16. CONCERNING THE CANAANITISH WOMAN. MEANING OF THE "BORDERS
OF TYRE AND SIDON."
"And Jesus went out thence and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold a Canaanitish woman." Whence the "thence"? Was it from the land
of Gennesaret, concerning which it was said before, "And when they had
crossed over they came into the land of Gennesaret?" But He withdrew, perhaps
because the Pharisees were offended when they heard that "not that which
entereth in, but that which proceedeth out, defileth the man;" and that,
because of their being suspected of plotting against Him, it is said, "He
withdrew," is manifest from the passage, "And when He heard that John was
delivered up He withdrew into Galilee." Perhaps also on this account, when
describing the things in this place, Mark says that "He rose up and went
into the borders of Tyre, and having entered into the house wished no man
to know it." It is probable that He sought to avoid the Pharisees who were
offended at His teaching, waiting for the time for His suffering, which
was more fitting and rightly appointed. But some one might say that Tyre
and Sidon are used for the Gentiles; accordingly when He withdrew from
Israel He came into the parts of the Gentiles. Among the Hebrews, then,
Tyre is called Sor, and it is interpreted "anguish." Sidon, which is also
the Hebrew name, is rendered "hunters." And among the Gentiles likewise
the hunters are the evil powers, and among them is great distress, the
distress, namely, which exists in wickedness and passions. When Jesus,
then, went out from Gennesaret He withdrew indeed from Israel and came,
not to Tyre and Sidon, but into "the parts" of Tyre and Sidon, with the
result that those of the Gentiles now believe in part; so that if He had
visited the whole of Tyre and Sidon, no unbeliever would have been left
in it.
Now, according to Mark, "Jesus rose up and went into the borders of
Tyre," --that is, the distress of the Gentiles,--in order that they also
from these borders who believe can be saved, when they come out of them;
for attend to this: "And behold a Canaanitish woman came out from these
borders and cried saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David,
my daughter is terribly vexed with a demon." And I think that if she had
not come out from those borders she would not have been able to cry to
Jesus with the great faith to which testimony was borne; and according
to the proportion of faith one comes out from the borders among the Gentiles,
which "when the Most High divided the nations He set up according to the
number of the sons of Israel," and prevented their further advance. Here,
then, certain borders are spoken of as the borders of Tyre and Sidon, but
in Exodus the borders of Pharaoh, in which, they say, were formed the plagues
against the Egyptians. And we must suppose that each of us when he sins
is in the borders of Tyre or Sidon or of Pharaoh and Egypt, or some one
of those which are outside the allotted inheritance of God; but when he
changes from wickedness to virtue he goes out from the borders of evil,
and comes to the borders of the portion of God, there being among these
also a difference which will be manifest to those who are able to understand
the things that concern the division and the inheritance of Israel, in
harmony with the spiritual law. And allen d also to the meeting, so to
speak, which took place between Jesus and the Canaanitish woman; for He
comes as to the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and she comes out of those parts,
and cried, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David." Now the
woman was Canaanitish, which is rendered, prepared for humiliation. The
righteous, indeed, are prepared for the kingdom of heaven and for the exaltation
in the kingdom of God; but sinners are prepared for the humiliation of
the wickedness which is in them, and of the deeds which flow from it and
prepare them for it, and of the sin which reigns in their mortal body. Only,
the Canaanitish woman came out of those borders and went forth from the
state of being prepared for humiliation, crying and saying, "Have mercy
on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David."
17. EXPOSITION OF THE DETAILS IN THE NARRATIVE.
Now bring together from the Gospels those who call Him Son of David,
as she, and the blind men in Jericho; and who call Him Son of God, and
that without the addition "truly" like the demoniacs who say, "What have
we to do with Thee, Thou Son of God;" and who call Him so with the addition
"truly," like those in the boat who worshipped Him saying, "Truly Thou
art the Son of God." For the bringing together of these passages will,
I think, be useful to you with a view to seeing the difference of those
who come (to Jesus); some indeed come as to Him "who was born of the seed
of David according to the flesh;" but others come to Him who "was declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness;"
and of these some with the "truly," and some without it. Further, observe,
that the Canaanitish woman besought Him not about a son, whom she does
not seem to have brought forth at all, but about a daughter who was terribly
vexed with a demon; but another mother receives back alive her son who
was being carried forth dead. And again the ruler of the synagogue makes
supplication for a daughter twelve years old, as being dead, but the nobleman
about a son as being still sick, and at the point of death. The daughter,
accordingly, who was distressed by a demon, and the dead son sprang from
two mothers; and the dead daughter, and the son who was sick unto death,
sprang from two fathers, of whom the one was a ruler of the synagogue,
and the other was a nobleman. And I am persuaded these things contain reasons
concerning the verse kinds of souls which Jesus vivifies and heals. And
all the cures that He works among the people, especially those recorded
by the Evangelists, took place at that time, that those who would not otherwise
have believed unless they saw signs and wonders might believe; for the
things aforetime were symbols of the things that are ever being accomplished
by the power of Jesus; for there is no time when each of the things which
are written is not done by the power of Jesus according to the desert of
each. The Canaanitish woman, therefore, because of her race was not worthy
even to receive an answer from Jesus, who acknowledged that He had not
been sent by the Father to any other thing than to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, --a lost race of souls possessed of clear vision; but,
because of her resolution and of having worshipped Jesus as Son of God,
she obtains an answer, which reproaches her with baseness of birth and
exhibits the measure of her worthiness, namely, that she was worthy of
crumbs as the little dogs, but not of the loaves. But when she with intensified
resolution, accepting the saying of Jesus, puts forth the claim to obtain
crumbs even as a little dog, and acknowledges that the masters are of a
nobler race, then she gets a second answer, which bears testimony to her
faith as great, and a promise that it shall be done unto her as she wills.
And corresponding, I think, "to the Jerusalem above, which is free, the
mother" of Paul and those like to him, must we conceive of the Canaanitish
woman, the mother of her who was terribly distressed with a demon, who
was the symbol of the mother of such a soul. And consider whether it is
not according to sound reason that there are also many fathers and many
mothers corresponding to the fathers of Abraham to whom the patriarch went
away, and to Jerusalem the "mother," as Paul says, concerning himself and
those like to him. And it is probable that she of whom the Canaanitish
woman was a symbol came out of the borders of Tyre and Sidon, of which
the places on earth were types, and came to the Saviour and besought Him
and even now beseeches Him saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son
of David, my daughter is terribly vexed with a demon." Then also to those
without and to the disciples when necessary He answers and says, "I was
not sent;" teaching us that there are some lost souls pre-eminently intellectual
and clear of vision, figuratively called sheep of the house of Israel;
which things, I think, the simpler who are of opinion that they are spoken
in regard to the Israel which is after the flesh will of necessity admit,
namely, that our Saviour was sent by the Father to no others than to those
lost Jews. But we, who can truthfully boast that "if we have once known
Christ after the flesh, but now no longer do we know Him so," are assured
that it is pre-eminently the work of the Word to save the more intelligent,
for these are more akin to Him than those who are duller. But since the
lost sheep of the house of Israel, with the exception of "the remnant according
to the election of grace," disbelieved the Word, on this account "God chose
the foolish things of the world," namely, that which was not Israel, nor
clear of vision, that He might put to shame the wise ones of Israel; and
He called "the things which are not," handing over to them an intelligent
nation who were able to admit "the foolishness of the preaching," and of
His good pleasure saved those who believe in this, that He might refute
"the things which are," having perfected praise for Himself, "out of the
mouths of babes and sucklings," when they became hostile to truth. Now,
the Canaanitish woman, having come, worshipped Jesus as God, saying, "Lord,
help me," but He answered and said, "It is not possible to take the children's
bread and cast it to the little dogs." But some one might inquire also
into the meaning of this saying, since,--inasmuch as there was a measure
of loaves such that both the children and the dogs of the household could
not eat loaves, unless the dogs ate other loaves than those which were
well made,--it was not possible according to right reason for the well-made
loaf of the children to be given as food to the little dogs. But no such
thing appears in the case of the power of Jesus, for of this it was possible
both for the children and those called little dogs to partake. Consider,
then, whether perhaps with reference to the saying, "It is not possible
to take the bread of children," we ought to say that, "He who emptied Himself
and took upon Him the form of a servant," brought a measure of power such
as the world was capable of receiving, of which power also He was conscious
that a certain quantity went forth from Him as is plain from the words,
"Some one did touch Me, for I perceived that power had gone forth from
Me." From this measure of power, then, He dispensed, giving a larger portion
to those who were pre-eminent and who were called sons, but a smaller portion
to those who were not such, as to the little dogs. But though these things
were so, nevertheless where there was great faith, to her, who because
of her base birth in Canaanitish land was a little dog, He gave as to a
child the bread of the children. And perhaps, also, of the words of Jesus
there are some loaves which it is possible to give to the more rational,
as to children only; and other words, as it were, crumbs from the great
house and table of the well born and the masters, which may be used by
some souls, like the dogs. And according to the law of Moses it is written
about certain things, "Ye shall cast them to the dogs," and it was a matter
of care to the Holy Spirit to give instruction about certain foods that
they should be left to the dogs. Let others, then, who are strangers to
the doctrine of the Church, assume that souls pass from the bodies of men
into the bodies of dogs, according to their varying degree of wickedness;
but we, who do not find this at all in the divine Scripture, say that the
more rational condition changes into one more irrational, undergoing this
affection in consequence of great slothfulness and negligence. But, also,
in the same way, a will which was more irrational, because of its neglect
of reason, sometimes turns and becomes rational, so that that which at
one time was a dog, loving to eat of the crumbs that fell from the table
of its masters, comes into the condition of a son. For virtue contributes
greatly to the making of one a son of God, but wickedness, and mad fury
in wanton discourses and shamelessness, contribute to the giving of a man
the name of dog according to the word of the Scripture. And the like you
will also understand in the case of the other names which are applied to
animals without reason. Only, he who is reproached as a dog and yet is
not indignant at being called unworthy of the bread of children and with
all forbearance repeats the saying of that Canaanitish woman, "Yea, Lord,
for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters'
table," will obtain the very gentle answer of Jesus saying to him, "Great
is thy faith,"--when he has received so great faith--and saying, "Be it
done unto thee even as thou wilt," so that he himself may be healed, and
if he has produced any fruit which stands in need of healing, that this,
too, may be cured.
