Exorcism of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter

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The Woman of Canaan by Michael Angelo Immenraet, 17th century

The Exorcism of the Syrophoenician woman's daughter is one of the miracles of Jesus and is recounted in the Gospel of Mark in chapter 7 (Mark 7:24–30)[1] and in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 15 (Matthew 15:21–28).[2] In Matthew, the story is recounted as the healing of a Canaanite woman's daughter.[3] According to both accounts, Jesus exorcised the woman's daughter whilst travelling in the region of Tyre and Sidon, on account of the faith shown by the woman.

The third-century pseudo-Clementine homily refers to her name as Justa and her daughter's name as Berenice.[4]

Passage

Jesus exorcising the Canaanite Woman's daughter. From Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 15th century.

The relevant passage in Matthew 15:22–28 reads as follows:

A Canaanite woman from that region came to Jesus, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel".

The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs".

"Yes Lord," she said. "But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

Then Jesus said to her:

"Woman, you have great faith! Your daughter is healed."

And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Many

English translations of the Gospels state that Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon and had withdrawn from Galilee where he had entered in discussion with the Pharisees over their interpretation of the Jewish law.[5] The Geneva Bible and the King James Version suggest that the visit was to the coast (i.e. the Mediterranean Sea), but the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that Jesus went to "the neighbourhood, [or] district, not the sea-shore, as might be thought".[6]

This episode is, according to Graham H. Twelftree, an example of how Jesus emphasizes the value of faith, as also shown in the

Healing the Centurion's servant episode.[3]

Syrophoenician woman

Pietro del Po
, The Canaanite (or Syrophoenician) woman asks Christ to cure, c. 1650.

The woman described in the miracle, the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:26;[7] Συροφοινίκισσα, Syrophoinikissa) is also called a "Canaanite" (Matthew 15:22;[8] Χαναναία, Chananaia) and is an unidentified New Testament woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon. "The woman is [...] described as Syrophoenician by race. It is unclear whether Mark seeks to distinguish between a Phoenician from Syria and one from northern Africa or between someone living in the coastal area of Syria and someone living in the central part."[9]

Although the Gospel of Mark describes the woman as "gentile" or "Greek", the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon were descendants of the

Babylonian exile, Israelite identity prioritized the role of faith in Yahweh.[12][13]Likewise, "Canaanite" could be interpreted as a deliberate rhetorical device because they did not literally exist as a recognizable ethnicity in 1st century CE Palestine. In Jewish literature, Canaanites were synonymous with "the opponent" and "idolatry", even if the person was of Israelite descent.[14][15]

Commentary

Thomas Aquinas comments on this passage in his homily on the sinful soul, saying,

Five things are noted of this woman of

Chrysostom, the Syrians demonstrated their strong faith by directly bringing their sick to him.[18]

Mookgo S. Kgatle describes the Syrophoenician woman as a social activist against traditional Jewish views about gender, purity and ethnicity. However, she accepts the reality of her outsider status when it came to membership in God's chosen people. And whilst Jesus's usage of the word 'dog' can be seen as bigoted, Kgatle argues that 'dog' is not necessarily indicative of anti-gentile sentiment. Ancient Jewish culture used 'dog' to describe enemies of Israel, regardless of background, and also, generic contempt, unworthiness, religious profanity or alternatively, humility. Kgatle notes that the author of the Gospel of Matthew deliberately changed the woman's ethnicity from Syrophoenician to Canaanite to show that she was "unclean and pagan" and the presence of an "Israel-centered conflict" between her and Judeans.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mark 7:24–30
  2. ^ Matthew 15:21–28
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-8308-1596-1
    pages 133-134
  4. ^ Pseudo-Clementine. Homilies . 2.19 . Also at 3.73 and 4.1.
  5. ^ Translations available at Biblegateway.com
  6. ^ Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Matthew 15, accessed 22 January 2017
  7. ^ Mark 7:26
  8. ^ Matthew 15:22
  9. ISBN 9780801026829
    .
  10. ^ "Joshua 19:24-31".
  11. ^ "Judges 1:31-32".
  12. CollinsDictionary.com. HarperCollins
    .
  13. ^ Lau, Peter H.W. (2009). "Gentile Incorporation into Israel in Ezra - Nehemiah?". Peeters Publishers. 90 (3): 356–373 – via JSTOR.
  14. ISBN 9780190690632
    .
  15. ^ a b Kgatle, Mookgo S. (2018). "Crossing boundaries: Social-scientific reading of the faith of a Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-28)". Stellenbosch Theological Journal. 4 (2) – via Scielo.
  16. ^ Aquinas, Thomas (1867). "Homily IV: The Sinful Soul" . Ninety-nine Homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas Upon the Epistles and Gospels for Forty-nine Sundays of the Christian Year. Church Press Company.
  17. ^ "Matthew 15 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers". Biblehub.com. 2024. Archived from the original on February 5, 2024.
  18. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Catena Aurea: commentary on the four Gospels; collected out of the works of the Fathers. Oxford: Parker, 1874. Thomas Aquinas". Oxford, Parker. 1874.

Further reading

External links

Media related to Jesus and the woman of Canaan at Wikimedia Commons

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