Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:

Matthew 15:27: “But she said, ‘Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.”

I don’t know about you but I find this story pretty harsh.  A gentile woman comes to Jesus begging for help and Jesus responds by saying It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. He calls this needy, sincere woman a dog.   Then when the woman says that even the dogs get the crumbs Jesus praises this woman for her great faith and gives her whatever he wants.  Sort like he is rewarding her for her cleverness.  Hence to get what we want from God we have to be shrewd and clever in our arguments, right?  Obviously not, and obviously there is more going on here than meets the eyes.

I find two clues here, one in the Greek and the other in the Hebrew.  In the Greek the woman does not say “but” even the dogs feed…  The word translated for “but” is in the Greek “gar” which means “for.”   That makes a difference.  She was not arguing with Jesus by saying “but” she was agreeing with Jesus by saying “for.”   She was saying: “I know, Lord, I know for even the dogs feed…”   So if she was acknowledging an established truth, what would that truth be?

The next clue lies in the word “fall.”   In the Greek that word is “piptonion.”  The Septuagint uses this word for the Hebrew word “pe’ah.”   Remember, Jesus was a good rabbi, he was surrounded by his disciples and as a good rabbi was always looking for an opportunity to give a good lesson.

First, this woman was a Canaanite woman.  The Canaanites were probably to the Jewish people of that day as the Palestinians are to the Jews today.  The Canaanites at that time were polytheistic.  It is curious that this woman would understand demon possession and that the Jewish Messiah could deliver her.  Their language was a semitic language more closely related to Hebrew than to Greek, hence she would have called out to Jesus in  a Hebrew dialect. Something else more curious, he called Jesus the “Son of David.”  She seemed to have a better idea that Jesus was the Messiah than His own disciples had.  But what really caught everyone’s attention and why the writer most likely used the Greek word “piponion” was that this woman probably used the Hebrew word “pe’ah.”

What is so strange about this is that we find this word in  Leviticus 19:9-10:  Pe’ah means the edge of the field and is a reference to gleaning. There is a whole chapter in the Mishnah devoted to Pe’ah and is in fact entitled Pe’ah.  We learn in Leviticus 19 that a landowner must allow a portion of his grain to fall by the edge of the field so that the poor and the stranger (Heb.  gur) can pick it up. Gur is a reference to Gentiles who sojourn with the Jews.  This Canaanite woman, steeped in the culture of the Canaanite polytheistic religion, recognized the Hebrew God as the true God.   She had been gleaning for years, not wheat, but knowledge of the Hebrew religion.  She was so well versed in Torah and Mishnah that she fully understand the position of Jesus.  She was most likely very familiar with the story of Ruth who was a Moabitis and yet was blessed from God.  What the Jews heard in her response to Jesus was: “I realize I am Gentile for a Gentile can only glean.”   Yet you blessed Ruth, so you can bless me too.”   Jesus responded: “O woman your faith is great.”   Her faith was rooted in the Word of God.   Where the Jewish people could not accept Jesus as the Messiah, she had no problem with it.  Where the Jewish people saw nothing good in the Gentiles, she knew Torah and that it taught that God loved all mankind. Where the Jews knew only the laws and their religious ceremonies, this woman knew the heart of God.

Perhaps in a way we can relate to this woman.  I listen to all these great testimonies of people who visit heaven, get great healings, do all these wonderful miracles and I wonder why I got so short changed,  I feel like this woman, just a gleaner. I am just gleaning the wheat dropped at the edge of the field.  Yet, just as that which was dropped gave enough for the poor and the stranger to survive, it did give them the nourishment that needed.  Maybe I don’t have the great miracles and signs and wonders, but I am gleaning what is most  important, and that is an understanding of the heart of God.  That is all I really need.

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