Mark 7 Footnotes

7:24-30 Jesus was not being unnecessarily harsh with the woman but rather eliciting her faith. Though we cannot know with what tone of voice or body language Jesus responded to the woman, his language points to a gentler and more provocative response than is often supposed at first reading (in Eng). The word Jesus used for dogs (Gk kunaria) means “a lap dog” or “household pet.” In effect he invited this woman to express the faith that would eventually come to be expected of the Gentiles while reminding her that his present ministry is directed to Israel (Mt 10:6).

7:26 The woman was ethnically Syrophoenician, descended from the original inhabitants of the area. “Greek” did not indicate her ethnicity but rather the fact that she was a Hellenized pagan, a non-Jew. Matthew called the woman a Canaanite (which can merely mean a pagan in rabbinic literature) because of her ethnicity and to heighten the contrast of a woman from the traditional religious enemies of Israel approaching the Jewish Messiah for help. Because it is unlikely this woman spoke Aramaic, the story indicates that Jesus, like many Palestinian Jews, was able to converse in Greek.