Why Did Jesus Call The Gentile Woman a Dog?

But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Mark 7:27

This verse comes from an incident in the Bible where a woman who was not a Jew came to Jesus and asked Him to cast a demon out of her daughter. This verse was His answer to her. 

At first glance, what Jesus said to this woman is kind of hard to take. It sounds like He could be insulting her. The Greek word used here means a domesticated dog, i.e. a house dog, a little dog, or even a puppy. Because of this, commentators have tried to soften the remark by saying that Jesus wasn’t actually calling her a dog, but a puppy instead. The only thing that we know for sure is that he was referring to a dog that would be a pet. 

If this woman was a believer in Yahweh, the God of Israel, then she would have been considered a part of Israel even before Jesus had died on the cross. It doesn’t matter if no other person in Israel would have known she was a follower of God, Jesus certainly would have known. 

When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. Exodus 12:48

There is also an entire book in the Old Testament about a gentile woman who chose to follow Yahweh and leave her people and their false gods. It is the book of Ruth, a beautiful and romantic story which tells how she was accepted and given all the rights of a native Israelite.

So trying to explain this away by saying Jesus was calling her a puppy doesn’t make it any better. Family dogs and even the cutest little puppies were considered unclean animals in Israel. Being called this would have never been considered a term of endearment. I mean really, what wife wants to be called “puppy” by her husband?

Or do we as parents refer to our kids as puppies? Kids? Fine. Puppies? No. We don’t call them that. (Thinking about this even deeper brings to mind that in the Bible kids are clean animals, puppies are not. This proves how much the Bible has influenced even the way we speak…just a side note.)

Other commentators have taught that Jesus called her a dog because that’s what Jews called the Gentiles, and it was okay because God had separated the Gentiles from the Jews. Again, the Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs because they were considered unclean. Why would Jesus go along with that if this woman were a follower of God? 

This teaching seems to be more egregious than the first common explanation because it shows a lack of knowledge of a major teaching of the Old Testament, and it can be destructive to the faith of many believers. 

I’ll give you a personal example. Years ago in a Sunday school class we were taught that the promises of the Old Testament didn’t apply to Christians but only to the Jews. I was devastated. I had just learned that all of the promises that I relied on to get through life were never for me. I went home very upset. I sat down and started praying. I just couldn’t believe that all of my faith in God’s promises was wrong. I asked God to show me if I had been right or wrong all along.

Then something amazing happened. I started reading the Bible, and this is what I read:

Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people…. Isaiah 56:3a

The Bible is true and every part of it applies to us. This verse among many others teaches that it is very wrong and never appropriate to divide people by their ethnicities. God is clear about how we should be divided. It is by our faith in Him. 

When God commanded the Israelites to separate from other peoples it always meant that they were to separate from their false gods. Unfortunately the Jews misconstrued this separation to mean physical separation and not spiritual. This was never intended by God. In fact the whole purpose of choosing Israel and setting them apart was for the purpose of being witnesses of God to all the nations.

…and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:6a 

A priest is a representative of God to people. That was the whole purpose of the calling of Israel. But instead of being a holy people and separating themselves from the sinful practices of the nations, Israel embraced their practices but held themselves aloof from the people.

This is not pointing the finger at someone else, but a dire warning to the followers of Jesus today - the Christian. We are to be separate from the world spiritually only, never physically.

We are to go out and change people’s minds about God and who He is and what He wants for them. We don’t do this by embracing their behavior in order to win them over. 

On the other hand, we also don’t do it by looking down on them as if they are unclean and not worthy of our association. Instead we are to look at their behavior as that of a person who is doing the things that naturally come to him and needs to change his mind…which is the true meaning of repentance. 

Now back to our opening verse. Why did Jesus say this to the woman? As we just learned, the Old Testament shows that He was not excluding a true follower from being a child until after His resurrection just because of her ethnicity.

So then, why did Jesus compare her to a specific type of dog?  Why did God make this distinction between a dog as a pet and a wild one? Well, house dogs are trained and follow what the owners expect. They behave better than wild dogs. Jesus was letting this woman (and us) know that she was not a true child of God no matter how moral she was or how many rules and regulations she followed. 

Was it loving? Of course it was. Jesus was telling her the truth. It was more like an invitation to come all the way. Her answer was both amazing and unfortunate.

But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Mark 7:28

She knew that she was not a true follower, and so answered, “Yes, Lord." She was depending on her good behavior! But she also had faith that God is so good He will have mercy on anyone who comes to Him and will grant them their requests if it is good for them.

This woman is a wonderful witness to the awesome love of God!

The unfortunate part is that she said that she would take the crumbs rather than becoming a genuine child. God acknowledges her faith and her acceptance of her spiritual condition in His answer to her. The Gospels tell us two things He said in his reply:

Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” Matthew 15:28 and,

He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” Mark 7:29

Jesus encourages the faith that she does have but then tells her to go her way and that He has given her request. He allowed her to continue on her own path with no forcing, no strings, just pure love and truth. The good news is that this approach seems to have worked. The next verse lets us know that she may have taken the invitation to become a child.

She went away to her house and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out. Mark 7:30

If the writers of the Gospels knew this, then it’s possible she had further contact with them, which may indicate that she started following along with them. The information is quite detailed after all.

This powerful incident is a lesson to those who read it. To the person who thinks it's good enough just to follow the rules of the house, it will help them understand that they can never be good enough to be a child of God. No, they must humble themselves and realize that it is only through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice that allows us the inheritance of eternal life with Him.   

To the Christian it shows how to witness to the many people who believe they are good through their own works and are not quite ready to admit that they are sinners in need of a Savior. We can do this by speaking the truth gently with love and using this to draw the person into becoming a child with all the fullness of joy that comes with it.