Matthew 15:27

"But he answered, “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”"

Key Reflection

In Matthew 15:27, Jesus responds to a Canaanite woman who persistently pleads for help in healing her demon-possessed daughter. The term "children’s bread" refers to the metaphorical sustenance of spiritual truth and blessings intended primarily for God's chosen people, the Israelites. For Jesus to grant this request would have been seen as inappropriate because it implied giving something meant exclusively for one group (the Jews) to a non-Jew, which was culturally and religiously significant in first-century Jewish society.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 27. And she said, Truth, Lord, etc: "What you say is true. Let it be that the best food should he given to the children. Let the Jews have the chief benefit of thy ministry. But the dogs, beneath the table, eat the crumbs. So let me be regarded as a dog, a heathen, as unworthy of everything. Yet grant one exertion of that almighty power, displayed so signally among the Jews, and heal the despised daughter of a despised heathen mother." __________________________________________________________________

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