The Healing of the Greek Woman's Daughter. Jesus now leaves Galilee and withdraws to Gentile districts, not to evangelize them, but to avoid Herod and the Pharisees, and to train the Twelve. A Greek, i.e. a pagan, woman discovers Him, and requests Him to heal her daughter. Jesus asserts His conviction that His mission is to the Jews. The assertion is somewhat harsh, only softened by the diminutive little dogs, i.e. household dogs. This must be original. The woman's wit is seen in the way she catches up and builds on the very word which Jesus uses. If Jesus said dogs and the woman changed it to little dogs, the repartee is dulled. Mt. says the woman's request was granted because of her faith. Mk. implies that Jesus yielded out of admiration for the quickness of her answer. Jesus is won, not by the recognition of Jewish primacy, but by the ready wit of the woman (so HNT rightly, against Menzies and others). This in itself stamps the incident as historical, and throws a valuable light on the person of Jesus. The cure is wrought at a distance, as in the case of the centurion's servant (Matthew 8:5 f.).
Mark 7:24. And from thence: the district of Gennesaret is the last place named (Mark 6:53). Presumably the reference is to Gennesaret.
Mark 7:27. Let the children first be filled is not given in Matthew 15:26, and is probably no part of the original saying. It embodies the principle on which the subsequent mission of the Church was regulated (Swete), and may reflect Pauline influence, as Loisy supposes.