Matthew 15:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 15:22
And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
a Chanaanæan (i.e. Kenaanite) · adjective — nominative singular feminine, a people or place name
came
ἐξελθοῦσαexelthousa
G1831
to issue (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular feminine
out
ἀπὸapo
G575
"off · preposition
the
ὁρίωνhoriōn
G3725
a boundary-line · noun — genitive plural neuter
same
ἐκείνωνekeinōn
G1565
that one (or (neuter) thing) · demonstrative pronoun — genitive plural neuter
coasts
ὅριονhórion
G3725
a boundary-line
cried
κραυγάζωkraugázō
G2905
to clamor
him
αὐτόςautós
G846
the reflexive pronoun self
saying
λέγουσα·legousa
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative singular feminine
mercy
ἐλέησόνeleēson
G1653
to compassionate (by word or deed · verb — aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular
me
με,me
G3165
me · personal pronoun — 1st person accusative singular
Lord
κύριεkurie
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
Son
υἱὸςhuios
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — nominative singular masculine
David
Δαυίδ.Dauid
G1138
Dabid (i.e. David) · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
my
μοῦmoû
G3450
of me
daughter
θυγάτηρthugatēr
G2364
a female child · noun — nominative singular feminine
is
δαιμονίζεται.¶daimonizetai
G1139
to be exercised by a dæmon · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
grievously
κακῶςkakōs
G2560
badly (physically or morally) · adverb
devil
δαιμονίζομαιdaimonízomai
G1139
to be exercised by a dæmon
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 9:27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.
Matthew 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mark 7:25-26 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Psalms 45:12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
Psalms 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Ezekiel 3:6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they…
Luke 18:38-39 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Psalms 6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 15:21-28
We have here that famous story of Christ's casting the devil out of the woman of Canaan's daughter; it has something in it singular and very surprising, and which looks favourably upon the poor Gentiles, and is an earnest of the mercy which Christ had in store for them. Here is a gleam of that light which was to lighten the Gentiles, Luk 2:32. Christ came to his own, and his own received him not; but many of them quarrelled with him, and were offended in him; and observe what follows, Mat 15:21.
I. Jesus went thence. Note, Justly is the light taken from those that either play by it, or rebel against it. When Christ and his disciples could not be quiet among them, he left them, and so left an…
These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man--Thus does our Lord sum up this whole searching discourse.
John Gill on Matthew 15:22
And behold a woman of Canaan,.... That is, of Phoenicia, which was called Canaan; so Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman, is, by the Septuagint in Exodus 6:15 called the son of a Phoenician; and the kings of Canaan are, by the same interpreters in Joshua 5:1 called kings of Phoenicia: hence this woman is by Mark said to be a Greek, that is, a Gentile, as the Jews used to call all of another nation, and a Syrophenician, being a native of Phoenicia, called Syrophenician; because it bordered upon Syria, and had been formerly a part of it, by conquest: so Cadmus, who is reported to have first brought letters from Phoenicia to Greece, is called (i) a Syrophenician merchant.
Came out of the sam…
Matthew 15:21-28
Matthew 15:21-28
Mark 7:24-30
21. And Jesus departing thence withdrew into the territories of Tyre and Sidon. 22. And, lo, a woman of Canaan, who had come from those territories, cried saying, Have compassion on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously afflicted by a devil. 23. But he made no reply to her, and his disciples approaching implored him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24. But he answering said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25. And she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26. But he answering said, It is not seemly to take the children's bread, and throw it to the dogs. 27. But she said,…
The Church Fathers
Or, This mother represents the proselytes, in that she leaves her own country, and forsakes the Gentiles for the name of another nation; she prays for her daughter, that is, the body of the Gentiles possessed with unclean spirits; and having learned the Lord by the Law, calls Him the Son of David.
Also whosoever has his conscience polluted with the defilement of any sin, has a daughter sorely vexed by a daemon. Also whosoever has defiled any good that he has done by the plague of sin, has a daughter tossed by the furies of an unclean spirit, and has need to fly to prayers and tears, and to seek the intercessions and aids of the saints.
In these words is given us a pattern of catechizing and baptizing children; for the woman says not 'Heal my daughter,' or 'Help her,' but, Have mercy upon me, and help me. Thus there has come down in the Church the practice that the faithful are sponsors to God for their young children, before they have attained such age and reason that they can themselves make any pledge to God. So that as by this woman's faith her daughter was healed, so by the faith of Catholics of mature age their sins might be forgiven to infants. Allegorically; This woman figures the Holy Church gathered out of the Gentiles. The Lord leaves the Scribes and Pharisees, and comes into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, this figures His leaving the Jews and going over to the Gentiles. This woman came out of her own country, because the Holy Church departed from former errors and sins.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Zabulon — (Matt. 4:13, 15; Rev. 7:8). See ZEBULUN.
Canaanites, The · Some descendants of, in our Lord’s time — Some descendants of, in our Lord’s time
Demons · The daughter of the Syrophoenician woman — The daughter of the Syrophoenician woman
Diseases · Mentioned in scripture: Demoniacal possession — Mentioned in scripture: Demoniacal possession
Dog, The · Illustrative: Of Gentiles — Illustrative: Of Gentiles
Miracles Of Christ, The · Devils cast out — Devils cast out
Prayer, Intercessory · Should be offered up for: Children — Should be offered up for: Children
Sidonians, The · Formerly a part of the Phoenician nation — Formerly a part of the Phoenician nation
Syro-Phoenician · by Jesus — by Jesus
Tyre · .Heals the daughter of the non-Jewish, Syrophenician woman near — .Heals the daughter of the non-Jewish, Syrophenician woman near
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Gentile woman: Literally Canaanite woman. Matthew uses this archaic Old Testament expression to describe the woman as a pagan. • Lord, Son of David: The woman apparently perceived that Jesus was the Messiah (see 1:1; 9:27; 17:15; 20:30).
