Mark 7:24-30

²⁴ From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.

²⁵ For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.

²⁶ The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷ But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

²⁸ And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹ Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

³⁰ And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

Also found in Matthew 15:21-28.

Tyre and Sidon (v.24) — Port cities on the Mediterranean northwest of Galilee.

The new scene of our Lord’s ministry is quite in contrast to the previous one. Just before this He was in Jewish territory, in Galilee. but now He was entering purely heathen country, the land of Phoenicia. He had experienced the antagonism of the Jewish leaders, and had failed to obtain the necessary quiet and leisure for purposes of recuperation after very heavy ministry, and for the instruction of His disciples. he entered the private home of some native of the country. But Mark says, “It was not possible for Him to be hidden.” The news concerning the great Teacher and Healer, had spread beyond the confines of Israel into pagan country. … the little preposition eis, translated “into,” is worthy of note. Our Lord did not merely cross over the border into Phoenician territory, but He went deep into the heart of the country. — Wuest, pages 150-151.

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Mark is careful to describe the woman as to her religion, her language, and her race. She was Greek in religion … a Gentile as distinguished from a Jew. She was Syrian in tongue, and Phoenician in race. She was a Phoenician of Syria as distinguished from a Phoenician of North Africa. — Wuest, page 151.

kept asking (v.26) = a request, not a mere question. She kept right on asking.

The Jews looked upon all Gentiles as dogs. It was a term of reproach. … But our Lord did not use the Greek word kuon here, the term for a dog. And he must have spoken Greek to this woman for she would not know the Aramaic of the Jews. Greek was the international language of the day. The word Jesus used was kunarion “a little dog.” In answering the woman thus, He was just staying by His commission to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. And that order of procedure was not favoritism, but only the method of reaching the large number through a selected smaller group. The Jew was the chosen channel through which God has elected to reach the Gentiles. It would be just a wise efficiency to thus go to the Jew first. The Messiah, sent to Israel, was careful to preserve that order. And even when about to minister to the Gentiles to whom His compassionate heart went out, He was careful to remind her of the fact that she came second, not first, in the great program of God.

He uses the illustration of the children of the household at the table, and their little pets under the table. It is seemly, proper, he says, to see that the children are fed first, then the little dogs, their pets. — Wuest, page 152.

Lord (v.28) = one to whom a person or thing belonged, about which he has the power of deciding. The master of disposer of a thing.

crumbs (v.28) — the little scraps of food that children sneak to their pets under the table

for this saying (29) — I believe there was more going on here than most commentaries realize. Here are my notes from the parallel passage in Matthew 15:21-28.

Jesus came as the Messiah of Israel. His ministry was only to the Jews. When this Gentile woman approached Him as the Son of David, she had no claim on Him. She was one of those who were … without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). On this basis, He said nothing.

When the disciples asked Him to give her what she wanted (probably) so they could be rid of her, He explained, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). 

She asked Him again to help her daughter, this time dropping her claim. He again explained the higher position of Israel, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (Matthew 15:26).

She then asked a third time, and this time she worded her request in such a way that Jesus could grant her request. “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27).

The word “masters’” is plural. She wasn’t referring to Him as her master but to those who were fed at the table — the Jews. She had come to the understanding that her blessing could only come through Israel.

This is where my commentaries miss the point, in my opinion. This experience wasn’t given to us to show that salvation was about to be taken from Israel and given to the Gentiles. The Lord was still teaching the kingdom message. A major point of that kingdom message is that the nations will be blessed through Israel. This passage underlines that point exactly.

has gone out (v.29) = lit. “has gone out, with the present result that it is out.” It was a permanent cure.

lying (v.30) — tense indicates relaxation, another indication of a cure.

The only curing miracle of the Lord one remotely.