Mark 7:24

And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.

And, from thence he arose, and went into, (or 'unto') the borders of Tyre and Sidon - the two great Phoenician seaports, but here denoting the territory generally, to the frontiers of which Jesus now came. But did Jesus actually enter this pagan territory? The whole narrative, we think, proceeds upon the supposition that He did. His immediate object seems to have been to avoid the wrath of the Pharisees at the withering exposure He had just made of their traditional religion.

And entered into an house, and would have no man know it - because He had not come there to minister to pagans. But though not "sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (), He hindered not the lost sheep of the vast Gentile world from coming to Him, nor put them away when they did come-as this incident was designed to show.

But he could not be hid. Christ's fame hid early spread from Galilee to this very region (; ).