In Jesus’ conversation with the Phoenician woman in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30, she asked him to exorcise the demon from her daughter, and he replied that “the children’s bread should not be given to the dogs.” Critics see this as Jesus insulting the woman’s daughter by calling her a dog. It’s true that calling someone a “dog” was a common insult in the Ancient Near East, and dogs are even considered unclean in some cultures. However, the linguistic and broader literary context of Jesus’ meeting with the Syro-Phoenician woman in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 shows that this is not the case here. The Greek text uses the word κυνάριον (kunarion), which refers to a small dog or pet dog. Some parts of the Bible reference a wild dog or κύων (kuón) in Greek, which is used as an insult when not referring to a literal dog. Since he uses the former, he is calling her daughter a pet puppy (a beloved member of the family), in comparison to the children of Israel. She knows this, and yet she still believes he will help her, and he does.
Jesus has never objected to helping Gentiles before. He often did so without any fuss. For example, the Roman centurion who caused Jesus to marvel at his faith (Matt 8:5-13), and the men with the legion of demons in Matt 8:28-34 and Mark 5:1-20. In fact, after visiting the Phoenician woman near Tyre in Syria, he goes to Sidon (also in Syria) and heals a deaf man (Mark 7:31-37). Then he returns to Galilee and goes to the Decapolis, east of the Jordan River, where the legion of demons had previously been cast out, and he ministers to the Gentiles. Here, he feeds 4,000 families with seven loaves and a few fish (Matt. 15:32-39, Mark 8:1-10). This is similar to what he does for the 5,000 Jewish families in Galilee with the five loaves and two fish. Previously, when he exorcised the legion of demons, they told him to leave out of fear, but the former possessed men stayed behind to testify about their deliverance as Jesus instructed. This time, when Jesus came to them, they were more welcoming. In addition, there was the Samaritan woman at the well, who was one of the few people he told directly, outside of his disciples, that he was the Messiah (John 4:21-30). Usually, he kept it a secret, and he even silenced demon-possessed people who were always trying to spoil his ministry by revealing who he was too early (Mark 1:21-28, Mark 3:11-12).
So why did he say all this about dogs (referring to Gentiles) taking the children’s (referring to Israelites) bread with this one Gentile woman? He was teaching a larger lesson to the disciples about Gentiles and preparing them for the future when they would minister to Gentiles. Jesus came for the Jews first because he was the promised Messiah in their covenant with God, as explained by their scriptures (the Old Testament), meaning only they were expecting him. After the Jews, the Gospel was to spread to the Gentile nations, as Jesus says, “Go and teach all nations” (Matt 28:18-20). In the Old Testament, it was promised that through Abraham, all nations would be blessed (Gen 12:1-3). This blessing comes from the promised seed of the woman (the messiah), who will bruise the serpent’s (Satan’s) head in Gen 3:15.
Notice that the disciples and Jesus left the region of Galilee in the nation of Israel to care for a few Gentiles in Syria, which is a whole different country. This shows that there is a larger purpose for all of this. I’m sure there were many people possessed in Judah, Samaria, and Galilee. Yet, he went out of his way to leave the nation of Israel for a few people. It’s like what he says in the parable about the lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14). In the parable, Jesus says, if a shepherd has 100 sheep and one of them escapes, the good shepherd will leave the 99 to go after the one. Jesus left Israel to deal with these few Gentiles in Syria, then went to the Decapolis, east of the Jordan River, to care for some more Gentiles. As you can see, even though Jesus said that he came for the Jews first (to give the children bread), he still went out of his way to help Gentiles (the little dogs that eat scraps from under the master’s table).
Now, the linguistics of the Greek words used in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 for ‘dog’ are used in the diminutive sense (describing the young or small) rather than the pejorative sense (insulting), as seen in other passages throughout the Bible. This word is κύων (kuón), which means dog as in a wild or stray dog; an “unclean dog” is the most common usage of “dog” in scripture. Such uses of the word dog can be found in Matt 7:6, Luke 16:21, Philippians 3:2, 2 Peter 2:22, and Revelation 22:15. However in Matthew 15:21-28, and Mark 7:24-30 the word is simply translated as a “dog” in some English translations is κυνάριον (kunarion) which means a little dog or pet dog, and in some cases κυνίδιον (kunídion) which means a puppy. A household dog is not classified the same way as a wild or stray dog, so it is not an insult.
Jesus is not insulting her daughter. He is making a distinction in the relationship with God between Jew and Gentile in the Old Covenant. He was simply reiterating that the Jews were first because they had the covenant right to be first; he never showed any contempt for the women like his disciples, who tried to shoo her away when she initially asked for help (Matt 15:23), nor did he show any intention to deny her request. He was teaching a larger lesson to the disciples about Gentiles and preparing them for the future when they would minister to Gentiles. Before he went to Tyre, Jesus scolded the Pharisees for teaching man-made traditions as if they were commands from God. This was in reference to “Netilat Yadayim” or ritual hand washing, which is a practice added by the Pharisees that was not required of people in the Bible. Then he said, “What you eat does not defile you,” but what comes out of your heart can defile you” (Matt 15:10-20, Mark 7:9-20). This was a reference to the kosher food laws, which are one of the things that distinguished Jews from Gentiles. Jesus was making a point that under the Old Covenant, the Jews came first because only they had the covenant, but in the New Covenant, the people of God will include Gentiles who believe.
This is why, in Acts 10, before God sends Peter to minister to the Gentile Cornelius, God shows Peter a vision of unclean animals. Even though he is hungry, Peter rejects the animals being offered to him by God as food because they are unclean according to Jewish Law. God responds by saying, “Do not call anything unclean if God has made it clean” (Acts 10:15). Then the servants of Cornelius arrive and request that Peter accompany them, and God tells him to go with them. Peter was summoned by a Roman soldier named Cornelius because he had a vision of an angel who told him to send for Peter so he could hear the gospel. Peter was hesitant about going into a Gentile’s house, but he obeyed God and preached the gospel of Jesus to them. Afterward, Cornelius’ household is saved and receives the Holy Spirit, and Peter realizes that the salvation that Jesus paid for includes the Gentiles as they are. In Acts 11, Peter informs all the other Jews, who had criticized him for going into a Gentile’s house, that Gentiles are to be included in the covenant as they are, so there is no need for them to be circumcised or to follow kosher food diets, since they have received the Holy Spirit by faith alone. Some of them received what he said when they heard Cornelius’s testimony. In Acts 10:15, God reminded Peter of what Jesus said in Matthew 15:10-11, as well as Jesus’ interaction with the Phoenician woman, so that he could see that in the New Covenant, a person is not defined by what they eat or whether or not they are related to Abraham. Instead, all can receive the Holy Spirit of God and be saved without converting to Judaism. The full revelation of this came in Acts chapters 10 and 11, but the lesson started in Matthew 15 (and Mark 7).
The back-and-forth conversation with this woman was simply a learning opportunity for his disciples. He said what he said to showcase the Gentile woman’s faith, and despite the fact that she had no covenant with the God of Abraham, she believed in the Jewish messiah. Her response is the ultimate reason why Jesus said what He said about dogs and children. It indicated to his disciples and future Messianic Jewish believers that even the Gentiles who have faith would be a part of the Kingdom. Abraham was not a Jew/Israelite nor under the Sinaitic covenant, because the Israelites and Moses were not born yet, but as a non-Jew, he was counted as righteous because of his faith (Genesis 15:6). Likewise, Noah and Job were non-Jews who were counted as righteous. The same is true for a few others in the Old Testament, like Ruth (a Moabite widow) and Rahab (the Canaanite prostitute), both of whom married into the family of Israel and are ancestors of Jesus. In Romans 1:17, Paul quoted Habakkuk 2:4 when he said, “The righteous live by faith.” Therefore, faith is considered more important than heritage and ritual purity in the New Covenant. That is the point Jesus made in the previous verses. Gentiles were ritually impure in the Old Covenant because of their culture and had no covenant with God through Abraham, so in Matt 15:16-20 and Mark 7:19-23, Jesus made a point. Jesus gives an illustration about food distinguishing ritual impurity laws (kosher food laws, circumcision, etc) from moral impurity laws (stealing, adultery, murder, lying, etc) ot show which laws God is more concerned about. Then he goes to Tyre to meet the Syro-Phoenician woman and continues this lesson with his disciples in person.
The lesson is that she may be ritually impure now, but God is pleased by her faith, and under the New Covenant, she will be a sister in the Kingdom because of her faith. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman in John 4:19-24 that the distinction between Jews and Samaritans ultimately won’t matter in the New Covenant because we will worship God in “Spirit and Truth.” He called her daughter a little dog to illustrate the covenant comparison. In other words, God still shows mercy to these faithful Gentiles because faith is the ultimate qualifier of God’s mercy, grace, and promises. The New Covenant isn’t based on whether or not we are related to Abraham. It is based on faith in the God of Abraham and his son, the Messiah Jesus himself. Sometimes God has a back-and-forth conversation that seems insulting or contradictory as a way to reveal something more profound. Similar extrapolations can be made about the conversation with Moses about destroying the Israelites and starting over, Exodus 32. You can read about those here.
Greek words:
Kunarion:
https://biblehub.com/greek/2952.htm
Kunidion
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/
Kuon:
https://biblehub.com/greek/2965.htm
More info on the linguistic context of that scene:
Larry Hurtado’s Blog