8.19.20 - Canaanite Dogs

Today’s OT reading from Isaiah 56:1-2 is an example of the gentile prophesies:

Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just, for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.

Happy is the one who does this, whoever holds fast to it: Keeping the Sabbath without profaning it, keeping one’s hand from doing any evil.

And foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him,

To love the name of the LORD, to become his servants—

All who keep the sabbath without profaning it and hold fast to my covenant,

Them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer;

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar,

For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Notice the “foreigners” (gentiles) will also minister to God. The translation means not only will they be able to worship at the Temple, but also be his priests.

And the last line – my house will be a house of prayer for all people.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans 11: 13-14 (similar theme)

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them.

Paul goes on to explain that the Jews were the root of the tree of faith, and though many of the branches are broken, the Gentiles are being grafted onto this tree in their place. But if his fellow Jews come back, they will also be grafted back onto the tree.

The Gospel according to Matthew 15: 21-28

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

He answered, “It is not right to take the food of the children* and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

No doubt about it, this is a difficult passage to explain!

But remember, if there are ever unusual or bizarre-sounding passages in Scripture, we have to dig further. It is most often non-Catholics (or non-believers) who take passages out of context and draw big conclusions. You can certainly see how easily someone could run with this one about the dogs!

The two questions a good exegete must ask are:

1) What is the context of the passage, and

2) Does its message conflict with other scripture passages? If it does conflict, then you cannot assume you are understanding it correctly.

This takes some work. So, let’s do it!

Q: What is the context of this story?

A: I think our goal here is to understand where they are, who the Canaanites are, and what the “dog” reference means.

Q: Where was Tyre and Sidon?

A: Bustling trade centers along the Mediterranean coast north of Galilee. Canaanites lived there among other pagan tribes/groups.

Q: Who were the Canaanites?

A: They were descendants of Canaan, who was the son of Shem and grandson of Noah. The line of Canaan was cursed by Noah for sexual misconduct. In fact, the Canaanites had become a loathsome people (morally speaking). Let’s see what we can find in scripture about them:

Wisdom 12: 3:-6

For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land, whom you hated for deeds most odious—works of sorcery and impious sacrifices. These merciless murderers of children, devourers of human flesh, and initiates engaged in a blood ritual, and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives…

Deut 20:17-18

You must put them all under the ban—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—just as the LORD, your God, has commanded you, so that they do not teach you to do all the abominations that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD, your God.

Leviticus 18: 23-28

You shall not have sexual relations with an animal, defiling yourself with it; nor shall a woman set herself in front of an animal to mate with it; that is perverse.

Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, because by them the nations whom I am driving out of your way have defiled themselves.

And so the land has become defiled, and I have punished it for its wickedness, and the land has vomited out its inhabitants.

You, however, must keep my statutes and decrees, avoiding all these abominations, both the natives and the aliens resident among you—because the previous inhabitants did all these abominations and the land became defiled; otherwise the land will vomit you out also for having defiled it, just as it vomited out the nations before you.

So the first point is that the Canaanites were not only gentiles, they were often abominable gentiles. I shared all this so you can understand why the Apostles wanted nothing to do with her. The Canaanites knew nothing about Yahweh and were considered evil in his sight. To them, she was just a desperate, opportunistic, Baal-worshipping pagan.

Q: What is meant by calling the Canaanites “dogs”?

A: Calling someone dogs then was not the same as calling someone a cheap or vulgar name nowadays. Dogs had a specific meaning. Anyone who was not fit – ritually or morally unclean - to worship at the Temple, were called dogs, because dogs were “unclean.” So Jesus wasn’t just using some slang curse word out of the blue. The throngs of disciples following Jesus would have expected nothing less.

This isn’t meant to convince you of the merits of how the word was used back then. The point is for you to know its context as part of understanding Jesus’ message.

Q: Does this conflict with other scripture passages?

A: We need to look at two things: Jesus said he only came for the lost sheep of Israel. Didn’t he know he was coming to save everyone? And, secondly, to explain what happened, is it possible Jesus already knew the outcome of this story?

Q: Did Jesus know that the Gentiles were to be included in God’s saving plan?

A: Of course, he did. It was in prophetic scripture. For instance:

Ezekiel 34

For thus says the Lord GOD: Look! I myself will search for my sheep

I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and every inhabited place in the land.

Thus they shall know that I, the LORD, their God, am with them, and that they are my people, the house of Israel—oracle of the Lord GOD.

Genesis 22:18

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Psalm 86:9

All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name.

Daniel 7:14

And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.

Mark 11: 17

He (Jesus) did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written: ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples’?”

Now, even though it was clearly stated in Scripture, the Jews were also guilty of cherry picking what passages they preferred to follow. In this instance, most Jews took their cue from Deut 20:1:

“Now, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD, your God, carefully observing all his commandments which I give you today, the LORD, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”

Ahh, that’s more like it. No doubt they read this in a literal, worldly sense.

Then again, we must remember Jesus’ own words to the Samaritan woman at the well:

John 4:22 – “…salvation is from the Jews.”

How is this so? 1) Because the Jews paved the way for 2000 years. 2) Because this is how the Logos (Jesus) enters the world to save mankind – as a Jew.

Q: Did Jesus knew what was going to happen?

A: Yes. Here are 2 quotes from earlier in Matthew:

Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts?" - Mt.9:4

But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. Mt. 12:25

This confirms that Jesus knew the Canaanite woman’s mind, and that she was true blue. To be calling him Son of David and then Lord, she had to do her homework. He also knew she would be persistent. She believed in him.

Now, equipped with this new knowledge – who the Canaanites were and how they were despised, that Jesus knew full well he was there for the gentiles (although others in audience didn’t), that Jesus knew the mind of the women and also her excellent persistence, and that he also knew the mind of the crowd (which is who he was trying to teach) – now let’s see if this story reads any differently.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

Why do you think Jesus didn’t answer? For this statement to be in there tells us it’s for reason. Right on cue, the Apostles speak up and make it clear, she was no good. Jesus was waiting for them. He is choreographing this entire event.

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Yes, this is accurate. His very words are delivering on the prophesies we read in Genesis, Psalms, Daniel, and Isaiah. God’s first commitment is to the bride of Jerusalem.

But the woman came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

She not only called him son of David, she is now calling him Lord, which recognizes his divinity. She seems to know more than the disciples.

He answered, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

You can see the crowds of followers all nodding in agreement, right? Jesus knew the woman would persevere, which is part of the lesson he is about to deliver. He doesn’t even have to tell a parable this time!

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Brilliant!

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Now he extends salvation to this gentile woman and her daughter. The lost sheep of Israel first, now the gentiles, just in this one event alone. Jesus audience had several things to learn from this. And he did it without a parable. The final lesson was, once again, on the perseverance of faith, which this gentile woman demonstrated in spades!

The following concludes our theme for today…

1 Cor 1:27-29

Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.