And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
Ver. 22. And cried unto him] One copy hath it, "And cried behind him," a which implies either that Christ had turned his back upon her, seeing her now coming towards him; or else that she was abashed to come into his presence, as being of an accursed kindred, devoted to destruction.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord] She acknowledged her own sin in her daughter's sufferings. So did that other good woman, 1 Kings 17:18. Her son was dead, her sin was called to remembrance. And so must we see ourselves beaten on our sick children's backs, as David did, 2 Samuel 12:16, and be humbled, labouring to mend by education what we have marred by propagation.
Thou Son of David] Thou that wast thyself born of a woman, pity a woman; thou that hast the bowels of a man in thee, hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh.
My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil] The devil doth his worst to her, therefore help. Misery makes men eloquent, beyond truth many times: but surely this woman's case was very doleful. It was her daughter, dear to her as her own soul, - Filia, quasi φιλη. The Greeks call children φιλτατα, the Latins cara. b And those at Rome that prayed and sacrificed whole days that their children might be superstites, long lived, these were first called superstitious persons. Quod nomen patuit postea latius, saith Cicero (De Nat. Deor.). The word afterwards came to be of larger signification. This (perhaps only) daughter was vexed and "grievously vexed," and that "of a devil;" who ever busy enough to do mischief, yet then chiefly bestirred him to set up his kingdom, when Christ came to pull it down: and as he once strove with Michael about a dead man's body, but it was that he might thereby set up himself in living men's souls; so he still seeks to possess himself of our bodies, that thereby he may the better wind and work himself into our hearts.
a Mark 7:24, εκραξεν οπισω αυτου, a tergo eius.
b Lambin. in Menech. Plauti, Act. i. scen. 1. Domi domitus fui usque cum charis meis.