Yes. Jesus used a comparison involving children, bread, and dogs when a Canaanite woman asked Him to heal her daughter. His point concerned the priority of His mission to Israel. Yet the encounter ends with Jesus praising this Gentile woman’s faith and healing her daughter. We need to read the difficult comparison together with that gracious conclusion.
Matthew 15:21–28 shows her humility and persistence. She does not demand a place at the table; she trusts that even the smallest expression of Jesus’s mercy is enough. Her response gives us an example of coming to Christ in faith.
Read the account in Matthew 15:21–28 (ESV), then consider the conversation in its setting.
Jesus travels to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite mother approaches Him because her daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. She appeals to Him as Lord and Son of David, seeking mercy for her child (Matthew 15:21–22).
Matthew identifies her as a Canaanite, placing her outside Israel’s covenant people. Mark 7:26 describes the same woman as a Gentile and a Syrophoenician by birth. Her background makes her appeal to Israel’s Messiah especially striking.
At first Jesus is silent. The disciples ask Him to send her away, and He speaks of His mission to Israel’s lost sheep (Matthew 15:23–24). His initial silence makes her continuing appeal all the more remarkable.
Why Did Jesus Call the Woman a Dog?
- God told Abraham, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Primarily this referred to the Messiah coming from Israel, but it also referred to Israel being the witness nation. The Jews would receive the Gospel first and spread it to the surrounding world.
- Romans 1:16 describes the gospel coming to the Jew first and also to the Greek. See the fuller discussion of Israel and the Gentiles in God’s plan.
- When Jesus initially sent out the Twelve, He directed them to Israel rather than Gentile or Samaritan communities (Matthew 10:5–6). This was the particular mission He assigned them at that time.
Mark 7:27 makes the order explicit: “Let the children be fed first.” First does not mean that Gentiles must remain excluded forever. Jesus’s response to this woman demonstrates His mercy reaching beyond Israel.
The woman kneels before Jesus and asks, “Lord, help me.” He answers, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:25–26, ESV).
The children in the comparison represent Israel. The bread pictures the blessings of Jesus’s ministry, including the healing this mother seeks. His illustration explains the priority of Israel without making her request impossible.
The word translated dogs is kynarion, a diminutive form meaning a little dog; see Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, G2952. The NKJV makes this explicit with little dogs, while the ESV uses dogs. The table setting suggests household dogs, but the Greek form alone does not tell us Jesus’s tone or make the comparison easy to hear. The strongest reason to see His mercy here is what He does next: He commends her faith and grants her request.
The woman accepts the picture and points out that dogs still receive crumbs from the table. Jesus responds, “great is your faith!” and her daughter is healed immediately (Matthew 15:27–28, ESV).
The Canaanite Woman Was Humble and Persistent
She couldn’t change her ethnicity or the priority of Jesus’s mission, but she could keep appealing to His mercy. We could paraphrase her answer this way: I’m not asking you to take away what belongs to Israel. Even the crumbs are enough for me. She approaches Christ with humble confidence.
Jesus commended the woman’s faith. Elsewhere He warns that many who expected a place in God’s kingdom would miss it. Her example reminds us that ethnic background and religious familiarity cannot replace faith. A Gentile mother comes humbly to Israel’s Messiah and receives mercy.
Consider the progression:
- Jesus initially gives no answer in verse 23.
- Jesus states His mission to Israel in verse 24.
- She asks again in verse 25.
- Jesus gives the comparison about children, bread, and dogs in verse 26.
- She asks again in verse 27.
- Jesus praises her faith and heals her daughter in verse 28.
This is a great illustration of persistence in prayer. Her persistence expresses trust, not an attempt to earn mercy or control Jesus. When His answer does not come as quickly as we hope, we can continue bringing our needs to Him with the same humility and confidence.
Dear friend, possibly someone has whispered in your ear, ‘Suppose you are not one of the elect.’ Well, that was very much what our Lord’s expression meant to her. She was not one of the chosen people, and she had heard Christ say, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Notice that this woman does not battle with that truth at all, she does not raise any question about it; she wisely waives it, and she just goes on praying, ‘Lord, help me! Lord, have mercy upon me!’ I invite you, dear friend, to do just the same.
C. H. Spurgeon, “Faith Victorious”, preached July 25, 1886
16 Responses
The Canaanite woman was an Israelite in a race mixed marriage. God Yahweh condemns race mixing. She was an Israelite, of the white race. Deuteronomy 23:2-3, “A bastard child shall not enter inter the congregation of Yahweh up to its tenth generation and forever.” The Hebrew word that is translated bastard is “mamzer,” which means a race mixed child. This also means that the race mixed couple that had the child will also not enter into the congregation of Yahweh up to their tenth generation and forever. If you are in a race mixed marriage, get out of it.
Hello James,
I don’t understand how you could support all this. To say she is a Canaanite woman simply means she was from Canaan and remained in the land since Joshua’s day because the Israelites did not destroy all of the people.
Jesus Christ did not come for the Jews. He went to the Pharisees and Sadducees and told them to let his people go. However, Jesus Christ was not a Jew, and his people Israel are not Jews. The Jews back then as well as today are Edomites. They have nothing to do with the bible. Jesus Christ only came for the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24) who are the white Caucasian, Celtic, Anglo Saxon, Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred people in the world today. The Jews are of the Synagogue of Satan.
Hello James,
If you mean that Jesus did not come for the Jews, because He came for everyone, I agree with you. But if you mean that he did not come for the Jews at all, I disagree. Can you provide a verse that supports your point that he went to the religious leaders to tell them to let His people go?
I don’t know how you could say that Jesus was not a Jew. The people from the tribe of Judah are Jews, and Jesus is from that tribe.
No, the Jews are not Edomites. The Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, but the Edomites are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau.
“Jews began to call themselves ‘Hebrews and Israelites’ in 1860”
-Judaica Encyclopedia 1971
“Esau-Edom is modern Jewry”
-1925 Jewish Encyclopedia Vol. 5 Page 41
“Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a “jew” or to call a contemporary jew and Israelite or Hebrew.”
-Jewish Almanac 1980, p. 3
Hello Watchman,
Why not study Scripture to see when these terms were used?
I don’t know how you can associate Esau and the Edomites with the Jews. The Jews are the descendants of Judah, Jacob’s son. But the Edomites are descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau.
I do agree with you that we can make a distinction between Israelites and Jews and Hebrews.
I tried very hard to get past this verse but I couldn’t. I don’t care how you try to spin this, it was clearly derogatory and insulting no matter her tribe, whether He said dog or little dog. I tried to find any translation that could clarify this for me but couldn’t. I have always had faith in Christ and this is devastating to me. To choose one race over another is racist. What place do Jews have to call others dogs if they are lost sheep? I’d rather have no religion than to follow one with a race of people thinking i’m less than them.
Hello,
Thanks for sharing your concerns. I understand many people are troubled by this account, and in particular, the way Jesus addressed this woman. You wrote that it is racist to choose one race over another. God does choose and he makes no apologies for it. Election is common throughout the Old and New Testaments. God chose Israel in the Old Testament, and believers are said to be chosen in the New Testament; hence, saints are called chosen and elect. But just because God chose one race for a purpose, does not mean that race is superior and others are inferior. The problem is that you have inserted your thoughts into the text and come to a wrong conclusion, because God’s word is also clear that all people are equal.
I have problems with this passage too. It not only seems totally out of Jesus’ character, but the snide dismissal of the disciples is shocking as well. Everyone seems downright annoyed that this gentile even dared approach them.
I have read dozens of wildly different explanations and rationalizations for this passage and NONE of them are convincing. Including this one.
I’m suspicious of this passage and wonder if it’s accurate … or perhaps Christianity is, as many are starting to claim, just an elaborate Jewish deception.
Hello Delaney,
There are definitely challenging passages in Scripture, like this one. But if we trust the Lord, then we trust the Bible. There could be confusion on our parts or God wants us to take the passage by faith.
Regarding Christianity being an elaborate Jewish deception is pretty ridiculous. The Jews saw Jesus and by extension Christianity as the greatest threat to Judaism. Why would they propagate that threat? And if they were going to make a deception, why would they make one that makes them look bad in so many respects? In particular, rejecting and murdering their own Messiah.
You have selective reading because you focus on the section where Jesus compares the woman to a house puppy while ignoring the part where he heals her daughter and praises her in the highest form by saying her faith is GREAT. In contrast, Jesus was continuously chastising and rebuking the Jews, even his own disciples, for having no or little faith. The point is, that Christ did not worry about bloodlines or races since he considers those who believe and follow him to be his brothers and sisters. Remember faith and not race saves and matters. Moreover, Christ used much harsher language to describe the Jews with whom he struggled, comparing them to vipers and even calling them devil’s children.
Acts 10:34 states: “God is no respecter of persons.”
The statement “God is no respecter of persons” means that God does not show favoritism or partiality.
And in Romans 3:29, it’s said, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also.” Since there is only one true God, he’s the God of all humans.
Please read John 1:13-14 “But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.…”
As a Gentile Christian, you are a valued and beloved child of the living God because of your faith in Christ.
Thus there’s no reason to be upset just because Christ compared a gentile woman to a puppy. He was testing the woman’s faith who believed in Baal and other Gods and teaching his disciples a lesson. Besides, his apostles tried to sent away Israelite children who came to Christ for blessings because they did not want him to be bothered by any annoying children. However, Christ intervened and urged them to allow the youngsters approach him, where he hugged and blessed them.
Sam,
Well said. I appreciate you responding to A Dog with these insightful thoughts. I completely agree with what you wrote.
This encounter with Jesus is about me and you. We could be offended by His words, accuse Him of racism, and then go away. And then we could lose His blessings!
Hello Baksan,
I’m sorry, but I might not understand what you are saying. Are you saying that if we read this account and think Jesus is being racist that He will no longer bless us, or we will lose His favor?
I cannot help it if God Yahweh is racist. However, he only came for one race of people who are Israel. These people are the white Caucasian, Celtic, Anglo Saxon,Germanic, Scandinavian, and kindred people in the world today. The Canaanite woman wasn’t Jewish. If she was, she wouldn’t have gone to Jesus in the first place. She was an Israelite. The Jews are Edomites and Canaanites, and have nothing to do with the bible. In fact, gentile means nation. A person cannot be a nation. However, only white people created any nations. The Jews have never created any nations.
Hello again James,
God is not a racist. James: 21, Deuteronomy 10:17, and Acts 10:34-38 all state that God shows no partiality.
Are you saying the Israelites are white? This is untrue. They are Middle Eastern and would look darker than lighter.
You are correct that the Canaanite woman was not Jewish, but she was not an Israelite. The Israelites are not Canaanites and the Canaanites are not Israelites.
No, the Jews are not Edomites or Canaanites. I wrote in a previous post about where the Jews and Edomites came from. The Canaanites are descendants of Noah’s son, Ham.