<p>15:22- see on 18:11.</p>
<p><em>And a Canaanite woman</em>- Canaanite women are presented in the Old Testament as very much Israel's&nbsp;<em>femmes fatales</em>. Nobody else is described in the New Testament as a person &quot;of Canaan&quot; (see note on 10:4). Indeed it would appear a term not commonly in use at the time. It is therefore used in order to create associations in Biblically aware minds that here was a woman whom classically, a believer should beware of and give a wide berth to. This fits with the inversion of stereotypes and shattering of expectations which this incident presents. For the Lord had gone to this Gentile area expecting to get a break from engagement with people, because His mission was not to the Gentiles (see on :21&nbsp;<em>Tyre and Sidon</em>).</p>
<p><em>From that region came out- </em>AV &quot;Came out of the same region&quot;. The phrase is awkward and lengthy if the intention was simply to convey the idea that she was a local woman, a woman from that area.&nbsp;<em>Exerchomai apo&nbsp;</em>(&quot;Came out of&quot;) implies a proceeding forth from, and is even translated &quot;escape&quot;.&nbsp;<em>Apo&nbsp;</em>has the sense of cessation, completion, separation, departure. Further, the Greek word translated &quot;region&quot; or &quot;coasts&quot; (AV) is not the same as that used to describe the region in :21. It strictly means a boundary or border. The impression we get is of a woman who lived in the area and yet had radically come out of it. Perhaps the awkward phrase is used to create this impression- that this Gentile woman had come out of her environment in the hope of connecting with the God of Israel. One could just about translate it with integrity: &quot;A woman of Canaan who had emigrated out from that very area...&quot;.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>And was crying: Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David- </em>These were the very words used by the blind men of Mt. 9:27. Perhaps she was inspired by them, or at least the rumours she had heard of them, their understanding and their healing. See on 9:27 concerning the connection between David and mercy.&nbsp;&quot;Lord&quot;<em>, Kurios,</em>&nbsp;is used about men in passages like Acts 25:26; Gal. 4:1; Eph. 6:5; Col. 3:22 and Rom. 14:4, so it is nothing but intellectual desperation which leads Trinitarians to claim that the use of&nbsp;<em>kurios</em>&nbsp;means that people thought Jesus was God. The confession of Jesus as Lord was however a fundamental part of conversion to Christianity in the early church. To openly accept Him as Lord of human life was and is the essence of the Christian call. To call upon Him as Lord is presented in the later New Testament as the essence of conversion to Him (Acts 2:21; 22:16; Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; 2 Cor. 4:5). The Gospels are full of examples of men and women who called upon Jesus as &ldquo;Lord&rdquo; during His ministry, and these individuals are being set up as the prototypes of those who would later convert to Him. The Gospel writers such as Matthew were preaching towards conversion, towards men and women calling upon Jesus as Lord in baptism and devotion to His Name. So the people they record doing this during His ministry are presented as role models to be followed by their audience. But those whom Matthew records as calling upon Jesus as&nbsp;<em>kurios</em>&nbsp;are those on the edge of Jewish society- a leper (8:2), a Gentile centurion (8:6,8), blind men (9:28)- and now this Canaanite woman. Matthew emphasizes three times that she repeatedly called Jesus &ldquo;Lord&rdquo; (15:22,25,27). In a society where religion was largely a hobby for men, it was quite radical thinking to present a female role model- let alone a Gentile one. See on :27&nbsp;<em>masters&rsquo; table.&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>The parable of Mt. 18:33 uses this same phrase &quot;Have mercy on me&quot; and presents it as the very essence of the Gospel. We all beg the Lord to &ldquo;have mercy on me&rdquo;, and are to likewise reflect that mercy to others. Again, the woman is being presented as typical of all who would come to Christ. And the word is used in the later New Testament about how all in Christ have received such personal mercy (1 Tim. 1:13,16; 1 Pet. 2:10).&nbsp;But the request was in fact for her&nbsp;<em>daughter</em>. The parent is totally identified with the sick child, and in this we see the absolute psychological credibility of the record.</p>
<p><em>My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon</em>- The very same words were repeated by the man of 17:15. He likewise asked for&nbsp;<em>mercy</em>&nbsp;to be shown to his&nbsp;<em>son</em>, as she had asked for her daughter, because he was likewise &ldquo;badly vexed&rdquo; (the same two Greek words are used). Just as she was inspired by the blind men of 9:27 (see above), so she in her turn inspired another man who heard of her story. This is how communities can get into an upward spiral of spiritual growth.&nbsp;The idea was that a demon had possessed the daughter and was controlling her, perhaps [as was thought] convulsing her. However, today we understand what causes convulsions- and it isn&rsquo;t demons. The language of being controlled by demons is clearly phenomenological, the language of the day for illnesses which were otherwise inexplicable to the people of the time. The healing of the daughter resulted in her being &ldquo;whole&rdquo; or &ldquo;healed&rdquo; (:28). The implied &lsquo;driving out of demons&rsquo; was simply another way of saying she was cured.</p>