, but opened his Bible and read, Yes, Lord; yet the dogs under the table eat of the childrens crumbs. Stop, cried the farmer, youve broken my head. Let the Kaffirs come in.
(2) The Talmud contains a story so singularly parallel to this that it is worth reproducing. There was a famine in the land, and stores of corn were placed under the care of Rabbi Jehudah the Holy, to be distributed to those only who were skilled in the knowledge of the Law. And, behold, a man came, Jonathan, the son of Amram, and clamorously asked for his portion. The Rabbi asked him whether he knew the condition, and had fulfilled it, and then the suppliant changed his tone and said, Nay, but feed me as a dog is fed, who eats of the crumbs of the feast, and the Rabbi hearkened to his words, and gave him of the corn.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE IMPORTUNITY OF FAITH
Christ came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Distrust, suspicion, contempt, dislikein a word, unbelief was His portion. It must have been, then, no ordinary refreshment to His spirit to meet with so strong and unassailable a confidence in His goodness and power, as was displayed by the Syrophnician woman. Passing away, however, from Christ to our own personal concern with the narrative, let us consider what light it throws upon the subject of prayer.
I. The apparent opposition of Christ.How her faith survived what it had to encounter is a marvel. First, there was His chilling silence. Perhapsthe poor mother thinksit is because I am unworthy, that He will not listen to me. It cannot be because my need is not sore. Well, I am unworthy, but still I trust in His goodness. Then there is the distinct repulse: I have no mission to you. Then there is the classing her among the dogs. (She accepts the imputation, but with the wonderful dexterity of faith, turns it to her own account.)
II. Yet the Saviour kept watch over her spirit, and will not suffer her to be tried above that she is able to bear. He is behaving in this apparently unaccountable manner in order to train her. She is to get a blessing, as well as her daughter. And this is the way of obtaining it.
III. The importunity of faith is acceptable to God.Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Pray without ceasing. And we infer that He Who is willing to bestow temporal benefits in answer to prayer, is not less willing to do for us more than we can ask or think, for the supply of our spiritual necessities.
Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.
Illustration
Our Lord may have desired to test yet further the womans faith, both that He might crown it with a more complete and glorious reward, and that she might learn something deeper respecting Him than the mere Jewish title that she may have accidentally picked up. And He may have wished for all time to encourage us in our prayers and hopes, and teach us to persevere even when it might seem that His face is dark to us, or that His ear is turned away.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
5:22
Woman of Canaan is indefinite because all the land west of the Jordan was generally known as Canaan, and there were both Jews and Gentiles living there. However, the term was used to designate this woman as outside the class recognized as Jews. This woman not only recognized Jesus as Lord hut also as a son of David. The latter term was specific and meant that she believed him to be the descendant of David according to the prophets, for many of the Gentiles were acquainted with the Old Testament. This woman’s daughter was possessed with a devil which is explained at chapter 8:28.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
[A woman of Canaan.] In Mark it is, A Greek woman, a Syrophoenician by nation; Mat 7:26.
I. Of Canaan. It is worthy observing, that the Holy Bible, reckoning up the seven nations; which were to be destroyed by the Israelites, names the Perizzites, who were not at all recited among the sons of Canaan, Genesis_10; and the Canaanites as a particular nation, when all the seven, indeed, were Canaanites. See Deu 7:1; Jos 9:1; Jos 11:3; Jdg 3:5; etc.
The reason of the latter (with which our business is) is to be fetched thence, that Canaan himself inhabited a peculiar part of that (northern) country, with his first-born sons, Sidon and Heth: and thence the name of Canaanites was put upon that particular progeny, distinguished from all his other sons; and that country was peculiarly called by the name of ‘Canaan,’ distinctly from all the rest of the land of Canaan. Hence Jabin, the king of Hazor, is called the ‘king of Canaan,’ Jdg 4:2; and the kings of Tyre and Sidon, if I mistake not, are called ‘the kings of the Hittites,’ 1Ki 10:29.
II. A Greek woman, a Syrophoenician Although Judea, and almost the whole world, had now a long while stooped under the yoke of the Romans, yet the memory of the Syro-Grecian kingdom, and the name of the nation, was not yet vanished. And that is worthy to be noted, In the captivity, they compute the years only from the kingdom of the Greeks. They said before, “That the Romans, for a hundred and fourscore years, ruled over the Jews before the destruction of the Temple”; and yet they do not compute the times to that destruction by the years of the Romans, but by the years of the Greeks. Let the Jews themselves well consider this, and the Christians with them, who reckon the Roman for the fourth monarchy in Daniel.
Therefore that woman that is here spoken of (to reduce all into a short conclusion) was a Syro-Grecian by nation, a Phoenician in respect of her habitation, and from thence called a woman of Canaan.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 15:22. A Canaanitish woman. Her race, not her country, is thus noted. Mark, a Greek, i.e., a heathen by religion, a Syro-Phoenician by nation. The Phoenicians were the descendants of the remnant of the old Canaanites.
Came out. Probably from a distance.
Son of David. She knew and probably shared in the Messianic hopes of the Jews. At least she had heard of our Lord, and believed that He could help her. Her request; Have mercy on me, exhibits her faith, far more than the title she used.
Grievously possessed with a demon, lit, badly demonized. Such possessions were therefore not confined to the Jews.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
LXVII.
HEALING A PHOENICIAN WOMAN’S DAUGHTER.
(Region of Tyre and Sidon.)
aMATT. XV. 22-28; bMARK VII. 24-30.
bAnd he entered into a house, and would have no man know it [Jesus sought concealment for the purposes noted in the last section. He also, no doubt, desired an opportunity to impact private instruction to the twelve]; and he could not be hid. [The fame of Jesus had spread far and wide, and he and his disciples were too well known to escape the notice of any who had seen them or heard them described.] 25 But {a22 And} behold, bstraightway aa Canaanitish woman bwhose little daughter [the word for daughter is a diminutive, such as often used to indicate affection] had [399] an unclean spirit, having heard of him [having formerly heard of his power and having recently heard of his arrival in her neighborhood], acame out from those borders [this does not mean, as some construe it, that she crossed over into Galilee from Phoenicia; it means that she came out of the very region where Jesus then was], and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David [Sympathy so identified her with her daughter that she asked mercy for herself. The title “son of David” shows that the Jewish hopes had spread to surrounding nations and that some, like this woman and the one at Jacob’s well, expected to share in the Messianic blessing]; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. 23 But he answered her not a word. [God’s unanswering silence is a severe test of our faith.] b26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by race. [The Macedonian conquest had diffused Greek civilization throughout western Asia till the word Greek among the Jews had become synonymous with Gentile. The term Canaanite was narrower and indicated an inhabitant of Canaan–that is, a non-Jewish inhabitant of Palestine. The term Syrophoenician was narrower still. It meant a Syrian in Phoenicia, and distinguished the Phoenicians from the other Syrians. Phoenicia was a narrow strip near the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea. It was some twenty-eight miles long with an average width of about one mile. Canaan means lowland; Phoenicia means palmland. The Canaanites founded Sidon ( Gen 10:19), and the Phoenicians were their descendants.] And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. aAnd his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. [The woman by her loud entreaties was drawing to Jesus the very attention which he sought to avoid. The disciples therefore counseled him to grant her request for his own sake–not for mercy or compassion, but merely to be rid of her.] 24 But he answered [answered the disciples, not the woman] and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [Jesus had not forborne [400] answering her prayers through lack of feeling, but from principle. It was part of the divine plan that his personal ministry should be confined to the Jewish people. Divine wisdom approved of this course as best, not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. Variations from this plan were to be few and were to be granted only as rewards to those of exceptional faith.] 25 But she came band fell down at his feet. aand worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. [The narrative indicates that Jesus had left the house and was moving on, and that the woman obtruded herself upon his notice by falling in front of him and obstructing his way.] 26 And he answered and said, bunto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet [suitable, becoming] to take the children’s bread and to cast it to the dogs. [By the use of the word “first” Jesus suggested that there would come a time of mercy for the Gentiles. He uses the diminutive for the word dog, thus indicating a tame pet, and suggesting rather the dependence and subordinate position than the uncleanness of the dog. By so doing he gave the woman an argumentative handle which she was not slow to grasp.] 28 But she answered and saith {asaid,} bunto him, Yea, Lord; afor even the dogs bunder the table eat of the children’s crumbs. awhich fall from their masters’ table. [Jesus had suggested that domestic order by which dogs are required to wait until the meal is over before they receive their portion; but with a wit made keen by her necessity, she replies by alluding to the well-known fact that dogs under the table are permitted to eat the crumbs even while the meal is in progress; intimating thereby her hope to receive and before all the needs of Israel had first been satisfied. By using the word dogs Jesus did not mean to convey the impression that he shared the Jewish prejudices against Gentiles; a construction which would be contrary to Luk 4:25, Luk 4:26, Mat 8:10-12.] 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: bFor this saying go thy way; abe it done unto thee even as thou wilt. bthe demon is [401] gone out of thy daughter. [Thus by its ending this little incident illustrates the doctrine that men should pray and not faint ( Luk 18:1-8). The woman’s experience has been often repeated by other parents who have prayed for children which, if not demon-possessed, was certainly swayed by diabolical influences. The woman’s faith is shown in many ways: 1. She persisted when he was silent. 2. She reasoned when he spoke. 3. She regarded this miracle, though a priceless gift to her, as a mere crumb from the table of his abundant powers. It is noteworthy that the two most notable for faith–this woman and the centurion–were both Gentiles.] aAnd her daughter was healed from that hour. b30 And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out. [The posture of the daughter indicated the physical exhaustion which would naturally succeed the intense nervous strain of demoniacal possession–especially the last paroxysms produced by the departing demon.]
[FFG 399-402]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 22
Of Canaan; of Canaanitish descent, not a Jewess.–Thou son of David. By this address she seems to have expressed her belief that he was the promised Messiah.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15:22 And, behold, a woman of {f} Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
(f) Of the people of the Canaanites, who dwelt in Phoenicia.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Matthew introduced this extraordinary story with an extraordinary word, "Behold," which the NIV version omits. By describing this woman as a Canaanite the writer drew attention to the fact that she was a descendant of Israel’s ancient enemies. She came out from that region in the sense that she left her home to meet Jesus. Her use of "Lord" may have been only respectful. [Note: See my note on 8:2.] However by calling Him the Son of David she clearly expressed belief that He was Israel’s promised Messiah who would heal His people (cf. Mat 9:27; Mat 12:23).
"She plainly reveals that she has knowledge of the Messianic hopes of Israel and had heard that they were being connected with Jesus as the promised great descendant of King David." [Note: Lenski, p. 594.]