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Mat_15:26. It is not allowable (see critical notes) to take (sumere, circumstantial way of putting it, not: to take away) the bread belonging to the children and cast it to the dogs,—a general proposition for the purpose of expressing the thought: I must not allow the Gentiles to participate in my blessings, belonging as they do only to the people of Israel (the children of God, Rom_9:4). Jesus speaks “ex communi gentis loquela potius quam ex sensu suo” (Lightfoot); for it was the practice among the Jews to designate heathens (and subsequently, Christians also) as dogs; see Lightfoot and Wetstein, likewise Eisenmenger, entdeckt. Judenth. I. p. 713 ff. For the diminutive, see note on Mat_15:27. In this passage it is intended to mitigate the harshness of the expression.