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Mar_7:24-30. See on Mat_15:21-29, who in Mar_7:23-25 has added what is certainly original.
ἐκεῖθεν ] out of the land of Gennesareth, Mar_6:53.
εἰς τὰ μεθόρια Τύρου into the regions ordering on Tyre (Xen. Cyr. i. 4. 16; Thuc. ii, 27. 2, iv. 56. 2, iv. 99; Herodian, v. 4. 11; Lucian, V. H. i. 20). It is not, withal, said even here (comp. Mat_15:21) that Jesus had now left Galilee and betaken Himself into Gentile territory. He went into the Galilean regions bordering on Tyre (the tribe of Asher). According to Mark, it was only in further prosecution of His journey (Mar_7:31) that He went through Phoenicia, and even through Sidon, merely, however, as a traveller, and without any sojourn. The explanation of Erasmus and Kypke: into the region between Tyre and Sidon, is set aside by the spuriousness of καὶ Σιδῶνος .
εἰς οἰκίαν ] into a house. Comp. Mar_7:17. It was doubtless the house of one who honoured Him.
οὐδένα ἤθελε γνῶναι ] not: He wished to know no one (Fritzsche, Ewald), but: He wished that no one should know it. See the sequel. Matthew does not relate this wish to remain concealed; the remark is one of those peculiar traits in which Mark is so rich. But he has no purpose of thereby explaining the subsequent refusal of aid on the part of Jesus from another ground than that mentioned by Mat_15:24 (de Wette, Hilgenfeld), since Mark also at Mar_7:27 narrates in substance the same ground of refusal.
ἠδυνήθη ] corresponds to the ἤθελε : He wished … and could not.
ἧς αὐτῆς ] See Winer, p. 134 [E. T. 184]. On θυγάτρ ., comp. Mar_5:23.
Mar_7:26. Ἑλληνίς ] a Gentile woman, not a Jewess, Act_17:12.
Syrophoenice means Phoenicia (belonging to the province of Syria), as distinguished from the Λιβοφοίνικες (Strabo, xvii. 3, p. 835) in Libya. The (unusual) form Συροφοινίκισσα is, with Wetstein, Griesbach, Scholz, and Lachmann, to be received on account of the preponderance of the witnesses in its favour, with which are to be classed those which read Συραφοινίκισσα or Σύρα Φοινίκισσα (so Teschendorf), which is explanatory (a Phoenician Syrian). The Recepta Συροφοίνισσα (so also Fritzsche) is an emendation, since Φοίνισσα was the familiar name for a Phoenician woman (Xen. Hell. iii. 4.1, iv. 3. 6; Herodian, v. 3.2). But the form Συροφοινίκισσα is not formed from Συροφοίνιξ (Luc. D. Concil. 4), but from Φοινίκη . The Χαναναία of Matthew is substantially the same. See on Mat_15:22.
ἐκβάλλῃ ] (see the critical remarks) present subjunctive, makes the thought of the woman present, and belongs to the vividness of the graphic delineation; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 618.
Mar_7:27. πρῶτον ] certainly a modification in accordance with later tradition, intended to convey the meaning: it is not yet competent for Gentiles also to lay claim to my saving ministry; the primary claim, which must be satisfied before it comes to you, is that of the Jews.[107] It is the idea of the Ἰουδαίῳ τε πρῶτον καὶ Ἕλληνι , Rom_1:16, which has already come in here, added not exactly in a doctrinal sense (Keim), but out of the consciousness of the subsequent course of things and without set purpose—to say nothing of an anti-Judaistic purpose in opposition to Matthew (Hilgenfeld), which would rather have led to the omission of the entire narrative. But in general the presentation of this history in Matthew bears, especially as regards the episode with the disciples, the stamp of greater originality, which is to be explained from a more exact use of the collection of Logia through simple reproduction of their words. Ewald finds in that episode another genuine remnant from the primitive document of Mark. Comp. also Holtzmann, p. 192.
Mar_7:29. ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦΤΟΝ ΤῸΝ ΛΌΓΟΝ ὝΠΑΓΕ ] on account of this saying] (which gives evidence of so strong a confidence in me), go thy way. In ὕπαγε is implied the promise of compliance, hence it is fittingly associated with διὰ τοῦτον τ . λ . Comp. Mat_8:13; Mar_5:34.
Mar_7:30. ΕὟΡΕ Κ . Τ . Λ .] “Vis verbi invenit cadit potius super participium quam super nomen” (Bengel).
βεβλημ . ἐπὶ τ . κλίνην ] weary and exhausted, but ΚΕΙΜΈΝΗΝ ἘΝ ΕἸΡΉΝῌ , Euthymius Zigabenus, which the demon did not previously permit.
[107] According to Schenkel, indeed, Jesus was not at all in earnest with this answer of harsh declinature, and this the woman perceived. But see on Matt., and comp. Keim, geschichtl. Chr. p. 61 f.