Why Did Christ Heal The Daughter Of The Canaanite Woman?
This story can be found at Matt. 15: 21-28 and Mark 7:24-30, and they read as follows:
“21 Then Yahshua 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 Master, 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 but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Master, 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, Master: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 28 Then Yahshua 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.” ...
“24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Yahshua said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Master: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.”
In Ted R. Weiland’s July 14, 2005 letter to Tony Gonyer, Weiland asked the question: “You (Tony) also wrote that you ‘Can not in good conscience support a ministry that throws their pearls to swine and gives the children’s bread to the dogs.’ I (Ted) gather from this that you then would not support Yahweh’s ministry being that He gave some crumbs of bread to a dog ... It would be one thing, Tony, if I were neglecting the children and only ministering to non-Israelites, but you know that is not the case ...”
It’s ironic, but at the bottom of the page on Weiland’s specially designed stationary in light italics, Weiland has the following quote: “...But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 10:6. What is there about the words “go not ... but rather go” that Weiland doesn’t understand? Christ, rather than “going to”, was actually trying to completely avoid both the Canaanite woman and her daughter; and to be Christian, so should Weiland. Actually, He wanted “no man” to know He was there!
CHRIST HAD NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER
If one will simply take the time to study these things rather than just be a surface reader, the entire incident will become clear. Repeating Weiland’s idiotic statement: “I (Ted) gather from this that you then would not support Yahweh’s ministry being that He gave some crumbs of bread to a dog ... It would be one thing, Tony, if I were neglecting the children and only ministering to non-Israelites, but you know that is not the case ...” What an asinine assertion on Weiland’s part, as Yahweh had no “ministry” to the Canaanites, but “he made a show of them openly ...”, Colossians 2:15!
THE OVERALL PICTURE
Without exploring the entire context of this subject it eludes us, as often, we too quickly jump to conclusions. Therefore, let’s go back to the beginning and progressively bring it up to Yahshua-Christ’s time. To start this progression, let’s go back to Genesis 15:18-21, and I will use bullets to target several significant passages.
Genesis 15:18-21: “18 In the same day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
The Canaanite woman whose daughter Christ healed was of one of these ten tribes or a mixture of several of them. Here at Genesis 15:19-21 are listed ten nations and they eventually race-mixed so much that in Deuteronomy 7:1-2 there are but seven. The Kenites, Kenizzites and Rephaims were completely absorbed by the other nations of this group from which the bad-fig “Jews” are in part descended.
This full passage reads, verse 1 to 7:
“1 When Yahweh thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when Yahweh thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For thou art an holy people unto Yahweh thy God: Yahweh thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
Leviticus 18:24-25: “24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.”
Exodus 23:31-33: “31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.”
At Judges chapter 1:2, Yahweh commanded Judah to drive the Canaanites out of the land. At verse 3, Judah requested Simeon’s help.
Judges 1:17-18: “17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.”
Judges 1:21: “And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.”
Judges 1:27-35: 27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: 32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. 34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.”
Judges 2:20-23: “20 And the anger of Yahweh was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; 21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 23 Therefore Yahweh left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.”
Joshua 23:13: “Know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God hath given you.”
Numbers 33:55: “But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.”
It is overwhelmingly obvious from this sacred Scripture that Yahweh gave Israel a commission to kill every last Canaanite, man, woman and child. Secondly, it is crystal-clear that because the twelve tribes didn’t obey Yahweh’s decree that He decided to use the Canaanites to chastise Israel, as is evident at Hebrews 12:8: “But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”
You see, the Canaanite woman whose daughter Yahshua-Christ healed had Him over the proverbial barrel, or “on the spot” one might say. Except on condition that one has only a 2x4 mentality like Ted R. Weiland, otherwise, one can readily comprehend that the Canaanites were given a temporary reprieve, or as we might say a “stay-of-execution.” So the only reason that makes any sense as regards to Christ healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman was so that daughter could procreate more Canaanites to be “pricks” and “thorns” to Israel! In fact, Yahshua-Christ had just previously given the parable of the “wheat and tares”, projecting their demise in the end-time “harvest”, so Christ could hardly default against His own spoken Words, could He? Therefore, He had no choice in the matter of healing the Canaanite woman’s daughter!
As for the Canaanite woman’s “great faith.” The word “faith” at Matt. 15:28 is #4102 in the Greek and has multifaceted meanings. Barnes’ Notes on verse 28 says in part, “... perseverance manifested in pressing her suit.” In other words it was a mega-over-powering faith as opposed to a humble Christian faith. Adam Clark in his Commentary, vol. 5, page 92 says in part: “... Her faith resembles a river, which becomes enlarged by the dikes opposed to it, till at last it sweeps them entirely away.” Hardly Christian, and the “faith” found at Luke 18:1-8!
As I have showed you clearly, the main reason Yahshua-Christ healed the Canaanite woman’s daughter was to continue the chastisement of Israel, not to teach the Canaanites “Yahweh’s laws” as Weiland so foolishly claims.
In Weiland’s distorted Alice in Wonderland mentality, the Old Testament God was wrong in wanting all the Canaanites killed; so that when Christ met this Canaanite woman, He repented and healed her daughter, and now Weiland imagines he can accept her and her daughter into the Kingdom along with all their relatives.
And by the way, of the original ten Canaanite tribes, the first mentioned at Gen. 15:19-21 are the Kenites, designated by Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance in his Hebrew and Chaldee dictionary #’s 7014 & 7017 are the descendants of Cain. All this shows a total lack of Biblical discernment on Weiland’s part.
Clifton A. Emahiser’s Teaching Ministries
