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Chapter XLIX.—Of the Woman of Canaan Who Said, “Yet the Dogs Eat of the Crumbs
Which Fall from Their Masters’ Tables,” And of the Harmony Between the Account Given
by Matthew and that by Luke.
103. Matthew, accordingly, proceeds with his narrative, after the notice of that discourse
which the Lord delivered in the presence of the Pharisees on the subject of the unwashed
hands. Preserving also the order of the succeeding events, as far as it is indicated by the
transitions from the one to the other, he introduces this account into the context in the
following manner: “And Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
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. But He answered her not a word,” and so on, down to the words, “O woman, great is
thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that
very hour.”1073 This story of the woman of Canaan is recorded also by Mark, who keeps
the same order of events, and gives no occasion to raise any question as to a want of harmony,
unless it be found in the circumstance that he tells us how the Lord was in the house at the
time when the said woman came to Him with the petition on behalf of her daughter.1074
Now we might readily suppose that Matthew has simply omitted mention of the house,
while nevertheless relating the same occurrence. But inasmuch as he states that the disciples
made the suggestion to Him in these terms, “Send her away, for she crieth after us,” he seems
to imply distinctly that the woman gave utterance to these cries of entreaty behind the Lord
as He walked on. In what sense, then, could it have been “in the house,” unless we are to
take Mark to have intimated the fact, that she had gone into the place where Jesus then was,
when he mentioned at the beginning of the narrative that He was in the house? But when
Matthew says that “He answered her not a word,” he has given us also to understand what
neither of the two evangelists has related explicitly,—namely, the fact that during that silence
which He maintained Jesus went out of the house. And in this manner all the other particulars
are brought into a connection which from this point onwards presents no kind of appearance
of discrepancy. For as to what Mark records with respect to the answer which the Lord gave
her, to the effect that it was not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it unto the dogs,
that reply was returned only after the interposition of certain sayings which Matthew has
not left unrecorded. That is to say, [we are to suppose that] there came in first the request
which the disciples addressed to Him in regard to the woman’s case, and the answer He
gave them, to the effect that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;
that next there was her own approach, or, in other words, her coming after Him, and wor-
1073 Matt. xv. 21–28.
1074 Mark vii. 24–30.
Of the Woman of Canaan Who Said, ‘Yet the Dogs Eat of the Crumbs Which Fall from Their Masters’ Tables,’ And of the Harmony Between the Account Given by Matthew and that by Luke.
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Of the Woman of Canaan Who Said, ‘Yet the Dogs Eat of the Crumbs Which Fall…