Matthew 15:24

Mat 15:24. Ἀπεστάλην, I am sent) Our Lord referred everything to His Mission.—πρόβατα, sheep) Israel is the Lord’s flock (see Psalms 95), Jesus the Shepherd.—οἴκου Ἰσραήλ, the house of Israel) This appeared to restrict His grace.

Mat 15:24; Mat 15:26. Εἰ μὴ—τοῖς κυναρίοις, except—to little dogs) Our Lord’s language, in Mat 15:24, contains no repulse, as explained in Mat 15:26,[695] but rather suggests hope to constant faith. The twenty-fourth verse is to be understood, not with reference to the whole mediatorial office, but only our Lord’s preaching and miracles.

[695] Bengel’s words are, “Sermo in thesi expressus, in hypothesi nullam habet repulsam: sed potius spem facit fidei constanti. Thesis autem accipienda est, non de officio toto mediatorio, sed de prædicatione et miraculis.” I have endeavoured to render this so as to be intelligible to the general reader.—(I. B.)

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

Mat_15:24. Those words are addressed to the disciples (comp. note on Mat_10:6); the answer to the woman comes afterwards in Mat_15:26.

It is usually supposed that what Jesus had in view was merely to put her confidence in Him to the test (Ebrard, Baur, Schenkel, Weiss); whilst Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Luther, Glöckler, assert that His aim was to furnish her with an opportunity for displaying her faith. But the moral sense protests against this apparent cruelty of playing the part of a dissembler with the very intention of tormenting; it rather prefers to recognise in our Lords demeanour a sincere disposition to repel, which, however, is subsequently conquered by the womans unshaken trust (Chrysostom: καλὴν ἀναισχυντίαν). Ewald appropriately observes how, on this occasion, Jesus shows His greatness in a twofold way: first, in prudently and resolutely confining Himself to the sphere of His own country; and then in no less thoughtfully overstepping this limit whenever a higher reason rendered it proper to do so, and as if to foreshadow what was going to take place a little farther on in the future.

It was not intended that Christ should come to the Gentiles in the days of His flesh, but that He should do so at a subsequent period (Mat_28:19), in the person of the Spirit acting through the medium of apostolic preaching (Joh_10:16; Eph_2:17). But the difficulty of reconciling this with Mat_8:5, Mat_11:12, on which Hilgenfeld lays some stress, as being in favour of our present narrative, is somewhat lessened by the fact that, according to Luk_7:2 ff., the centurion was living in the heart of the people, and might be said to be already pretty much identified with Judaism; whereas we have a complete stranger in the case of the woman, before whom Jesus sees Himself called upon, in consequence of their request, Mat_15:23, strictly to point out to His disciples that His mission, so far as its fundamental object was concerned, was to be confined exclusively to Israel. Volkmar, indeed, makes out that the words were never spoken at all; that their teaching is of a questionable nature; and that the whole thing is an imitation of the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17); while Scholten, p. 213, regards it merely as a symbolical representation of the relation of the Gentile world to the kingdom of God, and which had come to be treated as a fact.

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 15:24 . οὐκ ἀπεστάλην : Jesus is compelled to explain Himself, and His explanation is bonâ fide , and to be taken in earnest as meaning that He considered it His duty to restrict His ministry to Israel, to be a shepherd exclusively to the lost sheep of Israel ( τὰ πρόβατα τ . ἀ ., cf. Mat 9:36 ), as He was wont to call them with affectionate pity. There was probably a mixture of feelings in Christ’s mind at this time; an aversion to recommence just then a healing ministry at all a craving for rest and retirement; a disinclination to be drawn into a ministry among a heathen people, which would mar the unity of His career as a prophet of God to Israel (the drama of His life to serve its purpose must respect the limits of time and place); a secret inclination to do this woman a kindness if it could in any way be made exceptional; and last but not least, a feeling that her request was really not isolated but representative = the Gentile world in her inviting Him, a fugitive from His own land, to come over and help them, an omen of the transference of the kingdom from Jewish to Pagan soil.

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

Of the people of Israel, which people was divided into tribes, but all those tribes came of one house.

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

But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel--(Also see on Mar 7:26.)

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep] By the Divine appointment, I am come to preach the Gospel to the Jews only. There are certain preachers who should learn a lesson of important instruction from this part of our Lord's conduct. As soon as they hear of a lost sheep being found by other ministers, they give all diligence to get that one into their fold: but display little earnestness in seeking in the wilderness for those that are lost. This conduct, perhaps, proceeds from a consciousness of their inability to perform the work of an evangelist; and leads them to sit down in the labours of others, rather than submit to the reproach of presiding over empty chapels. Such persons should either dig or beg immediately, as they are a reproach to the pastoral office; for, not being sent of God, they cannot profit the people.

The wilderness of this world is sufficiently wide and uncultivated. Sinners abound every where; and there is ample room for all truly religious people, who have zeal for God, and love for their perishing follow creatures, to put forth all their strength, employ all their time, and exercise all their talents, in proclaiming the Gospel of God; not only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but to a lost WORLD. Nor can such exertions be unsuccessful. There the pure truth of God is preached, many will be converted. Where that truth is preached, though with a mixture of error, some will be converted, for God will bless his own truth. But where nothing but false doctrine is preached, no soul is converted: for God will never sanction error by a miracle of his mercy.

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

(24) I am not sent (better, I was not sent) but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.—This, then, was what had restrained Him. Those wandering sheep, without a shepherd, were the appointed objects of His care. Were He to go beyond that limit in a single case, it might be followed by a thousand, and then, becoming, as it were, before the time, the Apostle of the Gentiles, He would cease to draw to Himself the hearts of Israel as their Redeemer. We call to mind the case of the centurion’s servant (Mat_8:10), and wonder that that was not decisive as a precedent in the supplicant’s favour. The two cases stood, however, on a very different footing. The centurion who had built a synagogue was practically, if not formally, a proselyte of the gate. As the elders of the synagogue pleaded for him as worthy, the work of healing wrought for him would not alienate them or their followers. The woman belonged, on the contrary, to the most scorned and hated of all heathen races, to the Canaan on which the primeval curse was held to rest (Gen_9:25), and had as yet done nothing to show that she was in any sense a convert to the faith of Israel.

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

24. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel] Jesus came to save all, but His personal ministry was confined, with few exceptions, to the Jews.

The thought of Israel as a flock of sheep lost on the mountains is beautifully drawn out, Ezekiel 34; “My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them,” (Mat_15:6.) Read the whole chapter.

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.

But he answered, and said,.... To his disciples, who knew how limited their commission was, that they were not to go into the way of the Gentiles, not to preach to them, nor perform miracles among them; and therefore could not reasonably expect that either the woman, or they, on her behalf, should succeed in this matter.

I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; as a priest, or as a Saviour and Redeemer, he was sent to make satisfaction and atonement for the sins of all God's elect, and to obtain eternal redemption and salvation for all of them, whether Jews or Gentiles; but as a prophet, in the discharge of his own personal ministry, he was sent by his Father only to the Jews; he was the "minister of the circumcision", Rom 15:8 that is, a minister to the circumcised Jews; he was sent only to preach the Gospel to them, and work miracles among them, in proof of his Messiahship; and upon their rejection of him, then his apostles were to be sent among the Gentiles; but he himself was sent only to the Jews, here styled "the lost sheep of the house of Israel": by "the house of Israel", is meant the whole body of the Jewish nation, so called from Israel, the name of Jacob their father, from whom they sprung; and by the "lost sheep" of that house, are more especially designed the elect of God among them: for though all the individuals of that house were "lost" persons, considered in Adam, and in themselves, as the rest of mankind, and Christ, in the external ministry of the word, was sent to preach to them all; yet the elect of God are only "sheep": they are the sheep of Christ, of his pasture, and of his hand, whom he has the particular care and charge of; and who, in their natural state, are lost and straying, and could never find their way, or recover themselves from their lost state in Adam, and by their own transgressions; but he came to seek, and to save them, and to these his ministry was powerful and efficacious.

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

24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Ver. 24. But unto the lost sheep, &c.] He was properly the apostle of the circumcision, Rom 15:8; Heb 3:1, till the wall of partition was broken down by his resurrection. Then the veil rent, and it was open tide. Then he became a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as he was the glory of his people Israel.

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.

Our Lord by these words doth not deny but that he was sent as a Redeemer to more, but not as a minister, or as an apostle, as he is called, Heb 3:1. The apostle, Rom 15:8, saith, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. Our Lord’s ministry was confined to the Jews; so was the apostles’, Mat 10:5. Till some time after our Saviour’s ascension the gospel was not preached generally to the Gentiles, though some particular persons might and did, both in Christ’s time and in the time of the apostles, before they did go to the Gentiles, hear, receive and embrace the gospel, as we shall hear this woman did.

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

24. He answered — To the disciples. The fact that our Lord gives this reason to the disciples shows that he is assigning the true cause of his actions. It is not, as some think, to draw out the woman’s faith, that he declines to hear her prayer; but because his immediate mission is not to Gentile, but to Jew. Sent — All his actions are under the control of Him from whom he has received his commission; and the tenor of that commission limits him to Israel. Lost sheep — Such is the character of which the whole house of Israel consists. They are all lost sheep, and to them is he sent.

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

I am (was) not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Doubtless the woman had listened to the apostles" intercession, and thought her cause won; but the repulse is only repeated; this Gentile is beyond the sphere of his mission; he cannot help her without departing from the rule which he had set himself. Jesus says nothing here about the rejection of the Jews and the future ingathering of the Gentiles; he states merely that his personal mission while he was on earth was confined to the Hebrew nation. He was, as St. Paul calls him, (Rom_15:8) "a Minister of the circumcision." Later, he would send others to evangelize those who were now aliens from the chosen commonwealth; at present he has come unto his own possessions. Lost sheep. There is a tenderness in this expression natural from the mouth of the good Shepherd. He had used it when he sent forth the twelve on their apostolical journey; (Mat_10:6) the metaphor is found in the Old Testament (see Jer_50:6, etc.) It is appropriate here, where he is emphasizing his attitude towards the chosen people, and teaching the Canaanitish woman the relative position of Jew and Gentile.

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

I am not sent - Not primarily; not yet.

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

lost sheep For Another Point of View: See Topic 301191 (Greek - ἀπόλλυμι). (See Scofield "Joh 3:16")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe, when our Saviour doth answer, he gives not one word of comfort, but rather a repulse. Christ has often-times love in his heart to his people, when they can read none in his countenance, nor gather it from his discourse.

Observe, the answer itself, Christ says not, I am to sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Adam, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Jews are compared unto sheep, the Gentiles unto dogs. Christ insinuates, that though they were a lost sheep of Adam, yet not being one of the lost sheep of Israel, he could do nothing for her. It was a common saying among the Jews, "That the nations of the world were likened to dogs, whereas they were God’s sons and daughters."

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Lord's personal mission was to the Jews. Under the first commission his apostles were directed to go only to the Jews (Matt. 10:6). It would be impossible to evangelize the Gentiles without setting aside the Jewish customs, the law of Moses, and arousing the bitterest prejudice of the Jews. Hence it was the divine plan that the Son should “keep the law blameless” during his ministry. It was only when the Jews crucified him “that the handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross,” the “wall of partition” between Jews and Gentiles broken down, and all prepared for the Great Commission which bade his disciples “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

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.

I was not sent to anyone

This can be stated in active form. AT: "God did not send me to anyone" (See: Active or Passive)

to the lost sheep of the house of Israel

This is a metaphor comparing the entire nation of Israel to sheep who have gone away from their shepherd. See how you translated this in Matthew 10:6. (See: Metaphor)

she came

"the Canaanite woman came"

bowed down before him

This shows that the woman humbled herself before Jesus. (See: Symbolic Action)

It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs

Jesus responds to the woman with a proverb. The basic meaning is that it is not right to take what is supposed to belong to Jews and give it to non-Jews. (See: Proverbs)

the children's bread

Here "bread" refers to food in general. AT: "the children's food" (See: Synecdoche)

the little dogs

The Jews considered dogs to be unclean animals. Here they are used as an image for non-Jews.

translationWords

Jesus

send

ewe

house

Israel

bow

bread

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

24. εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα κ.τ.λ. Jesus came to save all, but his personal ministry was confined, with few exceptions, to the Jews.

The thought of Israel as a flock of sheep lost upon the mountain is beautifully drawn out, Ezekiel 34; ‘My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them’ (Mat 15:6). Read the whole chapter.

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.

24.] See ch. 10:5. Such was the purpose of our Lord’s personal ministry; yet even this was occasionally broken by such incidents as this. The ‘fountain sealed’ sometimes broke its banks, in token of the rich flood of grace which should follow. See Rom 15:8.

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