Matthew 15:22

a woman of Canaan Called in Mark "a Greek, a Syrophœnician by nation." The two expressions are identical, for the land of Canaan, literally, the low lands or netherlands, at first applicable to the whole of Palestine, was confined in later times to the maritime plain of Phœnicia. In Joshua 5:12 "the land of Canaan" appears in the LXX. version as the "land of the Phœnicians." The important point is that this woman was a foreigner and a heathen a descendant of the worshippers of Baal. She may have heard and seen Jesus in earlier days. Cp. Mark 3:8, "they about Tyre and Sidon … came unto him."

out of the same coasts Literally, those coasts. Jesus did not himself pass beyond the borders of Galilee, but this instance of mercy extended to a Gentile points to the wide diffusion of the Gospel beyond the Jewish race.

Have mercy on me Identifying herself with her daughter. Cp. the prayer of the father of the lunatic child: "Have compassion on usand help us," Mark 9:22.

Son of David A title that proves the expectation that the Messiah should spring from the house of David. It is the particular Messianic prophecy which would be most likely to reach foreign countries.