What about the character of Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28?

Question

Here Jesus says to a woman. "it is not right to take food from Children and throw it to the Dogs" (NLT) - Most difficult verse I have come across. Jesus calls the woman a dog, to her face.

Answer 1

Picture Jesus smiling gently as he says it. He has already recognised her faith and her spirit, so he teases her gently so that bystanders get the point of what is happening. A sense of humour, used kindly, can turn many awkward situations to good.

Answer 2

No Jesus didn't call the woman a dog to her face. The person who wrote the story quoted Jesus as having said it but given that the person wasn't there it all gets a bit flimsy. Really it is Mathew who called the woman a dog not Jesus. So not difficult at all.

Answer 3

Children were the Jews and dogs were the Gentiles. Dogs means pets not mean vicious dogs. Jesus was testing the woman's faith and He even told his disciples who wanted to send her away that He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She humbled herself and said that even the dogs eat of the crumbs from the master's table. She was wanting her daughter healed and not worrying about being insulted. This woman's heart was right and she had no pride. Her daughter was vexed with a devil and she knew Jesus could cast the devil out of her daughter. Many, many times Christians will be called worse than a dog and our pride must not get in the way of serving the Lord. Jesus was a perfect example. This Canaanite woman did exactly what faith requires. She believed in Jesus even when called a name and nothing stopped her faith.

Answer 4

Gentiles (that's us) were called dogs by Jews. The verse should not be interpreted literally. I doubt if Jesus used that word, or if he did he must have said that he was sent by the Father to the chosen people not Gentiles. Jesus was also fond of using hyperbole in his discourses.

There is also a literary device called midrash and this saying of Jesus might have been a midrashic statement.

There are many accounts in the Bible, which employ a literary device used by Jewish Old and New Testament writers called Midrash. Midrash is the substantive of the Hebrew word darash which means to search, to investigate, to study and, also, to expound on the fruits of the research. The aim of Midrash is to draw from Scripture a lesson for the present.

Midrash could also be defined as a "reflection on Scripture in the light of the actual situation of God's people and of the developments of God's action on its history." It proposes to explain the meaning of Scripture in the light of the later historical experience of God's people. This kind of interpretation often opened the door to embellishments of the sacred accounts, anachronisms, and a freedom in handling and maneuvering the data of tradition that were at times a little too candid and certainly very imaginative.

Peace and every blessing!

Answer 5

( Pigs were worse than dogs.) Anyway, He had a plan to come first for the isrealites, Gods chosen were to be first. The woman from Caanan came from paganism. She had been worshipping other gods yet Jesus still healed her daughter. God will not hear the prayers of the unrighteous but she had faith in Jesus. The woman who was filled with sin had opportunity after Jesus died to come to the Lord clean without sin and repent and make the God of the Isrealites her God too. After Jesus shed His blood she was no longer like a dog because Jesus allowed non-Jews to know Him, be cleansed of their sins and be His children through faith.

Answer 6

This woman was a Samaritan(a race of mixed breed)they were people who were not Jewish--but had mix religion and Blood.. Jesus recognized her and told her the message he had was for the Jews. Not for the dogs(those who rejected true Hebrew religion. She said she understood and then added dogs do eat of the scraps from the table. She was saying I'm aware and you can help(my interpretation)

28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

The term that Jesus used was of a pet dog that the family loved, nevertheless, you have made a partial point. Jesus was testing the woman and this is a picture for us today to humble ourselves before God and to persist in prayer admitting that He doesn't owe us anything.

Answer 8

Jesus is fulfilling scripture, by the woman's own words she condemned Jesus, (Scripture does not say Jesus was the son of David) but Jesus recognized that he was sent to save the Jews. So he asked her about the true bread (the Word of God) and her answer showed him that she knew not the Word of God.

Her faith was on Jesus and not the Word, and because of the Works of Jesus she believed.

Answer 9

The woman was of Canaan, so she was a gentile for one. Jews were required to stay away from the gentiles. When she asked him for help, he compared the jews to children and the gentiles to dogs. She replied in her faith that the good master throws scraps to the dogs. This act showed that it was possible for a gentile to have as much if not more faith than many of the jews. That was the point of this section of the bible.

Answer 10

Many methods of Christ's providence, especially of his grace, in dealing with his people, which are dark and perplexing, may be explained by this story, which teaches that there may be love in Christ's heart while there are frowns on his face; and it encourages us, though he seems ready to slay us, yet to trust in him. Those whom Christ intends most to honor, he humbles to feel their own unworthiness. A proud, unhumbled heart would not have borne this; but she turned it into an argument to support her request. The state of this woman is an emblem of the state of a sinner, deeply conscious of the misery of his soul. The least of Christ is precious to a believer, even the very crumbs of the Bread of life. Of all graces, faith honors Christ most; therefore of all graces Christ honors faith most. He cured her daughter. He spake, and it was done. Let us seek help from the Lord, and receiving no gracious answer, learn to turn even our unworthiness and discouragements into pleas for mercy.