Sometime ago we spent a period with a group of lovely Christian folk who gathered each evening for a reading

of the Word. The Gospel of Mark was the book chosen, and night after night we followed the earthly ministry of the

Son of God, and read about demon possession, healing of diseases, parables of the mysteries of the kingdom of

heaven, feeding thousands in a desert, and the calming of a tempest, but never of redeeming grace. It so happened

that when our reading reached Mark 7, the present writer was asked to take verses 24-37, in which we read of

`crumbs' that fell from Israel's table. I asked them, and I ask you who read these lines, `Are you living on

"CRUMBS", while the unsearchable riches of Christ await your acceptance, but remain to all intents a closed book?'

Crumbs from the Master's table, the title of this chapter, was suggested by the record of Matthew 15 and that of

Mark 7.

THE PLACE The coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

THE RACE A woman of Canaan, A Greek,

A Syrophenician, in other words a Gentile.

To this woman's pleading, the Saviour gives the following reply:

`l am NOT SENT but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matt. 15:24).

We are here on the same dispensational ground as in Matthew 10, when the Lord said:

`GO NOT into the way of the Gentiles' (Matt. 10:5).

Is it not amazing, that godly believers can read these two statements and still go on as though no such prohibition

had been made, and that all that is written in these chapters belongs to, and is applicable to, the Church. While our

Saviour walked the earth, the hour had not yet come when He could be proclaimed as the Saviour of the world. The

Lord honoured that principle of interpretation, so vilified by many, namely `Right Division' not only in Matthew 10

and 15, but in the treatment of Isaiah 61:1,2 as can be seen in Luke 4:16-21.

The Gospel according to Matthew falls into two parts, both marked by a note of time. `From that time'.

`From that time Jesus BEGAN to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand' (Matt. 4:17).

`From that time forth BEGAN Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer

many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day' (Matt.

If we believe the Word of God we shall have to admit that all teaching that precedes Matthew 16:21 had no

references to Jesus Christ and Him crucified, dead, buried and risen, but are we willing to take this to its logical

conclusion? This woman of Canaan was descended, as far as we can tell, from the Canaanites of Zidon which Asher

failed to drive out as recorded in Judges 1:31. Those of us who see our calling clearly, in Ephesians 1:3-14, see also

in Ephesians 2:12 that we were `outsiders' too.

`That at that time ye were WITHOUT CHRIST, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and

from the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE, and without God in the world' (Eph. 2:12).

But here the similarity ends. Do WE beg CRUMBS that fall from ISRAEL'S table? Read the charter of this church

(Eph. 1:3-14) again and answer `yes' if you dare.

This woman of Canaan cried to the Lord:

`Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David' (Matt. 15:22).

and even though she sought help for her daughter and not for herself `He answered her NOT A WORD'! Yet, in the

same chapter, He called to His disciples and said `I have compassion on the multitude' (Matt. 15:32), but here He

was back in Galilee, and no longer dealing with a `Greek'. It will be noticed that this poor woman echoed the title

that she heard others use and addressed Him as `Thou Son of David'. Later in Romans 1:1-4, Christ as `the seed of

David' was declared to be the Son of God with power, in the gospel preached to `all nations' (Rom. 1:5), and the

hope of the church AT THAT TIME was: