John Calvin Commentary Matthew 15:21

"And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon." — Matthew 15:21 (ASV)

In this miracle, we are informed how the grace of Christ began to flow to the Gentiles. For, although the full time had not yet come when Christ would make himself known to the whole world, he still intended to give some early manifestations of the common mercy that was eventually offered without distinction to Jews and Gentiles after his resurrection. A remarkable picture of faith is presented to us in the woman of Canaan, for the purpose of instructing us by comparison that the Jews were justly deprived of the promised redemption, since their impiety was so shameful.

The woman, whom Matthew describes as of Canaan, is said by Mark to have been a Greek and a Syrophenician by birth. But there is no contradiction here. We know it was the prevailing custom among the Jews to call all foreign nations Greeks, and this explains the contrast between Greeks and Jews that occurs so frequently in the writings of Paul.

Since she was a native of the territories of Tyre and Sidon, it is no wonder that she is called a Syrophenician; for that country was called Syria and was part of Phenicia.

The Jews disdainfully called all the inhabitants of that district Canaanites; and it is probable that the majority of them were descended from the tribes of Canaan, who, when banished from their native country, fled to a kind of refuge nearby.

Both accounts agree on this point: the woman was a native of a Gentile nation, she had not been instructed in the doctrine of the Law, and she came of her own accord to Christ, humbly to entreat his aid.