But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”
Parallel Translations
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But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”
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And he gave her never a worde to answer. Then came to him his disciples and besought him sayinge: sende her awaye for she foloweth vs cryinge.
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But hee answered her not a worde. Then came to him his disciples, and besought him, saying, Sende her away, for she crieth after vs.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Matthew 15:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 14:15 When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”
- Genesis 42:7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
- Psalms 28:1 To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
- Lamentations 3:8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
- Mark 10:47-48 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
- Deuteronomy 8:2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain In that that Christ doth sometimes as it were…
In that that Christ doth sometimes as it were stop his ears against the prayers of his Saints, he doeth it for his glory and our profit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 23 But he answered her not a word. And…
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
Ver. 23. But he answered her not] Tacet ore, sed loquitur ei spirit, ut fortius clamet, saith an interpreter. Christ answereth her not with his mouth, but speaketh unto her by that sweet and secret voice of his Spirit, to cry louder. No man prays heartily but he hath so much comfort, at least, that he will come again to God, who secretly supports his suppliants, and by that peace inconceivable guards their hearts and minds that they pray and faint not (φρουρησει), Php 4:7.
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Send her away, for she cries] Men may be tired out with incessant suits, as the unjust judge was, and as these disciples were weary to hear the poor woman’s outcries, repeating the same request over and over. Give her, therefore, say they, either an alms or an answer, that she may be silenced, and we eased. But it is otherwise with God, the more often we come to him the better welcome; the louder we cry, the sooner we are heard; and the often repetition of the self-same petition, till we put the Lord out of countenance, put him (as you would say) to the blush, and even leave a blot in his face, as the Greek word signifies, Luk 18:5; (υπωπαιζη), this is the best melody we can make him. He looks out of the casements of heaven on purpose to hear it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Strange! That a miserable supplicant should cry and sue,…
Strange! That a miserable supplicant should cry and sue, whilst the God of mercy is speechless. What! is the fountain of mercy dried up? O Saviour! we have oft found cause to wonder at thy words, but never till now at thy silence.
Learn hence, that Christ doth sometimes delay to return an answer to a well qualified prayer. Sometimes his people do not pray earnestly enough; sometimes they pray too earnestly, for some outward and temporal mercy; sometimes the mercy they pray for is not good for them, or it may be it is not yet good for them. Let us not then judge of God’s hearing prayer by his present answer.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But he answered her not a word,.... Not that…
But he answered her not a word,.... Not that he did not hear her, or that he despised either her person or petition, or that he was not moved with it; but to continue her importunity, and try her faith, and make it manifest: for like reasons the Lord does not always, and immediately, answer the requests of his people. This giving her no answer, either that he would, or would not help her, carried in it a tacit repulse of her, and a denial of assistance to her; and it seems as if she did for a while desist from her application to him, and betook herself to his disciples to plead with him for her:
and his disciples came; to the house where he was; who, it seems by this, had been elsewhere;
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and besought him, saying, send her away; not in any shape, with any sort of answer, without curing her daughter, or without a promise of a cure; no, they desired she might be dismissed, with a grant of her request, to her entire satisfaction, as appears from Christ's answer: the reason they give is,
for she crieth after us; not only because she was troublesome to them, was importunate with them, and would take no denial from them: she followed them wherever they went; there was no getting rid of her: but also, because her case was so moving, was delivered in such an affecting manner, and her cries were piercing, that they could not bear them; and therefore entreat him, that he would relieve, and dismiss her.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He answered her not a word - He sometimes…
He answered her not a word - He sometimes tries our faith in like manner.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. He answered her not a word.] Seemed…
Verse 23. He answered her not a word.] Seemed to take time to consider her request, and to give her the opportunity of exercising her faith, and manifesting her fervour.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain He answered her not. It must not be supposed…
He answered her not. It must not be supposed that our Saviour refused to hear the woman through any contempt, but only to shew that his mission was in the first instance to the Jews; or to induce her to ask with greater earnestness, so as to deserve more ample assistance. (Denis the Carthusian)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain THE WOMAN OF CANAAN AND HER DAUGHTER. (Mat 15:21-28)
THE WOMAN OF CANAAN AND HER DAUGHTER. (Mat 15:21-28)
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us--(Also see on Mar 7:26.)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 23. He answered her not a word — The…
23. He answered her not a word — The order of his mission is limited to the house of Israel. There is indeed misery in plenty in heathendom; and though for them he will make atonement before he returns to his Father, yet his miracles and his preaching belong to Israel. Not a word — He said no unkind word. He did not repel her. He simply kept upon his way to pass her, as he must the great mass of the world lying in sin and misery. Send her away — They mean (though they are very careless in saying it) that he shall dismiss her by performing her request. But they would have our Lord merciful to her in order to get rid of her.
Crieth after us — Here in this foreign land, this woman is making us ridiculous by screaming at our heels! Besides, the disciples know that the very reason of being in that remote locality is to escape dangerous notoriety. Alas! how do men despise the excitement with which they do not sympathize! Many cannot endure the excitement of prayer, who are fond of the excitement of carousal.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 23. answered her not a word] Jesus, by this…
23. answered her not a word] Jesus, by this refusal, tries the woman’s faith, that he may purify and deepen it. Her request must be won by earnest prayer, “lest the light winning should make light the prize.”
Observe that Christ first refuses by silence, then by express words.
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Send her away] By granting what she asks, by yielding, like the unjust judge, to her importunity.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (23) He answered her not a word.—Two alternative views…
(23) He answered her not a word.—Two alternative views present themselves as to our Lord’s action in this matter. That which has found favour with nearly all ancient and most modern interpreters assumes that from the first He had purposed to comply with her request, and spoke as He did only to test and manifest her faith. Men have been unwilling to recognise the possibility of a change of purpose in the human nature of our Lord which they, unconsciously heretical, confused with the divine, and have preferred to fall back on the supposition of a simulated harshness. The truer and more reverential course, I venture to think, is to accept the impression which, apart from any à priori theory, the facts seem naturally to make, and to see, in what passed, the prevailing power of prayer working on the sympathy of Christ, and leading Him to pass beyond the ordinary limits of His appointed work. On this assumption, it is our work to trace, with all reverence, the successive stages of the process. And first, even the silence is significant, and implies a conflict. It would have been easy to dismiss her with a word. But the tenderness which He felt towards this sufferer, as towards others, forbade that course, and yet the sense of the normal limitation of His work forbade the other. Silence was the natural outcome of the equilibrium of these conflicting motives.
Send her away; for she crieth after us.—The disciples were clearly unable to enter into either of the two feelings which were thus contending for the mastery. Their words, as interpreted by our Lord’s answer, were, in some sense, a plea in favour of the woman. They wished Him to grant what she asked for, and so to dismiss her. And yet we feel that their words were far harsher than their Master’s silence. They wanted only to be rid of her presence, which had followed them from the streets into the house, to be freed from the loud eager cries which vexed them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Answered her not a word. The woman made no…
Answered her not a word. The woman made no specific request; she had not brought the sufferer with her, and entreated Christ to exorcise the evil influence; she did not urge him to go to her house, and by his gracious presence work a cure. Simply she tells her affliction, and lets the woeful tale plead for itself. But there was no response. The Merciful is obdurate; the Physician withholds his aid; in the face of misery, to the voice of entreaty, the Lord is silent. It is the discipline of love; he acts as though he hears not, that he may bring forth perseverance and faith. Send her away. There is some doubt concerning the feeling of the apostles in thus addressing Christ. Did they wish him to grant her virtual petition or not? On the one hand, it is urged that they were thoroughly annoyed at her importunity. They had sought for quiet" and privacy, and now this woman was bringing a crowd around them, and occasioning the very notoriety which they wished to avoid. Their Jewish prejudices, too, were aroused by this appeal from a Canaanite; they could not endure the idea that favour should be extended to this Gentile of an abhorred race; hence they desire Christ to dismiss her at once, give her a decided rejection. On the other hand, the answer of Christ to their request leads to another explanation, as if he understood them to be asking him to grant her prayer. And this is undoubtedly what they did want, though they did not presume to prescribe the manner or to beg for a miracle. They range themselves on the woman"s side, not from any genuine compassion, but from mere selfishness. The ground of their appeal is, She crieth after us. The appeal had been first made in the open street, and the Canaanite had followed them, as they moved, continuing her piteous cry, and thus attracting attention to them and defeating their hope of retirement and rest. So they, for their own peace and comfort, ask Christ to grant the prayer of this obstinate suppliant: "Give her what she wants, and have done with her."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 23. He answered her not a word. He neither…
23. He answered her not a word. He neither repelled her, nor made a favorable answer. There were reasons for hesitation, given in verse 24, on which see the comment, but there is no doubt that it was his purpose to have mercy. He delayed in order to bring out a great lesson.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Jesus makes a trial of her faith:
Jesus makes a trial of her faith:
v. 23. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us.
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v. 24. But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Christ’s Sphere of Activity in his Prophetic Office
A good many unprejudiced, believing Bible-readers have struggled with a feeling of offended surprise at the words of Christ to the woman of Canaan: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Mat 15:24. It may seem strange, also, that Christ commands His disciples: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not," Mat 10:5-6. It is a matter of record, furthermore, that Jesus spent His ministry within the boundaries of Palestine, touching the adjacent heathen countries only by way of passing through quickly, as in the story told above.
Over against these facts there seems to stand the testimony of the prophets, whose predictions as to the sphere of Christ’s activity are such as to cause one to feel that the entire earth is Christ’s sphere of personal effort. The prophet says: "I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles," Isa 49:6. "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising," Isa 60:3. "He will teach us of His ways," Isa 2:3. "The nations shall be blessed in Him, and in Him shall they glory," Jer 4:2. "All nations whom Thou hast made shall worship before Thee," Psa 86:9.
The contradiction is only apparent, however. St. Paul rightly says: "Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also," Rom 3:29. The solution is easy if we remember two points. In the first place, Christ, in the case of the woman of Canaan, speaks of His own personal work. So far as His person was concerned. His ministry was limited to His countrymen, the Jews. In the second place, His instructions to His disciples indicate that it was God’s will that the work of the new covenant should begin at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47. Throughout the New Testament this fact, that God wanted to make the people of His choice the recipients of the Gospel-message first among all nations, stands out very strongly.
But the work was not to be confined to the people of Judea or Palestine, Luk 24:47; Act 1:8. Jesus Himself gave evidence of that. The first persons to give Him homage from outside of Bethlehem were the Magi from the East, Gentiles, by all accounts, Mat 2:1-12. He Himself praised the faith of the centurion of Capernaum, Mat 8:10. He converted the woman of Samaria and many of her townspeople, Joh 4:1-54. He was overcome by the faith of the Syrophoenician woman, Mat 15:28. He predicted the coming of the Gentiles into the fold. Mat 8:11; Luk 13:29. He, finally, gave to His disciples the great command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Mat 28:19; Mar 16:15. All of which goes to show that God wanted His work to be carried out in an orderly way, according to a preconceived plan.
"Now He, the Light of the world, is indeed come for the salvation of the whole world, but for the establishment of the kingdom of light and life by the preaching of the Gospel and by the working of miracles, wherein the coming of the kingdom of heaven is indicated, He is sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, Rom 15:8, in order that the Shepherd of Israel might become the Shepherd of all nations in mercy. Salvation is of the Jews, Joh 4:22, and Simeon’s prophecy of the Savior of all people and of the Light of the Gentiles, to the glory of the people of Israel, must be fulfilled, Luk 2:32. He says indeed: ’Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also must I bring’; but the Prophet of Galilee would not be a teacher of the Gentiles, but the voice of His calling should issue only through the mouths of the apostles, after He had completed the redemption of the world, in order that all the dispersed that by faith in Him would become children of God, might be brought together, Joh 11:52."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:23 no reply: Jesus’ silence was a test of…
15:23 no reply: Jesus’ silence was a test of the woman’s faith (15:28; cp. 8:24; 14:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.