Matthew 15:21,22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Then Jesus went thence— It may easily be believed, that the Pharisees were highly offended at the liberty which Jesus took in the preceding discourse; for he had plucked off from them the mask wherewith they had covered their deformity, and rendered themselves so venerable in the eyes of the people. Accordingly, their plots being laid against his reputation and life, he judged it proper to retire to the remote regions which lay between the cities of Tyre and Sidon, proposing to conceal himself awhile. Sidon was a very ancient town, having been built by Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah. It appears from Judges 22:9 that the whole country westward of Jordan was called Canaan, that on the east being named Gilead. From the same book, ch. Matthew 19:28-29 we learn that Tyre and Sidon were cities in the lot of Ashur; which tribe having never been able wholly to drive out the natives, their posterity remained even in our Lord's time. Hence he did not preach the doctrine of the kingdom in this country, because it was inhabited principally by heathens, to whom he was not sent as a minister or preacher. See ch. Matthew 10:5. Neither did he work miracles here with that readiness which he shewed everywhere else. The reason of his retiring to these parts was, as before observed, to shun the Pharisees by concealing himself; but he could not be hidden. It seems he was personally known to many of the Gentiles in this country, who no doubt had often heard and seen him in Galilee. See Mark 3:8. As for the rest, they were sufficiently acquainted with him by his fame, which had spread itself very early through all Syria; see ch. Matthew 4:24. In one of the towns of this remote country there lived a Canaanitish woman, whose daughter was possessed with a devil. She was a descendant of the ancient inhabitants, and by religion a heathen, as seems plain from St. Mark, who calls her a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation, Mark 7:26. For since the woman's nationis mentioned in the latter clause, the title of a Greek, which is given her in the former, must certainly be the denomination of her religion: Keuchenius thinks, that the epithet Καναναια, a Canaanite, denotes the woman's occupation,—she merchandized; and supports his notion by the like use of the word in the Old Testament: but this conjecture will not hold, because our Lord's reply to her, Matthew 15:26. It is not meet, &c. plainly imports that she was a heathen; I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But though this woman was ignorant of the true religion, she had conceived a very great, honourable, and just opinion not only of our Lord's power and goodness, but even of his character as Messiah, which she had gained a knowledge of by conversing with the Jews; for when she had heard of his arrival, she went in quest of him, and meeting him as he passed along the street, she addressed him with the title of Son of David, or promised Messiah, and cried after him for a cure of her daughter. See Macknight. Dr. Heylin renders the last clause of the 22nd verse, My daughter is in a grievous manner possessed by a demon.