Jesus' words, His answer to the Gentile woman's request that He free her daughter from the power of dark forces, may seem excessively harsh, even cruel. Yet there was no cruelty in them, only the statement of a simple fact obvious to everyone at the time: the world is divided into...
Jesus' words, His answer to the Gentile woman's request that He free her daughter from the power of dark forces, may seem excessively harsh, even cruel. Yet there was no cruelty in them, only the statement of a simple fact obvious to everyone at the time: the world is divided into Jews and Gentiles, into the people of God and all the other nations. This was a fundamental division that could not be ignored.
In this case “dog” is not an insult, but simply a symbol of uncleanness: for a Jew every Gentile was unclean by definition, regardless of the life he led and even of whether he believed in the God of Israel. It is God who cleanses a person. To be clean, one must belong to the people of God, who, as the sages of the Second Temple period taught, constitute a spiritual unity, a kind of single spiritual body. No one can be clean without belonging to it. Gentiles, of course, saw the matter differently; but the woman mentioned in the Gospel story was addressing a Jew and hoping in the power and mercy of the God of Israel, so her own opinions and views were not what mattered in this case.
By comparing Gentiles to dogs, to unclean animals, Jesus thereby makes the matter absolutely clear. The people of God really are the people of God, purity truly matters, and paganism truly stands below Yahwism—as far below as any pagan religion, whatever may lie behind it, stands below the faith of Abraham and Moses. The coming of Christ did not mean that all boundaries became blurred and all distinctions were erased; as such, they remained unchanged. What changed was something else: the general order of things, which, while preserving distinctions and even boundaries where they are appropriate, decisively destroyed every wall and barrier. In the fallen world, making a boundary impassable often becomes the only guarantee of its reliability.
It is not so in the Kingdom: there are no boundaries or distinctions there that cannot be crossed or overcome. Yet the distinctions themselves do not disappear; they merely acquire a new quality and cease to be hostile to one another. These are the distinctions Jesus invites the Gentile woman to accept, and along with them her own spiritual and existential condition as a given. Without accepting herself as she is, she cannot enter the Kingdom.
Naturally, there could be no question of this woman's having a right to her daughter's healing. But in the Kingdom there is no talk of rights at all: rights enter the discussion only when every relationship has been destroyed and each person who once took part in it now feverishly tries to preserve the remnants of what he once possessed in fullness, naturally and freely. The woman accepts the rules of life in the Kingdom: she claims nothing; she merely asks Jesus to enter her life and her daughter's life. Then He does enter, for such trust opens to Him doors that, for the one who opens them, become the doors of the Kingdom.
11 Solomon's many wives turn his heart from God, Ki1 11:1-8.
God reproves and threatens him, Ki1 11:9-13.
Stirs up Hadad and Rezon against him, Ki1 11:14-25.
An account of Jeroboam, Ki1 11:26-40.
Solomon's death and burial, Ki1 11:41-43.
11:4 Was old - As having now reigned nigh thirty years. When it might have been expected that experience would have made him wiser: then Godpermitted him to fall so shamefully, that he might be to all succeedinggenerations an example of the folly, and weakness of the wisest and thebest men, when left to themselves. Turned his heart - Not that theychanged his mind about the true God, and idols, which is not credible; butthey obtained from him a publick indulgence for their worship, and possiblypersuaded him to join with them in the outward act of idol - worship; or, atleast, in their feasts upon their sacrifices, which was a participation oftheir idolatry.
11:5 Milcom - Called also Moloch.
11:6 Did evil - That is, did not worship God wholly, but joined idols with him.
11:7 An high place - That is, an altar upon the high place, as the manner of the Heathens was. The hill - In the mount of olives, whichwas nigh unto Jerusalem, Ki1 15:30, and from this act was calledthe mount of corruption, Ki2 23:13. As it were, to confront thetemple.
11:8 And sacrificed, etc - See what need those have to stand upon their guard, who have been eminent for religion. The devil will set upon themmost violently: and if they miscarry, the reproach is the greater. It isthe evening that commends the day. Let us therefore fear, lest having runwell, we come short.
11:12 Fathers sake - For my promise made to him, Ki1 7:12-15.
11:13 One tribe - Benjamin was not entirely his, but part of it adhered to Jeroboam, as Bethel, Ki1 12:29,and Hephron, Ch2 13:19, both which were towns ofBenjamin.