<p>7:26 <em>Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race- </em>Matthew says she was a &quot;Canaanite&quot;. 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 Mt. 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 Mt. 15:21&nbsp;<em>Tyre and Sidon</em>).</p><p><em>And she pleaded with him to cast out the demon from her daughter</em>- Matthew: &quot;My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon<em>&quot;. </em>The very same words were repeated by the man of Mt. 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 Mt. 9:27, 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; (Mt. 15:28). The implied &lsquo;driving out of demons&rsquo; was simply another way of saying she was cured.</p>