Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 7:26

Ἑλληνίς, Συροφοινίκισσα τῷ γένει. A Greek-speaking woman, a Phoenician of Syria by race. In this context, Ἑλληνίς can hardly mean anything else (Acts 17:12). She spoke Greek, but she was not a Greek. The conversation, like that with Pilate, would be in Greek. Syr-Sin. has “a widow, from the borders of Tyre of Phoenicia.” These Phoenicians came from the Canaanites, and Mt. calls her Χαναναία. The Clem. Hom. (ii. 19, iii. 73, iv. 6) calls her Justa, and her daughter Bernice. Syr-Sin. omits Ἑλληνίς and τῷ γένει.

ἠρώτα αὐτὸν ἵνα. See on Mark 3:9. The change from aor. (προσέπεσεν) to imperf. is accurate. Mt. gives her words, in which she addresses Him as “Son of David,” an address which Mk does not record until the healing of Bartimaeus, near the time of the Passion (Mark 10:47-48). In Mt. the woman makes three appeals, of which Mk omits one and also the appeal of the disciples that He would grant her request and send her away.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 7:26

Old Testament

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