Matthewchapter 15
39 verses · Matthew, by tradition · AD 50 to 65 · The Gospels
Key verse
And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
It stands in Tradition Against the Commandment of God, verses 1 to 9.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Tradition of the elders. That which defiles comes from within, not from without. The Syrophoenician woman's faith: 'the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' Healing on the mountain by the sea of Galilee; four thousand fed from seven loaves. Matthew strings acts of mercy across the clean/unclean boundary that tradition had drawn.
Context
Gospel · Matthew · Matthew overview
The world of this chapter
The Galilean ministry, moving into Gentile country · c. AD 29 · Galilee, then the region of Tyre and Sidon, then the eastern shore of the lake · Jewish readers being asked what makes a person truly unclean
Historical context
The handwashing at issue was not hygiene and not the written Law. It was a ritual pouring of water over the hands before eating, part of the body of custom the Pharisees called the tradition of the elders, practice they held was handed down alongside Moses. Ordinary Galileans were lax about it; the Pharisees were not.
The counter-charge Jesus makes concerns a real legal device. A man could declare property korban, dedicated to God, which put it out of reach for other uses, including the support he owed his aged parents. A first-century burial box found near Jerusalem carries that very word in an inscription, showing the term was in everyday use. The vow was binding, so the loophole held, and the commandment about honouring father and mother quietly died in it.
The trip north was a deliberate crossing of a border. Tyre and Sidon were prosperous Phoenician port cities on the Mediterranean coast, thoroughly Gentile, and there was old resentment between their wealthy merchants and the Galilean farmers who supplied their grain.
The exchange with the mother turns on a word choice. The term used is not the street scavenger but the small dog kept in a house, under the table where the family eats. She takes the picture and works inside it: the household pets do get the scraps, and she is asking only for scraps.
Significance
The ruling in this chapter was explosive for Jewish believers: defilement does not enter through the mouth, it comes out of the heart. Everything they had been taught to police was being relocated.
Then a Gentile woman is commended for great faith, and a second crowd is fed, this time on the far side of the lake, in Gentile territory, with seven baskets left over. Matthew's Jewish readers, arguing about who belonged at the table, were being shown the answer twice in one chapter.
Where the chapter sits
Matthew 15 falls in Parables of the Kingdom (chapters 13). Discourse 3: hidden then revealed.
Before it: Mission of the Twelve, chapters 10. After it: Community in the Kingdom, chapters 18.
The whole shape of Matthew→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Tradition Against the Commandment of God
1. (vv. 1-2)
scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem: This delegation has traveled the whole distance from Jerusalem to Galilee, a sign that the capital's leadership is now watching Jesus with organized concern rather than casual curiosity. Their complaint concerns netilat yadayim, a ceremonial hand washing that later rabbinic sources trace to the sages rather than to the Torah itself, so the charge is not that the disciples broke Moses' law but that they ignored an oral enactment built around it. Gill and Lightfoot both note that the Mishnah's own tractate on the subject treats this washing as a fence around the law, a protective custom, not a commandment of God.
Matthew 15:1
“Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees,.... After he had wrought so many miracles, particularly that of feeding five thousand men; besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes: the fame of which had reached Jerusalem, and occasioned much talk there about him: the Scribes and Pharisees, who were his inveterate enemies, hearing thereof, came to him, where he was, in Galilee: to know the truth of these things, to converse with him, and to watch, and observe, what he said and did; which were of Jerusalem, saying.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Matthew 15:1
“See also Mar 7:1-9. Then came to Jesus ... - Mark says that they saw the disciples of Jesus eating with unwashed hands. Mat 15:2 Transgress the tradition of the elders - The world “elders” literally means “old men.” Here it means the “ancients,” or their “ancestors.” The “tradition of the elders” meant something handed down from one to another by memory; some precept or custom not commanded in the written law, but which scribes and Pharisees held themselves bound to observe.”
Matthew 15:1
“Jerusalem, which should have been a pure spring, was now become a poisoned sink. How is the faithful city become a harlot! Now if these great men be the accusers, pray what is the accusation?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:2
“Of what kind these traditions were, Mark shows when he says, The Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not. (Mark 7:3.) Here then also they find fault with the disciples, saying, For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. Or the Pharisees found fault with the Lord's disciples, not concerning that washing which we do from ordinary habit, and of necessity, but of that superfluous washing which was invented by the tradition of the elders.”
Remigius of Rheims· written before 533· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:2
“Elders - Rulers and magistrates among the Jews. For they wash not their hands - What frivolous nonsense! These Pharisees had nothing which their malice could fasten on in the conduct or doctrine of our blessed Lord and his disciples, and therefore they must dispute about washing of hands! All sorts of Pharisees are troublesome people in religious society; and the reason is, they take more pleasure in blaming others than in amending themselves.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 3-4)
transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?: Jesus answers a question about ritual with a countercharge about ethics, and the countercharge is the heavier one: their tradition does not merely add to God's law, it can void it. He quotes the fifth commandment and its Exodus penalty clause together, honor father and mother, and he that curses father or mother let him die the death, so the ground he stands on is the Decalogue itself, not a private opinion. Henry observes that this is the pattern of the whole chapter, Jesus never disputing the value of law but exposing how a fence built around it can become a wall against it.
Matthew 15:3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?--The charge is retorted with startling power: "The tradition they transgress is but man's, and is itself the occasion of heavy transgression, undermining the authority of God's law."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:3
“You transgress the commandment of God. Note, Those who are most zealous of their own impositions, are commonly most careless of God's commands; which is a good reason why Christ's disciples should stand upon their guard against such impositions, lest, though at first they seem only to infringe the liberty of Christians, they come at length to confront the authority of Christ.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:3
“They wash not their hands when they eat bread - Food in general is termed bread in Hebrew; so that to eat bread is the same as to make a meal.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 15:4
“For God hath said, Honour thy father and thy mother. Honour in the Scriptures is shown not so much in salutations and courtesies as in alms and gifts. Honour, (1 Tim. 5:3.) says the Apostle, the widows who are widows indeed; here 'honour' signifies a gift. The Lord then having thought for the infirmity, the age, or the poverty of parents, commanded that sons should honour their parents in providing them with necessaries of life.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:4
“Honor thy father and mother - This word was taken in great latitude of meaning among the Jews: it not only meant respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to nourish and support him, to enrich. See Num 22:17; Jdg 13:17; 1Ti 5:17. And that this was the sense of the law, as it respected parents, see Deu 27:16, and see the note on Exo 20:12.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Cross references
Matthew 15:4
- QuotingExodus 20:12“Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”
'Honour thy father and mother' (Corban dispute)
- QuotingExodus 21:17“Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.”
'He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death'
3. (vv. 5-6)
It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me: The case Jesus names is korban, a vow dedicating property or income to the temple treasury, and the Mishnah's own tractate Nedarim shows the rabbis wrestling with exactly this collision between a vow's binding force and a child's duty to parents. A son could declare his support korban and thereby withhold it from father or mother without technically breaking the vow, since the wording made the gift's use a matter between the son and God rather than an outright refusal. Lightfoot's collection of rabbinic parallels shows the debate was real inside Judaism itself, which is why Jesus can appeal to it as something his hearers already half admitted was a problem.
Matthew 15:5
“It is a gift - קרבן korban, Mar 7:11, an offering of approach; something consecrated to the service of God in the temple, by which a man had the privilege of approaching his Maker. This conduct was similar to the custom of certain persons who bequeath the inheritance of their children to Churches or religious uses; either through terror of conscience, thus striving to purchase the kingdom of glory; or through the persuasion of interested hireling priests.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:5
“For the Scribes and Pharisees desiring to overturn this foregoing most provident law of God, that they might bring in their impiety under the mask of piety, taught bad sons, that should any desire to devote to God, who is the true parent, those things which ought to be offered to parents, the offering to the Lord should he preferred to the offering them to parents.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 15:5
“This was making the command of God of no effect. Note, Whatever leads to, or countenances, disobedience, does, in effect, make void the command; and they that take upon them to dispense with God's law, do, in Christ's account, repeal and disannul it. To break the law is bad, but to teach men so, as the scribes and Pharisees did, is much worse, ch.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:6
"And," it is added in Mark (Mr 7:12), "ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother." To dedicate property to God is indeed lawful and laudable, but not at the expense of filial duty.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:6
“And thus the parents refusing what they saw thus dedicated to God, hat they might not incur the guilt of sacrilege, perished of want, and so it came to pass that what the children offered for the needs of the temple and the service of God, went to the gain of the Priests.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
4. (vv. 7-9)
well did Esaias prophesy of you: Jesus names Isaiah 29:13 as spoken directly to this generation, and the wording he uses follows the Septuagint's teaching for doctrines the commandments of men more closely than the Hebrew's own their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown treat the difference as immaterial to the point, since either wording condemns worship that is mouth deep and heart absent, replacing divine command with human enactment dressed as piety. This is one of Matthew's keep-hard Old Testament citations, and it lands the charge of hypocrisy on the same lips that had just posed as guardians of the law.
Matthew 15:7
“Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you - In every place where the proper names of the Old Testament occur, in the New, the same mode of orthography should be followed: I therefore write Isaiah with the Hebrew, not Esaias, with the Greek. This prophecy is found Isa 29:13. Our blessed Lord unmasks these hypocrites; and we may observe that, when a hypocrite is found out, he should be exposed to all; this may lead to his salvation: if he be permitted to retain his falsely acquired character, how can he escape perdition!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:7
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying - That is, the description which Isaiah gave of your fathers, is exactly applicable to you. The words therefore which were a description of them, are a prophecy with regard to you. Their heart is far from me - And without this all outward worship is mere mockery of God.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 15:7
I have previously quoted some of the words of Isaiah that precede the verse quoted in the Gospel and some of the words that follow the verse quoted in the Gospel. In this way we may show the way in which the word promises that it will close "the eyes" of those of the people who were "out of their senses" and "drunken" and who had been given to drink a "spirit of stupefaction."
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.11patristic
Matthew 15:7
“The eye of man can perceive open profaneness, but it is only the eye of Christ that can discern hypocrisy, Luke xvi. And as it is a sin which his eye discovers, so it is a sin which of all others his soul hates. Now Christ fetches his reproof from Isa. xxix.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:8
“Their heart is far from me - The true worship of God consists in the union of the heart to him - where this exists not, a particle of the spirit of devotion cannot be found. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth - This clause, which is taken from Isa 29:13, is omitted by several excellent MSS., and by several versions and fathers.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:8
“In vain do they worship me. Their worship does not attain the end for which it was appointed; it will neither please God, nor profit themselves. If it be not in spirit, it is not in truth, and so it is all nothing.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Cross references
Matthew 15:8
- QuotingIsaiah 29:13“Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.”
'This people draweth nigh with their mouth' (Isaiah's prophecy of hypocrisy)
Matthew 15:9
“But in vain do they worship me,.... In the Hebrew text it is, "their fear towards me": which is rightly expressed here by "worship"; for the fear of God often intends the whole worship of God, both external and internal: here it only signifies external worship, which these men only attended to.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:9
“In vain they do worship me, etc. - By the traditions of the elders, not only the word of God was perverted, but his worship also was greatly corrupted. But the Jews were not the only people who have acted thus: whole Christian Churches, as well as sects and parties, have acted in the same way.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
B. What Truly Defiles a Man
1. (vv. 10-11)
Hear, and understand: Having answered the scribes privately, Jesus now turns to the multitude and states the principle in public, plainly enough for anyone to grasp: defilement is not a matter of what enters a man through the mouth but of what proceeds from him. Barnes reads this as a direct reversal of the ceremonial system's whole logic of external contact, moving the category of clean and unclean from the hand and the food to the heart and its issue. The saying does not abolish the ceremonial law outright here, but it relocates the real battlefield, and the disciples' confusion in the verses that follow shows how radical the relocation sounded.
Matthew 15:10
“Christ must favour them at their pleasure with a discourse in private. But Christ had a regard to the multitude; he soon despatched the scribes and Pharisees, and then turned them off, invited the mob, the multitude, to be his hearers: thus the poor are evangelized; and the foolish things of the world, and things that are despised hath Christ chosen.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:10
“But what reason is there in going to prayer with hands indeed washed, but the spirit foul?-inasmuch as to our hands themselves spiritual purities are necessary, that they may be "lifted up pure" from falsehood, from murder, from cruelty, from poisonings, from idolatry, and all the other blemishes which, conceived by the spirit, are effected by the operation of the hands. These are the true purities; not those which most are superstitiously careful about, taking water at every prayer, even when they are coming from a bath of the whole body.”
Tertullian· written before 220· On Prayerpatristic
Matthew 15:11
“Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth - This is an answer to the carping question of the Pharisees, mentioned Mat 15:2, Why do thy disciples eat with unwashed hands?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:11
“The word here [communicat] 'makes a man common' is peculiar to Scripture, and is not hackneyed in common parlance. The Jewish nation, boasting themselves to be a part of God, call those meats common, of which all men partake; for example, swine's flesh, shell fish, hares, and those species of animals that do not divide the hoof, and chew the cud, and among the fish such as have not scales. Hence in the Acts of the Apostles we read, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. (Acts 10:15.)”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2. (vv. 12-14)
the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?: The disciples report the Pharisees' offense as though it should change Jesus' course, and his answer refuses the premise: a plant his heavenly Father did not plant will be rooted up regardless of who is offended by saying so. Henry reads the image as a verdict on the whole system of merely human religious enactment, however long established, since only what the Father plants will stand at the last. The blind leading the blind picture then follows naturally, a plain warning that these very teachers, offended at the truth, are guiding a nation toward the ditch.
Matthew 15:12
“Then came his disciples, and said unto him,.... That is, after he had dismissed the people, and was come into a private house; see Mar 7:17 his disciples came to him, being alone, full of concern, for what he had said to the Pharisees, and before all the people; and not so well understanding it themselves.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:12
“Perhaps the disciples themselves stumbled at the word Christ said, which they thought bold, and scarcely reconcileable with the difference that was put by the law of God between clean and unclean meats; and therefore objected this to Christ, that they might themselves be better informed.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:13
“Heed it not: their corrupt teaching is already doomed: the garden of the Lord upon earth, too long cumbered with their presence, shall yet be purged of them and their accursed system: yea, and whatsoever is not of the planting of My heavenly Father, the great Husbandman (Joh 15:1), shall share the same fate.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:13
“What things are unscriptural, will wither and die of themselves, or be justly exploded by the churches; however in the great day these tares that offend will be bundled for the fire. What is become of the Pharisees and their traditions? They are long since abandoned; but the gospel of truth is great, and will remain.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:13
“Every plant - Every plantation. So I render φυτεια, and so it is translated in the Itala version which accompanies the Greek text in the Codex Bezae, omnis plantatio, and so the word is rendered by Suidas. This gives a different turn to the text.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:14
“Let them alone - Αφετε αυτους, give them up, or leave them. These words have been sadly misunderstood.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:14
“This is also the same as that Apostolic injunction, A heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that such a one is perverse. (Tit. 3:10, 11.) To the same end the Saviour commands evil teachers to be left to their own will, knowing that it is hardly that they can be brought to the truth.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
3. (vv. 15-20)
Declare unto us this parable: Peter's request shows the disciples had not fully grasped verse 11 either, and Jesus' mild rebuke, are ye also yet without understanding, opens into the fullest explanation the Gospel gives of this teaching. Food passes through the body and out again, but the heart is the source of the list Jesus names, evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, a catalogue that runs largely along the second table of the Decalogue. Gill notes that the chapter closes this exchange exactly where it opened, on unwashen hands, but the ground has shifted entirely from ritual purity to moral origin.
Matthew 15:15
“See also Mar 7:17-23. Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable - See the notes at Mat 13:3. The word “parable” sometimes means a dark or obscure saying, Psa 78:2. Peter meant, “Explain to us more fully this obscure and novel doctrine.” To us, now, it is plain; to the disciples, just coming out of Judaism, the doctrine of Jesus was obscure. Mark says that the disciples asked him. There is no contradiction.”
Matthew 15:16
“And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?--Slowness of spiritual apprehension in His genuine disciples grieves the Saviour: from others He expects no better (Mt 13:11).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:16
"Without understanding" is what the Lord calls those who, like the Pharisees, make a fuss about external matters and have not yet discovered the inner life. Meats, therefore, he says, have to do with filling up the body, but they do not reach into the heart. But that which does not reach to the heart is not able to defile the faithful [genuine] man or cause him to become unclean.
Cyril of Alexandria· written before 444· FRAGMENT 185patristic
Matthew 15:16
"Are ye yet so, after ye have been so long under my teaching?" Had they been but of yesterday in Christ's school, it had been another matter, but to have been for so many months Christ's constant hearers, and yet to be without understanding, was a great reproach to them. Note, Christ expects from us some proportion of knowledge, and grace, and wisdom, according to the time and means we have had.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:16
“Are ye also yet without understanding? - The word ακμη, which we translate yet, should be here rendered still: Are ye still void of understanding? and the word is used in this sense by several Greek writers. The authorities which have induced me to prefer this translation may be seen in Kypke.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:17
“Cast out into the draught - Εις αφεδωνα, - And beeth into the forthgoing a sent - what is not fit for nourishment is evacuated; is thrown into the sink. This I believe to be the meaning of this difficult and variously translated word, αφεδρων. Diodati translates it properly, nella latrina, into the privy.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:17
“It may be a piece of cleanliness, but it is not point of conscience, to wash before meat; and we go upon a great mistake if we place religion in it. It is not the practice itself, but the opinion it is built upon, that Christ condemns, as if meat commended us to God ( 1 Cor. viii. 8 ); whereas Christianity stands not in such observances.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:18
“Now here we have, [1.] The corrupt fountain of that which proceeds out of the mouth; it comes from the heart; that is the spring and source of all sin, Jer. viii. It is the heart that is so desperately wicked ( Jer. xvii. 9 ); for there is no sin in a word or deed, which was not first in the heart.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:19
“But the statement is far broader than this; namely that the first shape which the evil that is in the heart takes, when it begins actively to stir, is that of "considerations" or "reasonings" on certain suggested actions. murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies--detractions, whether directed against God or man; here the reference seems to be to the latter.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:19
“Out of the heart - In the heart of an unregenerate man, the principles and seeds of all sin are found. And iniquity is always conceived in the heart before it be spoken or acted. Is there any hope that a man can abstain from outward sin till his heart, that abominable fountain of corruption, be thoroughly cleansed? I trow not. Evil thoughts - Διαλογισμοι πονηροι, wicked dialogues - for in all evil surmisings the heart holds a conversation, or dialogue, with itself. For φονοι, murders, two MSS. have φθονοι, envyings, and three others have both.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:20
These things are what "defiles the person" when they come out from the heart and, after they have gone out from it, go through the mouth. Thus if they did not occur outside of the heart but were held by the person somewhere around the heart, not being allowed to be spoken through the mouth, they would very quickly disappear and the person would not be defiled any longer. Therefore the source and beginning of every sin is "evil reasonings."
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.14-15patristic
C. The Canaanite Mother and the Crumbs
1. (vv. 21-22)
departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: Jesus withdraws into Phoenician territory, Gentile country beyond the reach of the scribes who had just crossed Galilee to find him, and there a woman of Canaan approaches. Matthew's choice of the ancient name Canaan, where Mark calls her Syrophoenician, deliberately recalls Israel's oldest defined enemy nation, so that the exposition can name what follows plainly, the archetypal outsider crying to Israel's King. Her cry, thou Son of David, places a title from Israel's own messianic hope on Gentile lips, one more beat in the thread this Gospel has carried since 1:1.
Matthew 15:21
“This narrative is also found in Mar 7:24-30. The coasts of Tyre and Sidon - These cities were on the seacoast or shore of the Mediterranean. See the notes at Mat 11:21. Jesus went there for the purpose of concealment Mar 7:24, perhaps still to avoid Herod. Mat 15:22 A woman of Canaan - This woman is called, also, a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, Mar 7:26 In ancient times, the whole land, including Tyre and Sidon, was in the possession of the Canaanites, and called Canaan. The Phoenicians were descended from the Canaanites.”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:21
“When Christ and his disciples could not be quiet among them, he left them, and so left an example to his own rule ( ch. x. 14 ), Shake off the dust of your feet. Though Christ endure long, he will not always endure, the contradiction of sinners against himself.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:21
“WE learn from this chapter, dear Friends, that our Master was tired of battling with hypocrites and formalists and, therefore, withdrew Himself from them. They had come to Him with their foolish charges that His disciples did not observe the traditions of the elders and they made a great fuss about meats, drinks, washing of hands and all sorts of trifles. The Savior spoke very effectively to them—what if I say that He fired His great gun once and for all and silenced them?”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2481: “Faith Victorious” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Matthew 15:22
“To grasp the inner motive of the Canaanite woman for obtaining what came to pass, we must reflect on the impact of her words. There is a firm belief that there was and still is in Israel a community of proselytes who passed over from the Gentiles into the works of the law. They had left behind their previous life and were bonded by the religion of a foreign and dominating law as though from home. The Canaanites were inhabiting the lands of present-day Judea.”
Hilary of Poitiers· written before 367· Commentary on Matthew 15.3patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:22
“If Christ had not now made a visit to these coasts, though the mercy was worth travelling far for, it is probable that she had never come to him. Note, It is often an excitement to a dormant faith and zeal, to have opportunities of acquaintance with Christ brought to our doors, to have the word nigh us.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 23-24)
he answered her not a word: The silence tests the woman's persistence before it tests anything else, and the disciples read it as license to send her away, since she cries after us. Jesus states his own mission's present scope, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the same phrase he had given the twelve at their sending in 10:6, and the exposition treats this as an order of priority rather than a permanent wall, since the healing that follows breaks no rule he has just stated. The shepherd thread runs straight through this verse, Israel named as the flock he was first sent to gather.
Matthew 15:23
“But he answered her not a word,.... Not that he did not hear her, or that he despised either her person or petition, or that he was not moved with it; but to continue her importunity, and try her faith, and make it manifest: for like reasons the Lord does not always, and immediately, answer the requests of his people.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:23
“Not from pharisaical pride, or the superciliousness of the Scribes, but that He might not seem to contravene His own decision, Go not into the way of the Gentiles. For He was unwilling to give occasion to their cavils, and reserved the complete salvation of the Gentiles for the season of His passion and resurrection. The disciples, as yet ignorant of the mysteries of God or moved by compassion, beg for this Chananæan woman; or perhaps seeking to be rid of her importunity.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 15:24
“I am not sent but unto the lost sheep - By the Divine appointment, I am come to preach the Gospel to the Jews only. There are certain preachers who should learn a lesson of important instruction from this part of our Lord’s conduct. As soon as they hear of a lost sheep being found by other ministers, they give all diligence to get that one into their fold: but display little earnestness in seeking in the wilderness for those that are lost.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:24
“But he answered, and said,.... To his disciples, who knew how limited their commission was, that they were not to go into the way of the Gentiles, not to preach to them, nor perform miracles among them; and therefore could not reasonably expect that either the woman, or they, on her behalf, should succeed in this matter.”
Matthew 15:24
“A woman of Canaan - Canaan was also called Syrophenicia, as lying between Syria properly so called, and Phenicia, by the sea side. Cried to him - From afar, Thou Son of David - So she had some knowledge of the promised Messiah. He answered her not a word - He sometimes tries our faith in like manner.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3. (vv. 25-28)
Lord, help me: She worships and pleads again, and Jesus' hardest saying yet, it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs, uses kynaria, the diminutive for little dogs kept in the household rather than the scavengers of the street, which Clarke and Gill both read as leaving her an opening rather than shutting a door. She takes the opening and turns the picture into an argument of faith, the dogs eat of the crumbs, and Jesus answers with one of only two commendations of great faith in this Gospel, both given to Gentiles, the other being the centurion of chapter 8. Her daughter is healed in that very hour, without Jesus ever traveling to see her.
Matthew 15:25
“Note how perseveringly this Chananæan woman calls Him first Son of David, then Lord, and lastly came and worshipped him, as God. The Gentiles are called dogs because of their idolatry; who, given to the eating of blood, and dead bodies, turn to madness.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 15:26
“But he answered, and said,.... To the woman, as the Persic version reads it, and the sense requires: it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs; which he said, to try her faith the more, and make it the more illustrious; and that not so much from his own sense of things, as in the language of the Jewish people, and which she might not be a stranger to.”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:26
" Marcion must even expunge from the Gospel, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; " and, "It is not meet to take the children'sbread, and to cast it to dogs," -in order, forsooth, that Christ may not appear to be an Israelite.
Tertullian· written before 220· Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
Matthew 15:26
“The children’s bread - The salvation provided for the Jews, who were termed the children of the kingdom. And cast it to the κυναριοις, little dogs - to the curs; such the Gentiles were reputed by the Jewish people, and our Lord uses that form of speech which was common among his countrymen. What terrible repulses! and yet she still perseveres!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:26
“I TAKE the two records of Matthew and Mark that we may have the whole matter before us. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditations. The brightest jewels are often found in the darkest places. Christ had not found such faith, no, not in Israel, as he discovered in this poor Canaanite woman. The borders and fringes of the land were more fruitful than the center, where the farming had been more abundant!”
Matthew 15:27
“Truth, Lord - Ναι κυριε, Yes, Lord. This appears to be not so much an assent, as a bold reply to our Lord’s reason for apparently rejecting her suit. The little dogs share with the children, for they eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. I do not desire what is provided for these highly favored children, only what they leave: a single exertion of thy almighty power, in the healing of my afflicted daughter, is all that I wish for; and this the highly favored Jews can well spare, without lessening the provision made for themselves.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:27
“Wonderful are shown the faith, patience, and humility of this woman; faith, that she believed that her daughter could be healed; patience, that so many times overlooked, she yet perseveres in her prayers; humility, that she compares herself not to the dogs, but to the whelps.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Matthew 15:27
“DID YOU notice, in the reading of this narrative of the Syro-Phoenician woman, the two facts mentioned in the 21st and 22nd verses? "Then Jesus went from there and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region." See, Jesus goes towards the coast of Sidon on the land side and the woman of Canaan comes from the seashore to meet Him and so they come to the same town. May we find that case repeated this morning in this Tabernacle!”
Matthew 15:28
“O woman, great is thy faith - The hinderances thrown in this woman’s way only tended to increase her faith. Her faith resembles a river, which becomes enlarged by the dykes opposed to it, till at last it sweeps them entirely away with it. Her daughter was made whole - Persevering faith and prayer are next to omnipotent. No person can thus pray and believe, without receiving all his soul requires. This is one of the finest lessons in the book of God for a penitent, or for a discouraged believer. Look to Jesus!”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:28
“Then Jesus answered, and said unto her,.... As one surprised at the strength of her faith, and the clearness and justness of her pious reasoning; and not concealing himself, and the designs of grace, any longer from her, breaks out in great admiration of her, saying, O woman, great is thy faith!”
Matthew 15:28
“And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. We have here that famous story of Christ's casting the devil out of the woman of Canaan's daughter; it has something in it singular and very surprising, and which looks favourably upon the poor Gentiles, and is an earnest of the mercy which Christ had in store for them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Matthew 15:28
“I mean to dwell Especially upon those words at the end of the verse, "Be it unto you even as you will," but before we consider them, I should like to remind you again, as I did in the reading, that our Lord admired this woman's faith. He said unto her, "O woman, great is your faith." She was humble, she was patient, she was persevering, she was affectionate towards her child, but our Savior did not mention any of these things, for He was most of all struck by her faith.”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2446: “Carte Blanche” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
D. Healing on the Mountain; Four Thousand Fed
1. (vv. 29-31)
came nigh unto the sea of Galilee: Jesus returns toward Galilee and, on Mark's fuller account, into Gentile territory on its eastern shore, where multitudes bring the lame, blind, dumb and maimed to be healed at his feet. The response of the crowd is the notable phrase, they glorified the God of Israel, which Barnes reads as evidence the setting is largely Gentile, since a Jewish crowd would have simply glorified God, not specified whose God he is. The scene answers, in miniature, what the Canaanite woman's story had just argued, that the nations are being drawn to Israel's God through Israel's King.
Matthew 15:29
“And Jesus departed from thence,.... From the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, where he would have been private and retired; but being discovered, and knowing that the fame of this last miracle would make him more public in those parts, he removed, and passed through the midst of the coast of Decapolis, as Mark says, "and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee": the same with the sea of Tiberias.”
3 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:29
“Sea of Galilee - That is, the Lake of Gennesaret. For an account of the principal diseases mentioned here, see the notes at Mat 4:24. Maimed - Those to whom a hand or foot was wanting. See Mat 18:8. To cure them - that is, to restore a hand or foot - was a direct act of creative power. It is no wonder, therefore, that the people wondered. And they glorified the God of Israel - To glorify here means to praise; to acknowledge his power and goodness.”
Matthew 15:29
“The beginning of this passage contains three points which deserve our special attention. For the present let us dwell exclusively on them. In the first place, let us remark how much more pains people take about the relief of their bodily diseases than about their souls. We read that “ great multitudes came to Jesus having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others.” Many of them, no doubt, had journeyed many miles, andgone through great fatigues. Nothing is so difficult and troublesome as to move sick people.”
J.C. Ryle· Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)Reformed Evangelical
Matthew 15:29
“It was called also, the sea of Tiberias. It lay on the borders of Galilee, and the city of Tiberias stood on its western shore. It was likewise styled the lake of Gennesareth: perhaps a corruption of Cinnereth, the name by which it was anciently called, Num. xxxiv, 11.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 15:30
“Again Jesus went up on the mountain where he sat down. Not only people who were healthy but also those suffering from various disorders went up on the mountain where Jesus was sitting. Think of this mountain to which Jesus went up and sat as the church. It has been set up through the word of God over the rest of the world, and all sorts of people come to it. To this assembly have come not only the disciples, as if they were leaving behind the multitudes, as they did in the case of the Beatitudes.”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.18patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:30
“Those that were - maimed - Κυλλους. Wetstein has fully proved that those who had lost a hand, foot, etc., were termed κυλλοι by the Greeks.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:31
“The multitude wondered - And well they might, when they had such proofs of the miraculous power and love of God before their eyes. Blessed be God! the same miracles are continued in their spiritual reference. All the disorders of the soul are still cured by the power of Jesus.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 32-34)
I have compassion on the multitude: Jesus names the reason himself, compassion, before naming the problem, three days without food, and the exposition notes the deliberate parallel this scene draws to the feeding of the five thousand only two chapters earlier. The disciples' question, whence should we have so much bread, reads almost as though the earlier miracle had left no lasting mark on their expectations, and Henry treats their forgetfulness as ordinary human weakness rather than a fault singled out for rebuke here. Seven loaves and a few small fishes are named before the miracle, the same pattern of meager supply that opens every feeding account in this Gospel.
Matthew 15:32
“Christ first took away the infirmities of the sick, and afterwards supplied food to them that had been healed. Also He calls His disciples to tell them what He is about to do; Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude. This He does that He may give an example to masters of sharing their counsels with the young, and their disciples; or, that by this dialogue they might come to understand the greatness of the miracle.”
Jerome· written before 420· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:32
“The miracle recorded here - the feeding of the four thousand - took place on a mountain near the Sea of Galilee. The same account is recorded in Mar 8:1-10. The circumstances of the miracle are so similar to the one recorded in Mat 14:14-21, as to need little additional explanation. Mat 15:32 Three days, and have nothing to eat - This is not, perhaps, to be taken literally, but only that during that time they had been deprived of their ordinary or regular food.”
Matthew 15:32
“They continue with me now three days - It was now the third day since they came. He gave thanks, or blessed the food - That is, he praised God for it, and prayed for a blessing upon it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Matthew 15:33
“And his disciples said unto him,.... The former miracle of feeding five thousand men, besides women and children, with five loaves and two fishes, being quite out of their thoughts, they reply, whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:33
“Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, etc. - Human foresight, even in the followers of Christ, is very short. In a thousand instances, if we supply not its deficiency by faith, we shall be always embarrassed, and often miserable. This world is a desert, where nothing can be found to satisfy the soul of man, but the salvation which Christ has procured.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:34
“Since however they still spake of the multitude merely, and the place, and the wilderness (for "whence," it is said, "should we have in a wilderness so many loaves, as to fill so great a multitude"?); and not even so understood what He said, He proceeds to contribute His own part, and saith unto them, "How many loaves have ye? And they say, Seven, and a few little fishes." And they no more say, "But what are these among so many?" as they had said before.”
John Chrysostom· written before 407· Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 53patristic
3. (vv. 35-38)
sit down on the ground: The multitude sits, the loaves are broken with thanksgiving, and the crowd of four thousand men besides women and children eats until filled, with seven baskets of fragments left over. Clarke points out that the Greek word for these baskets, spyrides, differs from the kophinoi of the five thousand's account in chapter 14, a large hamper rather than a personal wallet basket, a detail the older harmonists used to answer the charge that Matthew has simply doubled one story into two. The differing numbers, five loaves against seven, twelve baskets against seven, five thousand against four thousand, stand in the text as the marks of two distinct events rather than one retold.
Matthew 15:35
“Be attentive to the difference between those things that are written in the various places in regard to the loaves. I think that this passage belongs to a different order than the others. Note the differences. Those were fed on a mountain, these in a desert place. These were fed after they had continued three days with Jesus, but those one day, on the evening of which they were fed. Is there an implication that those to whom Jesus shows kindness are superior when he fed them on the spot to demonstrate his kindness?”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.19patristic
Matthew 15:37
“And they did all eat, and were filled,.... Every one had a share of the provision, and that to full satisfaction; no one was overlooked and neglected, and everyone had as much as he could eat: and they took up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full. The disciples, after they had distributed to everyone his portion, went round, and collected the remaining fragments, and filled seven baskets therewith, according to the number of the loaves which were broken; and so had a full return for the loaves and fishes they spared on this occasion.”
2 more voices on this verse
Matthew 15:37
“They did all eat, and were filled - Εχορτασθησαν - they were satisfied. The husks of worldly pleasures may fill the man, but cannot satisfy the soul. A man may eat, and not be satisfied: it is the interest therefore of every follower of Christ to follow him till he be fed, and to feed on him till he be satisfied.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew 15:37
“They brought forward seven loaves of bread. The Gentiles received no salvation from the law and the prophets. However, they live because of the grace of the Spirit whose sevenfold light, as noted by Isaiah, is a gift. Therefore through faith in the Spirit the Gentiles receive salvation. They recline on the ground, for they were not subject to any works of the law or the flesh but were called in their earthly condition to the Spirit of the sevenfold light.”
Hilary of Poitiers· written before 367· Commentary on Matthew 15.10patristic
Matthew 15:38
“As that first multitude which He fed answers to the people among the Jews that believed; so this is compared to the people of the Gentiles, the number of four thousand denoting an innumerable number of people out of the four quarters of the earth.”
Hilary of Poitiers· written before 367· Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:38
“Four thousand - Let the poor learn from these miracles to trust in God for support. Whatever his ordinary providence denies, his miraculous power will supply.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4. (v. 39)
coasts of Magdala: Jesus sends the multitude away and crosses by boat to Magdala, named Dalmanutha in the parallel account of Mark, a variation the older harmonists take as two names for neighboring points on the same western shore rather than a contradiction. The brief notice closes a chapter that has moved from a Jerusalem delegation's complaint about hand washing to a Gentile crowd glorifying the God of Israel, and it sets the stage for the next confrontation, since chapter 16 opens with Pharisees and Sadducees meeting him on this very shore.
Matthew 15:39
“And he sent away the multitude,.... Dismissing them, either with a prayer for them, or with a suitable word of exhortation, to be thankful for the mercies, both spiritual and temporal, they had received, and behave agreeably in their lives and conversations: and took ship; being near the sea side, the sea of Galilee, and came into the coasts of Magdala: not far from Tiberias; for often mention is made of Magdala in the Talmud (s), along with Tiberias, and Chammath, another place in the same neighbourhood; and was famous for some Rabbins, as R. Joden and R.”
1 more voice on this verse
Matthew 15:39
“He sent away the multitude - But not before he had instructed their souls, and fed and healed their bodies. The coasts of Magdala - In the parallel place, Mar 8:10, this place is called Dalmanutha. Either Magdala was formed by a transposition of letters from Dalman, to which the Syriac termination atha had been added, or the one of these names refers to the country, and the other to a town in that neighborhood. Jesus went into the country, and proceeded till he came to the chief town or village in that district.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Minor Prophets, on Isaiah 29; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae on Matthew; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.