Anonymous1977
(NOT AFFILIATED WITH GROUP CALLED, "ANONYMOUS")
- Thread starter
- #21
Even so, one of the definitions of 'above' is 'rather than.' Once more, Jews tend to see themselves as a people chosen for a particular purpose.
Jesus was making a comparison. People are fed before dogs; Jesus came for the faithful before others. Once read a commentary on this, where someone saw the entire episode as Jesus having fun with the Apostles. They were so embarrassed that a woman was following after them and making a scene, and they were elbowing Jesus to get him to make the woman go away. Instead, causing them greater embarrassment, he a male speaks to a woman--and a non-Jewish woman at that--engages her in conversation. Just when their faces cannot become any redder, Jesus (with perhaps a twinkle in his eye) reminds the woman that not only is she female (gasp), she's not a Jew (whom the mean portion of the population refers to as dogs). The woman seems to see the humor, because apparently the word she uses to reference dogs translates better as little dogs or puppies.
But the reason the story is included in the Gospel (whether there was actual humor or not) is to make the point that Jesus helped people of faith, no matter what their nationality, no matter what their standing with the Jews.
Can't get to a respectable dictionary source but the meaning of the word "above" is obvious. If SCOLARS chose to translate the Hebrew as "above," as opposed to "in preference to"/"rather than," then it's pretty obvious to me what the Hebrew means.
And as for Jesus' "dogs" reference, I'll quote the NKJV of Mark 7:24-30 and one can see for him/her self what Jesus was saying:
"(24)From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. (25)For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. (26)The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. (27)But Jesus said to her, 'Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.' (28)And she answered and said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.' (29)Then He said to her, 'For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.' (30)And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed."
Anyone can claim that it's really saying this or that or that it really means this or that but the facts are that her not being one of "the children" made her "a little dog" according to Jesus...that is clearly racism Ma'am.
Last edited: