Matthew 15:22

15:22 Gentile woman: Literally Canaanite woman. Matthew uses this archaic Old Testament expression to describe the woman as a pagan. • Lord, Son of David: The woman apparently perceived that Jesus was the Messiah (see 1:1; 9:27; 17:15; 20:30).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 15:22. [693]Ἐξελθοῦσα, κ.τ.λ., having come forth, etc.) For Jesus did not enter the borders of the Canaanites.—ἐκραύγασεν, cried out) from a distance, from behind; cf. Mat 15:23; Mat 15:25.[694]—με, me) The affectionate mother had made her daughter’s misery her own; see Mat 15:25; Mat 15:28.—Υἱὲ Δαυὶδ, Son of David) Therefore the woman had heard of the Promise either long ago or lately.

[693] Χανανάια) 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.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_15:22. Χαναναῖα] Several tribes of the Canaanites, כְּנַעֲנִי, who were the original inhabitants of Palestine, went and settled in the north, and founded what was subsequently known as the Phoenician nation, Winer, Realwörterbuch. Lightfoot on this passage.

ἐξελθοῦσα] 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.

υἱὲ Δαυ.] She so addresses Jesus, because, from living in the neighbourhood of the Jews, she was familiar with their Messianic expectations, and with the Messiahs 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.

ἐλέησόν με] Suam fecerat pia mater miseriam filiae, Bengel.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 15:22 . Χαναναία : 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. ἐλ . με , pity me , the mother’s heart speaks. υἱὲ Δ . 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.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the flock of the Canaanites, which dwelled in Phoenicia.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 Phœnicia 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-Phœnician 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. a woman of Canaan] Called in Mark “a Greek, a Syrophœnician 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 Phœnicia. In Jos_5:12 “the land of Canaan” appears in the LXX. version as the “land of the Phœnicians.” 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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Exo 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 on Mat 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,

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 φιλη. The Greeks call children φιλτατα, 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, εκραξεν οπισω αυτου, a tergo eius.

{b} Lambin. in Menech. Plauti, Act. i. scen. 1. Domi domitus fui usque cum charis meis.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is probable that woman first cried out before the door, and assembled a crowd, and then went into the house. Have mercy on me. The great faith of the Chanaanæan woman is justly extolled. She believed him to be God, whom she calls her Lord, and him a man, whom she styles the Son of David. She lays no stress upon her own merits, but supplicates for the mercy of God; neither does she say, have mercy on my daughter, but have mercy on me. ... To move him to compassion, she lays all her grief and sorrow before him in thee afflicting words: my daughter is grievously afflicted by a devil. (Glossa.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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 children’s 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 Saviour’s 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold. The word marks the sudden and unexpected character of the incident. A woman of Canaan. She belonged to the accursed race of Canaan, the ancient inhabitants of the land, doomed, indeed, to destruction, but never thoroughly extirpated. St. Mark calls her "a Greek," i.e. a Gentile, and "a Syro-Phoenician," which explains her proper nationality. Out of the same coasts. Some join these words with "a woman;" but came out would still imply that she left her own territory to meet Christ. Have mercy on me. She speaks as though she herself were the one that needed healing, identifying herself with her diseased daughter, as though the horrible incubus lay upon her own spirit and could not be relieved without the cure of the suffering girl. O Lord, thou Son of David. Living among a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles, she had heard this title applied to Jesus; she knew something of the hopes of the Hebrew nation, that they were expecting a Messiah, son of the great King David, who should preach to the poor and heal the sick, as she heard that Jesus had done. We know that the reputation of Jesus had spread into these parts, and that persons from this country had come to him to be healed. (Mar_3:8 Luk_6:17) There is no reason to suppose that the woman was a proselyte; but evidently she was of a humble and religious spirit, open to conviction, and of an enlightened understanding, which needed only grace and instruction to ripen into faith. At present she saw in Christ only a merciful Wonder-worker an error which he often combated, and which now by his conduct he corrected. My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. She must have learned from her Hebrew neighbours to attribute her child"s malady to demoniacal influence, as such an idea would not have naturally occurred to a heathen Greek. The power of the devil was shown more openly in heathen localities. We do not read of many bad cases of possession in strictly Jewish districts. It is in Gentile or semi-Gentile regions that the worst instances occur; and while the pagan inhabitants attributed the mysterious maladies to natural causes, the truer insight of believers assigned them, and often most justly, to spiritual agencies. In the present case, the possession must have been unconnected with any ethical relations. It was not that the child, by any act of her own, had put herself into the demon"s power. We must regard it, like the sufferings of innocent infants, as a providential arrangement which God for wise purposes allows.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A woman of Canaan - Canaan was also called Syrophenicia, as lying between Syria properly so called, and Phenicia, by the sea side. Cried to him - From afar, Thou Son of David - So she had some knowledge of the promised Messiah.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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!

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXVII. Healing a Phoenician].

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]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Behold, a woman of Canaan. The name Canaan was the oldest bestowed upon the country, and all the heathen inhabitants were often called Canaanites, whether of the same stock or not. Mark says (7:26) that the woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician; i. e., a Gentile, and a Syro-Phoenician, because she lived in the district of Syria called Phoenicia. Have mercy on me. She has a boon to ask for her daughter, or rather indeed for herself, for so entirely had she made her daughter's misery her own. My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. More correctly, “a demon.” See note on Matt. 8:28. O Lord, thou son of David. It is remarkable that two of the brightest examples of faith seen in the ministry of Christ were exhibited by Gentiles, that of the centurion (Matt. 8:8, 9), and of this woman. The fact that the latter addresses Jesus as “the son of David,” shows that she knew of the prophecies concerning the Christ and that he would be the son of David.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

22. ἔκραζεν rightly replaces the rarer form ἐκραύγασεν.

22. γυνὴ Χαναναία. In Mark ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἦν Ἑλληνίς, Συροφοινίκισσα (Mat 7:26). The two expressions are in Hellenistic Greek identical. In Jos 5:12, ‘The land of Canaan’ (Hebr.) appears in the LXX. version as τὴν χώραν τῶν Φοινίκων. Hecatæus (Tr. 254) states: Χνᾶ. [Canaan] οὕτω πρότερον ἡ Φοινίκη ἐκαλεῖτο. The term land of Canaan, literally the low lands or netherlands, at first applied to the whole of Palestine, was confined in later times to the maritime plain of Phœnicia. Still, according to Prof. Rawlinson, the Canaanites and Phœnicians were distinct races, possessing marked peculiarities. The former were the original occupants of the country, the latter ‘immigrants at a comparatively recent date.’ (Herod. Vol. IV. p. 199.) The relations between Phœnicia and Palestine had been with scarcely an exception peaceful and friendly. The importance of the narrative lies in the fact 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.’ This instance of mercy extended to a Gentile points to the future diffusion of the Gospel beyond the Jewish race.

ἐλέησόν με. 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.

υἱὸς Δαυείδ. 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. The Tyrian woman’s appeal to the descendant of Hiram’s friend and ally has a special significance.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22.] ἀπὸ τ. ὁρ. ἐκ … does not belong to ἐξελθ., but means of or from those parts.

ἐξελθ.] coming out (they were going by the way, see ver. 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, Jdg 1:33; and Phœnicians, Exo 6:15 (LXX): Jos 5:1 (LXX). Mark calls her Ἑλληνίς, i.e. a heathen by religion, and Σύρα Φοινίκισσα τῷ γένει: 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 ver. 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 υἱὸς Δαυείδ 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.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. And behold a Canaanite woman came out from those boundaries, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is grievously afflicted with a demon.] Mk. has: “But straightway a woman having heard about Him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came and fell at His feet. And the woman was a Greek, a Syrophœnician by race. And she was asking Him that He would cast the demon out of her daughter.” It can hardly be unintentional that Mt. omits the statement that Jesus entered into a house in this heathen territory, and represents the woman as coming out of those boundaries to Jesus; cf. 10:5.

23-25 are not in Mk.

(E) And He answered not a word. And His disciples came and asked Him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. And He answered and said, I was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me.]—ἠρώτων] ἐρωτάω in the LXX and N.T. has the sense to “beg,” “beseech.” So in the Papyri, e.g. Fayûm Towns, cxxxii. 1; cf. Ditt. Syll.. 328. 5, 930. 56.—εἰς τὰ πρόβατα, κ.τ.λ.] see on 10:6.—προσελθόντες] see on 4:3.—προσεκύνει] see on 2:2.

(M)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Out of the same coasts [απο των οριων εκεινων] . Lit., as Rev., from those borders; i e., she crossed from Phoenicia into Galilee.

Cried [εκραυγασεν] . With a loud, importunate cry : from behind. Compare after, ver. 23. Making her daughter 's misery her own.

Grievously vexed with a devil [κακως δαιμονιζεται] . Lit., is badly demonized. Sir J. Cheke, very evil devilled.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.