<p>15:26&nbsp;<em>And he answered and said: It is not right to take the children's bread</em>- The idea could be of taking the food the children were eating, and giving it to the dogs. Or, the Greek could equally mean &lsquo;the food intended for the children&rsquo;. In this case, the Lord would be implying that He had received food to give to the children, and it was inappropriate for Him to instead throw it to the dogs rather than giving it to the children. The&nbsp;<em>artos</em>, &ldquo;bread&rdquo;, is specifically bread rather than food in general. The bread obtained by the Lord is easily understandable as salvation; Judaism expected Messiah to bring manna for Israel, and the Lord makes it clear in John 6 that the manna He would give was Himself and salvation in Him. The bread of Israel was to be the salvation of the world, but it was only given to the world because of Israel&rsquo;s rejection of it. In this we see the economy of God, how even through human rejection of the Gospel, the final purpose of God towards salvation is still furthered.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>And cast it to the dogs</em>- The Lord so respected Israel that He felt giving the Gospel to the Gentiles instead of them was like casting good food to dogs (Mk. 7:27). Israel (the children) didn't want to eat, but the Lord painted them as if they did. The &quot;crumb&quot; that was cast to the dogs was a great miracle; but Christ saw that as only a crumb of the huge meal that was potentially prepared for Israel. It seems the idea here is meant to be connected with His invitation to us to sit at table with Him and share the meal, both now (Lk. 14:8) and in the Kingdom (Lk. 12:37). Just one crumb of the Lord's meal is a mighty miracle, and yet we are asked to sit down and eat the whole meal with Him: as symbolised in our eating of &quot;the Lord's supper&quot;. This is an eloquent picture of the greatness of our position as members of His table now, as well as in the future.&nbsp;</p>