The Gospel of Mark Chapter 7:24-8:9

Persistency in Asking 24 - 30 7.24. After Jesus left there, he went to the region of Tyre. When he went into a house, he did not

want anyone to know, but he was not able to escape notice.

Jesus departs from those to whom He was sent to, the Jews and goes into the area of Tyre and Sidon

in Syria that was a Gentile country. Tyre was a very important seaport and is in fact an island just off

the shore. Sidon was about twenty miles away from there. Because this was Gentile country it would

seem that Jesus for a while needed a time of rest from the people He was sent to minister to (Math.

15: 24). The end of verse suggests this for He did not want anyone to know that He was there but

this was not possible for one person at least had heard that Jesus was in the area and she had such a

desperate need that it made her determined that no one and nothing was going to stop her from

taking this need to the Lord.

7.25 - 26. Instead, a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about

him and came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, of Syrophoenician origin. She asked him

to cast the demon out of her daughter.

This woman by nationality was a Syro-phenician, that is, she was a Phoenician living in Syria and by

religion as opposed to a Jew was a Gentile. The fame of Jesus and the miracles that He had done had

gone over the border into a foreign country and this woman having heard all about it sought Him

out. She did not come to Him for herself but for the desperate need of her daughter who was

possessed by a demon. Such was the love that this woman had for her daughter that she was

prepared to go to whatever lengths necessary to help her. Yet not even a mother's love exceeds the

love that God has (Isaiah 49: 15). Although this woman had nothing in her favour in being excepted

or heard by Jesus and the chances of her request being granted nil yet on seeing Jesus she a Gentile

of all things falls at His feet in all humility and begs Him to deliver her daughter. In Mathew's gospel

chapter 15: 22 - 23 we are told that she cried to Him using His title that only the Jews would use of

the Messiah "O Lord, thou Son of David." A title that she had no right to call Him. Jesus completely

ignored her and when she persisted in spite of this snub the disciples begged Him to sent her away

but she would not be put off by anything. Was the Lord being completely ignorant and inattentive to

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this woman's need? Did He have no compassion for her daughter? Was He testing her faith or

showing her that He had come as the Messiah to the Jew and not to the Gentiles?

7.27. He said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children's bread

and to throw it to the dogs."

He turns and in fact tells her that He has come to the Jew first and that it was their day of

opportunity to receive from Him all that He had come to give from the Father and it was not right to

take that which belongs to the children (bread) and give it to those who had no claims to it the dogs.

The Jews referred to the Gentiles in an insulting manner as dogs although the Lord does not use it to

this woman in this way as the correct reading here would be "little dogs" meaning the house dog.

The Jews were God's chosen people and He had separated them to Himself that through them the

Saviour of the world may come (Deut. 14: 2). The time of the Gentiles had not yet come but God had

never planned to exclude them from obtaining salvation (Isaiah 42: 6, Luke 2: 32). In His

foreknowledge God knew that Israel as a nation would reject the Messiah (Christ) and this would

open the door for the Gentiles to accept Him (Acts 14: 27, Rom. 11: 11).

7.28. She answered, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

The woman was not offended or discouraged by this remark but accepted that what He had said was

quite true but pointed out that the dogs under the table that waited for the crumbs received and eat

of them. She accepted that as a Gentile she had no claims to the promises made to the children of

Israel but appealed to the mercy of God to receive whatever the children rejected.

7.29. Then he said to her, "Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter."

Here it is recorded that for this saying the Lord cast out the demon from her daughter. In Matthew

15: 28 it records that Jesus said “woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." Jesus

saw in what this woman had said the greatness of the faith that she had in Him and so she received

what she came for.

7.30. She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

When she arrived home she found her daughter delivered even as Jesus said. This is the only

recording of Jesus having delivered someone from demon possession from a distance. This was also

the first recording in Mark of ahealing of a Gentile.

The Faith of Faithful Friends 31 - 37. 7.31. Then Jesus went out again from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee

in the region of the Decapolis.

Jesus did not prolong His stay in Syria, perhaps like the woman He met at the well of Sychar where it

states that “He needs go through Samaria” (John 4: 4) for the purpose of meeting her that He also

needed to go to Syria to meet with and deliver the woman's daughter.

7.32. They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his

hands on him.

The friends of the deaf and dumb man prove to be "friends indeed." Ones that could be trusted and

depended on (Prov. 17: 17 and !8: 24). It is in their faithfulness to him that they bring him to Jesus

and it is their faith in Jesus that brings the man his healing.

7.33. After Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man's ears,

and after spitting, he touched his tongue.

The Lord handles this man in a special way and as He always does as an individual. He considered the

man's condition, being deaf he would not be able to hear what Jesus said to him and so the Lord

uses a type of sign language that the man could understand what He was going to do. His fingers in

his ears to show that He was going to heal his deafness and the touch of the tongue to enable him to

speak.

7.34 - 35. Then he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, "Ephphatha" (that is, be opened"). And

immediately the man's ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly.

The looking up to heaven would tell the man that Jesus was praying for him. At the command

"Ephphatha, be opened" he immediately hears and is able to speak without any impediment in his

speech at all completely healing.

7.36. Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they

proclaimed it all the more.

Again Jesus commands the people not to say anything about what has happened but they disobey

and do so all the more.

7.37. People were completely astounded and said, "He has done everything well. He even makes the

deaf hear and the mute speak."

This time the people were overwhelmed with amazement that He is able to make the deaf to hear

and the dumb to speak and declare that He has done everything excellently. This remark echoes the

words in Genesis 1 after each act of creation “and God saw that it was good”.

The Lord Provides 8: 1 - 9. This feeding of the four thousand is not a repeat account of the feeding of the five thousand. It is a

separate miracle and there are a few differences in it. It is these differences that we will note.

8. 1 - 4. In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples

and said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me

three days, and they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and

some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples answered him, "Where can someone

get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?"

These people had hungered and thirsted for the "bread of heaven" for three days and had received

this from the mouth of Jesus. Now Jesus could see that they were physically in need of nourishment

and would not have enough strength to go to the towns to get food for themselves. Moved with

compassion this time He does not challenge the faith of the disciples by asking them to feed them

but asks what they have to hand.

8. 5 - 6. He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They replied, "Seven."

Then he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave

thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So they served the crowd.

This time it is seven loaves (two more) and a few fish. He takes the loaves first gave thanks for them

breaks them in pieces and gave them to the disciples who distribute it among the people.

8.7. They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well.

Afterwards He takes the fish blesses them and then these are given to the people. What is the

difference between giving thanks and blessing? To give thanks is to freely express gratitude for what

has been provided even if it is only such a small amount among so many. To bless is to celebrate

with praises acknowledging the goodness of God with a desire for His glory even for the little we

might have or receive.

8.8 - 9. Everyone ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets

full. There were about four thousand6 who ate. Then he dismissed them.

So they all did eat sufficiently and this time there were only seven baskets left over. Seven in the

scriptures is the perfect number. The Lord had perfectly provided just what the people had need of

and so He still does to us. Do we give thanks in everything and for everything even the small things?

Do we bless God for the little things as well as the great things that He does and gives to us?

© Derek Williams 2013 Bible Studies Online UK www.biblestudiesonline.org.uk

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Scriptures taken from the NET Bible www.bible.org