15:21–28 Departing from Gennesaret (cf. 14:34), Jesus goes in a northwesterly direction to the area around the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. The journey of approximately fifty miles took him into gentile territory (although Jeremias cites evidence that the eastern Tyrian region was largely Jewish, Jesus’ Promise to the Nations, pp. 31–32, n. 3; pp. 35–36). A Canaanite woman of that district came to him crying out on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter. During the time of the Judges the Canaanites were the major enemies of Israel. They were the heathen population of Palestine. Mark identifies her as “a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth” (Phillips, Mark 7:26). Matthew’s use of Canaanite emphasizes that the woman to whom Jesus talks is of a distinctly different ethnic background. “Cr…