A Daughter Vexed with a Devil - Matthew 15:22

Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus said, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man. Then Jesus went from there, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon”, and in chapter fifteen and verse twenty-two of his book, Matthew shares how, “a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast” asking Jesus for help with her daughter who was “grievously vexed with a devil” where we read:

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, you Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

The verse reads, “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, ...”. Matthew began with the words, “and, behold” which means “and lo and see” “a woman” or “a female human being” “of Canaan” which means “from Canaan which was the name of the ancient land of Palestine before its conquest by the Israelites” “came out of the same coasts” which means “emitted and flow from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon”, “and cried” or “cried aloud or shouted” “unto him” which means “to Jesus”. Matthew shared how a “woman” who was a “Canaanite” from the “coastlines of Tyre and Sidon” approached Jesus and asked the following to Him.

The verse continues, “... Have mercy on me, O Lord, you Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” Matthew added the words, “have mercy” which means “have compassion, pity and divine grace” “on me” or “upon the woman who came to Jesus”, “O Lord” which means “O One to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the Messiah”, “you Son of David” or “Jesus who is King David's Son”; “my daughter” which refers to “the woman's female child” “is grievously” or “is miserably, improperly and wrongly” “vexed with a devil” which means “to be under the power of a demon”. Matthew shared how the “woman” pled with Jesus to have “pity and compassion” upon her because her daughter was “demon possessed”.

When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we see how desperate this woman was for her daughter. She was a “Gentile”, and Jesus was a Jew. These two groups usually did not mingle together, however, all barriers of nation and ethnicity are broken down when a “child” is in trouble. Somehow this “woman” heard about Jesus, and no barrier would keep her from Him. God desires to have a relationship with people from all over the world through His Son Jesus Christ, and when they yield their lives to Him in desperation, He is ready and able to respond to their needs.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus, “answered her not a word”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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