Mark 7:25

For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:24-30 Christ never put any from him that fell at his feet, which a poor trembling soul may do. As she was a good woman, so a good mother. This sent her to Christ. His saying, Let the children first be filled, shows that there was mercy for the Gentiles, and not far off. She spoke, not as making light of the mercy, but magnifying the abundance of miraculous cures among the Jews, in comparison with which a single cure was but as a crumb. Thus, while proud Pharisees are left by the blessed Saviour, he manifests his compassion to poor humbled sinners, who look to him for children's bread. He still goes about to seek and save the lost.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this miracle explained in the notes at Matthew 15:21-28.

Mark 7:24

Would have no man know it - To avoid the designs of the Pharisees he wished to be retired.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit—or, as in Matthew (Mt 15:22), "was badly demonized."

heard of him—One wonders how; but distress is quick of hearing.

and fell at his feet:

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 7:24"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For a certain woman,.... One way and means by which he came to be more openly discovered who he was, was this; a woman in those parts,

whose young daughter had an unclean spirit; a devil, with which she was possessed; hearing of some miracles he had wrought in healing the sick, and casting out devils;

heard of him, and came; and understanding that he was in such a place made all haste to him;

and fell at his feet; and with great respect and reverence to so venerable a person, threw herself at his feet, and earnestly entreated mercy for her child; believing he had power to cast the devil out of her, though at a distance from her.

Geneva Study Bible

For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 7:25. εὐθὺς: does not imply that the woman heard of Christ’s arrival as soon as it happened, but that, after hearing, she lost no time in coming = as soon as she heard. Yet sorrow, like the demoniacs, was quick to learn of His presence.—θυγάτριον: another of Mk.’s diminutives.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. heard of him] The fame of His miracles had already penetrated even to these old Phœnician cities, and we have seen (Mark 3:8) “a great multitude” from Tyre and Sidon coming to Him (comp. also Matthew 4:24).

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 7:25. Ἀκούσασα, having heard) If faith could thus be originated by a mere rumour, how much more ought it to be by a text of Scripture, even though but a short one!—γὰρ, for) Referring to the words, He could not be hid, Mark 7:24. Jesus put Himself in her way, along with the help He meant to give her: but He so controlled the affair, that He seemed to have acted as He did towards this Grecian woman, as it were fortuitously, whereas He had undertaken this whole journey for her sake. Comp. Matthew 18:12.—τὸ θυγάτριον, young daughter) Boys also are capable of being the subjects of demoniacal possession, ch. Mark 9:21; Mark 9:24 : as also heathens.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 25-27. - The construction of this verse is Hebraistic (see Acts 15:17). Instead of ἀκούσασα γὰρ, the approved reading is ἀλλ εὐθὺς ἀκούσασα: But straightway a woman, whose young daughter literally, little daughter; St. Mark is fond of diminutives - had an unclean spirit. All ages were liable to this incursion of unclean spirits. The woman seems to have come from a distance. She was a Greek - that is, a Gentile - a Syro-phoenician by race, as distinguished from the Libyan Phoenicians, of Carthage. She was a descendant from those seven nations of Canaan which had been driven out by God's command. They were called in their own language "Canaanites," And she besought him (ἠρώτα); literally, asked him. St. Matthew (Matthew 15:22) says that "she cried (ἐκραύγασεν), have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David." Aristotle says that "parents love their children more than their children love them; because love descends, and because parents desire that their children should survive them, that they may live on in their children, as it were, after death; that they become, so to speak, immortal through their children, and possess that eternity, which they cannot have in themselves, in their children and their children's children." St. Matthew (Matthew 15:23) tells us that at first "he answered her not a word," and he does not record the remarkable saying, Let the children first be filled, which in St. Mark precedes the words, it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. Dogs abound in Palestine and the surrounding districts, but they are not cared for. They go about in packs, with no particular masters and no particular homes. They seem to be chiefly useful as scavengers. Nevertheless, the dog of the East is amenable to kindness shown him by man, and there, as in England, children and young dogs soon become friendly. It is of (κυνάρια) "little dogs" that our Lord here speaks. Our Lord here speaks after the manner of the Jews, who called the Gentiles dogs, as distinguished from themselves, the children of the kingdom. Let the children first be filled. Suffer me first to heal all the Jews who need my help. Our Lord makes at first as though he would refuse her request; and yet it is not an absolute denial. There might be hope for her when the children were filled. Thus Christ oftentimes deals with holy souls, namely, by humbling and mortifying them when they desire anything at his hands, in order that with yet greater importunity and humility they may seek and obtain it. St. Chrysostom says, "Whether we obtain that which we seek for, or whether we obtain it not, let us ever persevere in prayer. And let us give thanks, not only if we obtain, but even if we fail to obtain. For when God denies us anything, it is no less a favor than if he had granted it; for we know not as he does what is most expedient for us." Mark 7:25

Vincent's Word Studies

Daughter (θυγάτριον)

Diminutive. Rev., little daughter. See on Mark 5:23.