TEXT [Commentary]

6. Faith of a Gentile woman (15:21-28; cf. Mark 7:24-30)

21 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Gentile[*] woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”

23 But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”

24 Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”

25 But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”

26 Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

27 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”

28 “Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

NOTES

15:21 Jesus left Galilee. Blomberg’s view (1991:242) that Jesus withdrew from Israel ideologically in 15:1-20 and geographically in 15:21-28 is debatable. Certainly Jesus had withdrawn from Pharisaic traditionalism, but one could argue that it was the Pharisees, not Jesus, who had withdrawn from Israel. This was Jesus’ fourth strategic withdrawal from conflict (cf. 2:12-14, 22; 4:12; 12:15; 14:13).

the region of Tyre and Sidon. Cf. 11:22; a journey of perhaps fifty miles to the north (cf. Mark 7:24-30). Jesus’ previous statements about true purity (15:10-20) were immediately put into practice in ministry to unclean Gentiles.

15:22-24 Jesus gave her no reply. At first, Jesus uncharacteristically ignored the Gentile (lit. “Canaanite”) woman’s request that he have mercy on her and help her demon-possessed daughter (cf. 4:24; 9:32; 12:22). But the woman’s surprising reference to Jesus as “Lord” (3:3; 7:21-22; 8:2, 6, 8, 25; 9:28; 12:8; 14:28, 30; etc.) and “Son of David” (1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42) implies that she had genuine insight into his identity and mission.

tell her to go away. The disciples urged Jesus to send the woman away, once again showing insensitivity about ministry to needy people (cf. 14:15; 15:32-33).

I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel. Jesus told the woman that the lost sheep of Israel were his sole mission priority (cf. 9:36; 10:6). It is possible that 15:23-24 should be understood a bit differently, with the disciples implying that Jesus should heal the woman in 15:23 and him answering them, not her, in 15:24.

15:25 she came and worshiped him. Undaunted, the woman persisted, this time bowing before Jesus. It is likely that Matthew intended the reader to view this as worship in the strongest sense of the word (cf. 14:33).

15:26 It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. Jesus’ reply metaphorically reflects the Jews’ special covenant relationship with God (the children’s food) and the Gentiles’ lack of such a relationship (dogs under the master’s table). The “children” of 15:26 are “God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel” in 15:24. Such language is offensive to modern sensibilities even when one notes that the word “dogs” (kunarion [TG2952, ZG3249]) is a word which might be understood as house dogs or pets and might imply affection, not the more common word that often implies wild scavengers (kuōn [TG2965, ZG3264]; cf. Matthew 7:6; Luke 16:21; Phil 3:2; 2 Pet 2:22; Rev 22:15).

15:27 even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table. Despite the pejorative nature of Jesus’ response, the woman amazingly persisted in yet a third plea for her daughter. This time she even adapted Jesus’ metaphor to her own needs and extended it, accepting her place as a dog but requesting his mercy nevertheless as a dog might beg for table scraps.

15:28 your faith is great. Jesus commended the woman for her great faith and immediately healed her daughter. Thus, the woman’s faith truly was great (cf. 9:22, 29). She had persisted through three rebuffs from Jesus, and her remarks manifest an amazing understanding of Jesus’ identity, power, and mission.

COMMENTARY [Text]

In this dialogue, Jesus responds three times to the pleas of the Canaanite woman, and once to his disciples. The request of the disciples comes after Jesus’ first response to the woman, when he ignores her (15:22-23). His second response may be to the disciples more than to the woman, and in it he flatly denies that his mission concerns her (15:24). His third response to the woman, whose pleas this time are underlined by her bowing before him, uses blunt, even harsh language to compare the woman to a dog that cannot have the children’s bread (15:25-26). The woman’s final plea exhibits amazing humility and insight, asking Jesus to permit her a scrap from the children’s bread. He responds by commending her great faith and granting her request (15:27-28). The repeated requests and responses induce a dramatic anticipation in the reader, as each time Jesus places an additional obstacle in front of the woman. Seen in this light, the woman’s faith is all the more remarkable.

Jesus and the Gentiles. It is already clear in Matthew that Jesus and his disciples ministered only to the lost sheep of Israel (9:35-36; 10:5-6). However, there has already been at least one notable exception to this rule, the healing of the Roman officer’s servant (8:5-13). It is noteworthy that both the previous and the present cases of ministry to Gentiles center around exceptional faith (8:10; 15:28). Both cases involve a request for another person, the Roman officer’s servant and the Canaanite woman’s daughter (8:6, 8; 15:22). Both cases also speak of blessing in terms of table fellowship (8:11; 15:26-27), which is then applied to the primacy of Israel. The Roman official may look forward to sitting down at a table with the Jewish patriarchs, and the woman may have scraps of the children’s bread. The language of the table is clearly eschatological in 8:11 and is implicitly so here in Matthew 15, since the woman received blessings flowing from the presence of the Kingdom (12:28). Jesus’ language at the Last Supper also has an eschatological context (26:29). Thus, every meal among Christians and, even more so, every Christian Eucharist service anticipates the eschatological feast with Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 11:26). Seen in this light, the miracle meals of Jesus are also powerful anticipations of the shalom [TH7965, ZH8934] that will one day come to his disciples from Israel and all the nations. “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15).

Davies and Allison (1991:557) are correct when they say that this passage “makes it abundantly plain that the biblical doctrine of Israel’s election must be taken seriously.” As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “salvation comes through the Jews” (John 4:22). The world mission of the church that concludes Matthew (28:18-20) is couched in language that echoes Daniel 7:13-14. This world mission does not contradict the earlier mission to Israel but expands it. Matthew would agree with Paul that through Jesus the Gentiles have been brought near to Israel’s covenant promises (Eph 2:11-19; Rom 11:17; 15:7-12). The covenantal language from which both Matthew’s and Paul’s views arise is evidently Genesis 12:3—“All the families on earth will be blessed through you [Abraham].” (For further discussion, see the commentary on Matthew 10:5-6 and Levine 1988.)