Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Matthew 15:26-27: “But he said: It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs. And she said truth Lord, but the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.”
First year Hebrew student’s translation of a rabbis’ xclamation when his done jumped over a cliff. “Dog gone it.”
Like you, I have always been bother by this story. Here is a woman, a mother, whose daughter is being tormented by an evil spirit, she comes to Jesus, worships him and pleads with him to help her daughter. For one thing, if I were Jesus, I would really be impressed by her faith. Secondly, how could I resist this poor grieving women asking for something that I was fully able to give. Yet, Jesus brushes her aside and literally calls her a dog.
But this woman is not to be brushed aside, this was her baby girl that was needed help and she was determined. So she said something very clever. “Even the dogs get the crumbs.” Jesus marvels at this woman’s faith and determination, he gives in and heals her daughter.
What’s wrong with this picture? I will tell what is wrong. I mean I am not perfect, but boy if I were Jesus, I would have healed that girl the moment she approached me with her tear filled eyes. She would not have to come up with some clever response to impress me. By the way, what was so clever about saying the dogs get’s the crumbs?
My first question would be: “What language would this woman have spoken. She would have known that Jesus was a Jew and living along the coasts of Tyre, a seaport she would have belonged to a merchant’s family. Aramaic was considered a trade language so she would like have addressed Jesus in Aramaic which was the language that Jesus spoke. Hebrew would have been spoken by Jesus in a religious context. It would have been the language he spoke to his disciples. But here he would have spoken Aramaic.
When he called this woman a “dog” he would have used the word “kalev.” This does mean dog in Hebrew and Aramaic. Yet, it spelled Kap, Lamed, Beth. The Kap could be rendered as a proposition “like” or “as” and the remaining letters, Lamed and Beth, would spell the word “heart.” The word “dog” means “like or as a heart.”
This woman obviously was well versed in Jewish culture and teachings. In fact she was probably more knowledgeable than many Jews. She knew how rabbis taught and Jesus knew her understandings of rabbinical teaching. She probably instantly picked up on the deeper meanings of Jesus and responded as a disciple would have responded.
In Exodus 11:7 we learn that when the Exodus took place, the dogs did not bark. Dogs were used by the Egyptians to guard the Hebrews. That Talmud teaches that the Jewish leaders went to the dogs just before the Exodus and spoke to the dogs: “Now look you guys, when we escape, we want you to keep quiet and not bark. Ok?” The dogs responded “ok” and they were true to their word. In the Midrash Rabbah 31:9 we learn that any meat which was not slaughtered properly was to be given to the dogs for their reward for not barking when the Hebrews made their escape. Even today many othodox Jews will feed their dogs before they feed themselves.
Dogs were honored by religious Jews. Sure there were wild dogs who roamed the streets, but many Jews domesticated dogs like we do and kept them as pets. When this woman said “even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table” she was referring to the domesticated dogs. In fact the Greek word used for “dogs” here is “kunariois” which is often rendered as puppies, and is also used for a domesticated dog or a pet.
But what Jesus marveled at was the knowledge of Oral Tradition and Hebrew history. She knew that dogs were honored and respected by Jews. When she “reminded” Jesus that dogs get the crumbs she was responding like a disciple to a rabbi. Jesus made a simple rabbinical statement that it was not meet to take from the children and give to the dogs, she responded like a the disciple or student of a rabbi by quoting Oral Tradition. “You also give meet not properly slaughtered to dogs as a reward for protecting the Hebrew people.” She knew that those who bless the Jews will be blessed. Jesus marveled at the faith of this woman to not only know Hebrew history, teaching and Oral Tradition, but that she believed in the Jewish God so much that she wanted to worship this God and that like the dogs of Egypt did not bark and rat on the Hebrew people, she would protect them as well.
So actually, calling her a dog was a compliment. You dogs you.
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