the third commandment; speaking evil of our neighbour, against the ninth commandment; these come from a contempt and disesteem of both in the heart; thence the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost proceeds; (ch. 12. 33, 34.) these are the overflowings of the gall within.
Now these are the things which defile a man, v. 20. Note, Sin is defiling to the soul, renders it unlovely and abominable in the eyes of the pure and holy God, unfit for communion with him, and for the enjoyment of him in the new Jerusalem, into which nothing shall enter, that defileth, or worketh iniquity. The mind and conscience are defiled by sin, and that makes every thing else so, Tit 1. 15. This defilement by sin, was signified by the ceremonial pollutions which the Jewish doctors added to, but understood not. See Heb. 9. 13, 14. 1 John 1. 7.
These therefore are the things we must carefully avoid, and all approaches toward them, and not lay stress upon the washing of the hands. Christ doth not yet repeal the law of the distinction of meats, (that was not done till Acts 10.) but the tradition of the elders, which was tacked to that law; and therefore he concludes, To eat with unwashen hands, (which was the matter now in question,) this defileth not a man. If he wash, he is not the better before God; if he wash not, he is not the worse.
21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. 24. But he answered and said, I am not sent butunto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me! 26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. 28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. 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 that mercy which Christ had in store for them. Here is a gleam of that light which was to lighten the Gentiles, Luke 2. 32. Christ came to his own, and his own received him not; but many of them quarrelled with him, and were offended in him; and observe what follows, v. 21.
I. Jesus went thence. Note, Justly is the light taken from those that either play by it, or rebel against it. When Christ and his disciples could not be quiet among them, he left them, and so left an example to his own rule, (ch. 10. 14.) Shake off the dust of your feet. Though Christ endure long, he will not always endure the contradiction of sinners against himself. He had said, (v. 14.) Let them alone, and he did so. Note, Wilful prejudices against the gospel, and cavils at it, often provoke Christ to withdraw, and to remove the candlestick out of its place, Acts 13. 45, 51.
II. When he went thence, he departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon; not to those cities, (they were excluded from any share in Christ's mighty works, ch. 11. 21, 22.) but into that part of the land of Israel which lay that way: thither he went, as Elias to Sarepta, a city of Sidon; (Luke 4. 25.) thither he went to look after this poor woman, whom he had mercy in reserve for. While he went about doing good, he was never out of his way. The dark corners of the country, which lay most remote, shall have their share of his benign influences; and as now the ends of the land, so afterward the ends of the earth, shall see his salvation, Isa. 49. 6. Here it was, that this miracle was wrought, in the story of which we may observe,
1. The address of the woman of Canaan to Christ, v. 22. She was a Gentile, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel; probably one of the posterity of those accursed nations that were devoted by that word, Cursed be Canaan. Note, The doom of political bodies doth not always reach every individual member of them. God will have his remnant out of all nations, chosen vessels in all coasts, even the most unlikely: she came out of the same coasts. 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.
Her address was very importunate, she cried to Christ, as one in earnest; cried, as being at some distance from him, not daring to approach too near, being a Canaanite, lest she should give offence. In her address,
(1.) She relates her misery; My daughter is grievously vexed with a devil, κακῶς δαιμονίζεται—She is ill-bewitched, or possessed. There were degrees of that misery, and this was the worst sort. It was a common case at that time, and very calamitous. Note, The vexations of children are the trouble of parents, and nothing should be more so than their being under the power of Satan. Tender parents very sensibly feel the miseries of those that are pieces of themselves; "Though vexed with the devil, yet she is my daughter still." The greatest afflictions of our relations do not dissolve our obligations to them, and therefore ought not to alienate our affections from them. It was the distress and trouble of her family, that now brought her to Christ; she came to him, not for teaching, but for healing; yet, because she came in faith, he did not reject her. Though it is need that drives us to Christ, yet we shall not therefore be driven from him. It was the affliction of her daughter that gave her this occasion of applying to Christ. It is good to make the afflictions of others our own, in sense and sympathy, that we may make them our own, in improvement and advantage.
(2.) She requests for mercy; Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. In calling him Lord, the Son of David, she owns him to be the Messiah: that is the great thing which faith should fasten upon, and fetch comfort from. From the Lord we may expect acts of power, he can command deliverances; from the Son of David we may expect all the mercy and grace which were foretold concerning him. Though a Gentile, she owns the promise made to the fathers of the Jews, and the honour of the house of David. The Gentiles must receive Christianity, not only as an improvement of natural religion, but as the perfection of the Jewish religion, with an eye to the Old Testament.
Her petition is, Have mercy on me. She doth not limit Christ to this or that particular instance of
