Why did Jesus call the Canaanite woman a dog?

For a time He goes to the coast of the Gentiles, though desirous not to advertise it. Yet He could not be hid. The very fact of His going there was an encouragement to the Syrophenician woman to come to Him. Her first words to Him are not mentioned here as they are in Matthew 15:22, but the fact that she fell at His feet as a dependent supplicant on behalf of her demon possessed daughter. His words to her, however, were intended to both put her in her true place and to encourage her faith. Gentiles must be made to realize that Israel did have a prime place in God's counsels, and they (the children) were not to be deprived of bread in order that dogs (Gentiles) might have it. Yet the Lord used a word referring to house-dogs, rather than dogs of the street. This was a clear encouragement to her to respond in the way she did.

She will not give Him up though He is silent to her; and again she comes, worshipping Him, and saying, "Lord help me!" What will He say to this? As Jehovah's Servant, He will not only own the rights of Jehovah, but will have all do likewise; hence He replies, "It is not meet to take the children's bread (i.e., what belongs to Israel) and to cast it to dogs" (i.e., to Gentiles). What will she say to this? Is she content to be blessed as a dog, as an unclean, outside one? She replies, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." She is satisfied to be a dog! she is satisfied to receive a crumb! He had it in His heart to bless her according to His heart; His best is what was in His heart for her. Gently and graciously, yet truly, did He lead her on step by step, first, off from false ground that she had taken in the wildness of her distress (for as Son of David she had no claim upon Him), and then on the full acknowledgment that even a dog in the house of such a Master was not forgotten; so that to be such to Him, and to receive from such an One as Him a crumb, was heaven on earth!

As the Son of David He answers (not the women, but) His disciples that He had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The women then gave up her use of His Jewish title, and worshipping Him, said, "Lord, help me." On this ground He could speak to her, for He was her Lord. Yet He must impress on her that, being a Gentile, she was not entitled to Jewish blessing. Still, He does it in a way that not only humbles her, but encourages her. For while He speaks of its being not fitting to take the bread from the children (Israel) and to throw it to dogs (Gentiles), the dogs He speaks of are not the roaming dogs of the street, but he use dogs used as pets. She is willing immediately to take her place as a Gentile dog, for she sees the opening He gave her to request the crumbs that dogs are commonly given from their master's table. This is exquisitely beautiful, and the Lord warmly commends her great faith, assuring her that she is blessed with what she desires. Her daughter is immediately released from her oppression.

She came as to the "Son of David," which was His true title, but to the people of Israel: and as such she had no claim at all. So He replied: "Let the children first be filled:" The Lord used the word tekna: the ones who have the dignity and position by birth: (not teknia the diminutive): "for it is not right to take the children's (same word) bread, and throw it to the wee doggies." The poor mother had been pleading for her 'wee girlie', and the Lord takes up her term, and speaks of the 'wee doggies': the diminutive. Now notice, had the Lord used the ordinary word for dog, and not the diminutive: — and this story is the only place in the New Testament where the diminutive of 'dog' is found: — then this woman could not have replied as she did: for literally, as well as spiritually, in the East, 'without are dogs.' The fierce, horrible dogs of that land were not allowed in the houses, but the "wee doggies', the cute little puppies, could come in: and so the Lord gently and skilfully leads on her faith, by giving her this special, unusual word to encourage her; and she takes it up instantly: "Yes, Lord, and the wee doggies under the table eat of the wee crumbs (another diminutive) of the wee children (another diminutive, but not the honourable word for 'children,' teknia, but paidia, one that could be used of a servant).

She had watched her wee girlie eating, and knew how often she dropped wee crumbs. In our house the wee doggie used always to sit under the chair of the littlest one, because it well knew most crumbs dropped there. And, says she, I'm not asking for a lot; only for a 'wee crumb'. Has Jairus's wee girlie not dropped a wee crumb for a wee doggie over in Tyre? The children, the tekna, have been having a grand feast over in Judea; their sick healed, their lepers cleansed, the devils cast out of their children, even their dead raised to life: and is there never a wee crumb for a poor wee doggie in Tyre?

What joy that conversation brought to the Saviour of the world! Why, (I doubt not), it was just on purpose to bring a wee crumb to this wee doggie, — this wee girlie, — that the Saviour had made that long, weary journey; and when she had got her wee crumb He turns round and goes back again to 'the children.' Do you think that the Holy Spirit put those four little 'i's' into that story by accident? Sure I am He did not. Is that exquisite cluster of jewels nothing to you? Ah, Beloved, talk not slightingly of the Greek Testament; and discourage none from seeking to read the very words the Holy Spirit wrote. There are such treasures hidden there that none can ever exhaust them.

Constantly referred to in scripture as an unclean and debased animal: hence the unclean Gentiles or heathen are compared to dogs. Ps. 22:16; Ps. 59:6, 14. The price of a dog was forbidden to be put into the Lord's treasury, it was an abomination. Deut. 23:18. Hazael, a heathen, said, "Is thy servant a dog?" and the most offensive epithet was to call a man a dead dog. They were, and are, the scavengers of Eastern cities. All refuse is thrown into the streets and the dogs eat it. It was the dogs who ate the body of Jezebel, and licked up the blood of Naboth and of Ahab. In the N.T. it is the same: 'without are dogs,' ' beware of dogs' used symbolically of those cut off and of the unclean: they return to their vomit again. The only apparent exception to the above is when the Lord compared the Syrophenician woman to a dog, and she said, "Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." In these passages the diminutive of the word is used, implying 'little dogs or puppies,' and these are often kept in houses until they grow up. But this does not remove the contempt implied in the term. Matt. 15:27. Wyclif translated 'houndis' and 'litil whelpis' in Mark 7:27-28.

The Syrophenician woman, when applying to the Lord, at first takes Jewish ground, and addresses Him as "Son of David." — No answer. — He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. — She then comes and worships Him, and says: "Lord, help me." She only meets with a still more humiliating, yea, crushing refusal: "It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." For such was then her place as that of the Gentiles generally. She had stepped out of her place, and therefore she had to be reminded of it; and it is only when she takes her true place, that her request is granted.

Dispensationally, therefore, as the whole scheme of Old Testament promise and prophecy showed, the descendants of Israel were nearer God than the Gentiles. And the Lord Jesus in His ministry of the abundant grace of God recognised the divine restrictions imposed in former days. He had not come to destroy the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17); and what God had established He would not permit man to waive or ignore. Even in this case of dire extremity, the woman was not entitled by reason of her necessity to set aside the ruling and ways of God for centuries. The Messiah was sent to Israel, and salvation was of the Jews. She must learn that her only hope lay in the sovereign mercy of God.

Ans.—The woman was a Gentile and in using the title, “Son of David,” she appealed to the Lord as though she were an Israelite. He tests her faith by His silence, and, when He does speak, emphasizes the position of Gentiles—“It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs.” It has been thought, however, that in the very form of word used for “dog,” our Lord left an opening for faith. It was not the dog without owner, the common scavenger of the East, but the house-dog—so the diminutive form has been thought to suggest—inferior and dependent, but not despised. Be this as it may, the great faith of the woman takes the place the Lord gives her, and uses that as an argument for His mercy to be shown. “Truth, Lord,” I am a dog, but when was dog refused a crumb?—and Thy mercy for me is but as that. Thus faith ever acts: it takes the place of nothingness, and finds the fulness of Christ for it.

Turning away from His hypocritical opponents, the Saviour went into the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He had but a short time before, held up these places as specially hardened (Matt. 11:21); what could He hope to find there to refresh His distressed spirit. He was soon appealed to by a Canaanitish woman to cast a demon out of her daughter: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon." How terribly she erred! As one of a cursed race, of which remnants existed in the land merely because of the dilatoriness of God's people in Joshua's day, what could she claim from David's Son but judgement? At first the Saviour gave her no answer, but being urged by His disciples to dismiss her He said: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of Israel." This was indeed His mission at that time. He "was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers" (Rom. 15:8). In this character Gentiles could have no claim upon Him whatever. The earnestness of the woman, however, was such that she would take no denial. Accordingly she pressed her suit further, saying: "Lord, help me." She dropped the Jewish title of "Son of David," and craved mercy simply. But she had not gone low enough, so our Lord replied: "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." This, was indeed a testing word. Yet she did not fire at it, and turn away, like Naaman, in a rage. She meekly retorted "Yea, Lord, for even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table." (See Revised Version.) Her argument was perfect, and it prevailed. Though she was truly but a Gentile, outside the elect family of Israel, she had confidence that such was the goodness of the divine heart that there was blessing in it for even the meanest of His creatures. Certainly He whose eternal home is the Father's bosom would not contradict her in this. His strange bearing was intended to elicit this fine expression of faith from her. The Saviour's stern demeanour covered a heart of tenderness that yearned to bless her the moment she took true ground before Him. He appears to have visited the locality for her sake; for, having healed her daughter with His word, He forthwith returned to the place from whence He came. His eye had discerned the woman's sorrow from afar though she knew it not.

In Paul's day the Jewish rabbis used to teach, "The nations of the world are like dogs." Our Lord took up this saying to test the faith of the woman of Canaan in Matthew 15:22 to 28; but, in His infinite grace, He changed the word to "little dogs," and this gave the woman the opportunity to point out that the "little dogs" got the crumbs under their master's table, even though it was true in the East that the other dogs were kept outside. The Jews felt that they, and they only, were the people of God; and all else were unclean: were dogs! Now Paul takes up their saying, and, as it were, says: No, it is not the Gentile Christians who are the dogs. They are truly God's people: it is you, yourselves, who are the dogs: you have rejected Christ, God's Son, and so you cannot now be reckoned as God's people: you are the unclean ones who are outside: you are the dogs!" And when we come to Verse 8, we will see that Paul says that all these outward religious observances, such as circumcision, were only refuse, only fit to be thrown to the dogs.