The Syrophoenician Woman

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STUDY 69

"The SyroPhoenician Woman"

(Matt.15:21-28;)

Our last class taken from Mark.7 with the matter of the difference between ceremonial uncleaness and moral cleanliness. Speaking to Pharisees who were punctilious about minute issues and elevated them above the Word of God. At that time we read from Mark 6.53; that Jesus had come into the land of Gennessaret, and tonight we are going to move a little further north. The ceremonial issue were raised by Jesus up near Capernaum in the plain of Genessaret. We saw that the Pharisees and scribes had come a long way (Mark.7:1;) from Jerusalem to try and "catch" Jesus in his words.

It was about this time in the Lords life that a rather important turn of events took place. It would seem from this point on that Jesus sought solitude for his disciples. Whatever happened from hereon Jesus seems to make an obvious attempt to insulate his disciples from crowds and teach them about the crisis of those last days that lay immediately ahead of him. he wanted to as it were prepare them for the shock of them losing their Lord. This was not a work that could be done in five minutes. And so he sought from this point on to give them special attention.

We need to understand this in context of what is about to happen with this SyroPhoenician woman. Not without significance that Matthew and Mark records this immediately about the Jews traditions and rituals of their ceremonies.

It is not without significance that the next event that took place way up near Tyre and Sidon was the "Woman of Canaan" as Matthew calls her. (Matt.15:22). Think of the contrast! He has been talking about these incredibly fussy and self righteous Pharisees, so scrupulous about being SPOTLESSLY clean, washing hands and baptising arms up to the elbows, and fastidious washing of cups and platters. And Jesus is talking about the uselessness of that if its not accompanied by a life that is not morally clean.

It is therefore of great significance that IMMEDIATELY after that, Matthew and Mark are at pains to tell us now of a woman who was at the absolute EXTREMITY of uncleanness, and yet whose faith at that time superseded all of those Jews who had failed to see the significance of the Lord's teaching. And so the Woman of Canaan was a graphic illustration of his point, and was also a wonderful opportunity to drive home a lesson to the disciples that he was leading.

So we will use Matthew's record as our base as he records certain things that the other doesn't.

We read in Matt.15:21; that Jesus went then (from Genessaret) and went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. The word "coasts" does not mean the sea-coasts, but the "borders." This incidentally is the furthest Jesus ever got away from the centre of the land and it is fairly obvious due to the blindness and hypocrisy he has had to deal with, as to why he is going up there. He wanted to be free of the Jews..and they were NOT going to follow his THERE!

This area is notoriously unclean! So the Lord would be able to have those moments of solitude. This is the place where the incidents of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath took place. Their is an OBVIOUS connection. Jesus himself learnt not only from the black and white writings of the Scriptures but the circumstances that accompanied those writings. He knew that in certain places, events took place in the Old Testament, and he would always expose the PRINCIPLE of what went on there. This matter with Elijah was plainly "to the Jew first and ALSO to the Greek."

That's EXACTLY what he is going to do here! Elijah went way up into this region where he could not do anything for her, until she first had done something for him.

We read in Luke.4 that this woman was also a tremendous lesson to the rest of Israel. This will give you some indication of the lesson that is to come forth for the disciples. The Lord is telling them in:

Luke.4:24; "And he said, verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country."

Luke.4:25; "But I tell you of a Truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, (significant?) when great famine was throughout all the land."

Luke.4:26: "But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Zarephath, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow."

What a GREAT lesson! But listen to the Lord's words.."I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"! (Matt.15:24;) And here is almost the OPPOSITE to that! This Syro-Phoencian woman was going to be every bit as powerful as that widow was to Elijah and all Israel.

This is the region that he is in, and this is the lesson that got to be learned. Coming back to Matt.15; we learn about the origins of this woman. Matthew says Matt.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." Matthew is telling us that there were TWO stages in her actions, of which "coming out of the same coasts" was the first. Jesus calls her "a woman of Canaan." Canaan in the line of Cain was one whose seed was to be CURSED because of Cain's UNALTERABLE disobedience and arrogance. So it is not without significance that Matthew calls her "a woman of Canaan." Not a term used in those times. It was an ancient term. Mark calls her a "Greek" (Mark.7:26;) to designate anyone who was not a Jew. Mark also (Mark.7:26) calls her a "SyroPhoenician" What is a "Syrophoenician"? They were the Mediterranean coast dwellers and seamen from way back. When Alexander the Great had conquered most of this region, and the Persian empire, this whole area right over to Damascus came under the general designation of "Syria". When Hadrian the Roman Emperor sat on the throne, he divided this region into three, one of which was "Syria-Phoenicia" So the name SyroPhoenicia had a Canaanite content, a Greek content and a Roman content! GENTILE to the core! Thus presented by Matthew and Mark as the WORST POSSIBLE type of person! The Phoenicians of course had a HORRIBLE religion! The basis of almost every Canaanite religion was sexual immorality. Guess who they are like?! Just look around you! It would be reasonable to say that that would be at the base of nearly every problem we know! The substratum of MANY of the world's ills. That was the basis of the Canaanite religion and God stated in Deuteronomy that He HATED it! It was to be OBLITERATED by Israel! Deut.32:49; That woman was descended from all of that! All GENTILE! And She's it! The religion of Canaan was of course of Baal and Ashtoreth. And Matthew says this woman "CAME OUT of the same borders.." There was evidently a desire by that woman to "get OUT of that place!"

How would this woman know Jesus? She would know him well. Come into Mark.3; one of the earlier incidents in the Lords life..He would be well known in this region.

Mark.3:7; "But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea."

Mark.3:8;"And from Jerusalem and from Idumea and beyond Jordan, and THEY about TYRE and SIDON, a great multitude.."

People had come from EVERYWHERE, and provides a living Mosaic of Galilee. Galilee of the Gentiles! That SyroPhoenician woman knew what she was doing and communicated her understanding to Jesus.

Come back to Matt.15; No wonder she wanted to "get out of the coasts" to meet our Lord in better surroundings.

Math.15:22; "And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him..(and listen carefully to what she says), saying Have mercy on me O Lord, thou son of David;" This form of address showed a KEEN appreciation..Have MERCY on me O LORD, SON of David!" On one occasion when Jesus was being set upon from all sides with questions guaranteed to stump him..he not only answered them all with ease, but when they stood there exhausted, and beaten Jesus turned the questioning back on them saying..

"What about Messiah? Whose SON is He?" They immediately replied..oh he's son of David! They knew they were trapped when he says, well that's strange, "how does David call him Lord?" That was unanswerable to a Jew, for it was never known for a son to call his father Lord! It didn't matter how great the son became, the father was ALWAYS Lord.

This woman called "O Lord, Son of David." She had seen something! And not only that but she appeals to that son of David for MERCY! Do you know who else did that? Come to Mark.10: where we see blind Bartimaus in Mark.10:V46.

V46."And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaus (Grk. Son of the Unclean and then says it again!) the son of Timaeus (Unclean), sat by the high wayside begging."

V47."And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, they began to cry out, and say, Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me."

Here was a BLIND SON of the UNCLEAN in JERICHO of all places (another city of a curse) .This man is sitting in the city of a curse, blind as a bat, and Son of the Unclean! But he knows in the Son of David there is MERCY! And so did the Syrophoenician woman! Do you know why they knew that?

1) They were students of the Bible.

2) Their situation was so desperate that they wanted mercy, and the knew where to find it! They knew that not only would they find it in the Lord but especially as Son of David! Why David? Because David knew more about mercy that any King of Israel. Why? Because HE was desperately in need of it, because HE got himself into an UNCLEAN situation! And he sought DESPERATELY to get out of that. He found the way out which was by prayer and confession and showing mercy unto others.

So Isaiah 16 has this to say about David's throne, as Lord. These people would be aware o such Scriptures by diligent search and had put this together!

Is.16:5;"And in MERCY shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in Truth, in the Tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness."

What a wonderful thing that is! The Bible is a Golden Book!

It never CEASES to amaze me the way it is written! If you were to take away the first sentence of that verse..and read that "there shall be one sitting in Truth in the Tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, hasting righteousness." You might not go near HIM pleading for mercy! But that was not all that was written, for it says "In MERCY shall the throne FIRST be established and THEN there will be judgment!" The very FOUNDATION of that throne was MERCY! That's how David was able to rise above his own problems, because God forgave him..!

So that woman came seeking mercy from the SON of DAVID. And she called him Lord! That was eloquent of her understanding of the purpose and mission of our Lord.

Now back in Matt.15:22; Matthew says that this woman had a daughter who was "grievously vexed." The RSV says she was "severely possessed" but Rotherham scores top rating again.."She was miserably demonised" and that is the literal Greek. Now what is it about that expression? Here is the daughter of that woman of Canaan, the Greek woman, of the coasts of Phoenicia whose offspring was "Miserably demonised." That little girl in that condition was emblematic of that whole region!

Miserably demonised with one of the worst religions that the world has ever seen! Its founder was Eth-Baal, King of the Zidonians, FATHER of Jezebel! Jezebel became an EXPERT in teaching it! Revelation says she had a Master of Degrees in teaching fornication! (Rev.2:20)

So his poor woman's daughter was miserably demonised, because the whole REGION was like that. The woman was despised because of her origins, the little girl was despised because of her affliction and that little girl was "miserably demonised." You would be hard pressed to fond a more PATHETIC situation! And the Lord has just arrived there with his disciples. What IS he going to do?

Matt.15:23; "And he answered her not a word.

So when this woman found Jesus in the coasts, he never said a word! Not ONE single word! What was the point of that? He had come across several Gentiles so far in his ministry, but he had never treated anyone quite like this! There may be two or three reasons why he DIDN'T answer he.

1) He wanted to show his own absolute disdain for her religious background. (Who knows how the woman came by the child? And who knows to what degree that little girl had been misused?) So Jesus wanted to make that point quite clear. Help is not just dished out at random. Certain things have got to be appreciated. The Lord we know, was not like the Pharisees, who put their nose in the air and treated all men like dirt! The Lord was never like that.But he did want to indicate his absolute disdain for all that region stood for.

2) There would be a strict adherence of the Lord to the principles established right there with another woman..the Jew first.

3) It was of course the beginning of a test of that woman's faith. The fact that he did not answer her a word was not a dismissal. He didn't tell her to "get lost". He didn't say anything.

And so this woman kept (as the disciples saw it) pestering Jesus. And the disciples got annoyed with that. And so they said in the 23rd verse. "And his disciples came and besought him saying, send he away, for she crieth after US." What did they mean "send he away"? Take it a face value, and it means "tell her to GO. NOW!" The answer that the Lord gave implies that they had meant more than that. He was to say.."I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." What they were really saying was "for goodness sake, give her what she wants, and get rid of her." They showed a very POOR understanding of MIRACLES." They were implying that he should "give her what she wanted." Jesus NEVER did this! The purpose of miracles was to underline the faith and understanding of the supplicant. Was never meant to be used as a "fly whisk"! Let us remember that miracles were performed by the power of GOD! God is SPIRIT! Miracles therefore cannot be separated from holiness! You can't "just perform a miracle". There HAS to be some real development that honours the Holiness and Honour of God, to use the Holy Spirit! You don't say "There you are and now GET!"

And the disciples went on to say "for she crieth after US." They were EMBARRASSED! They didn't want her around! There was no compassion in the disciple's request AT ALL! And Jesus then says " I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." Just stand amongst the disciples and experience their thoughts..Imagine what the disciples would have thought! "Of course! That's right! None but the lost sheep of the House of Israel. We are Israel!" It would slowly dawn on them that THEY were the only ones with the Lord! THEY were the only LOST SHEEP! There was no one else (of Israel) there! If there had been no one else present the thought may not have emerged! Can you imagine Peter when h saw the point, turning to John and saying, how many others have chosen to follow the Lord?! Now what would have happened had Jesus performed that miracle for that woman? They would have been BESIEGED! You wouldn't be able to see them for the crowd!

Take two references about the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel... Jer.50:6" My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place."

Ezek.34; says that they were not to remain lost. He was going to go looking for them.

Ezek.34:11;"For thus saith the Lord GOD: behold, I , even I will both search my sheep, and seek them out." Note that "I, even I"

In John.10; where Jesus proclaims that he is the Good Shepherd, says: John.10:30; "I and my father are one."

and "my sheep know my voice and they follow me" SO the Disciples knew then that they had been the lost sheep that had first been found.