Mark 7:27

But Jesus said unto her St Mark passes more briefly over the interview than St Matthew. The latter Evangelist points out three stages of this woman's trial; (i) Silence; "He answered her not a word" (Matthew 15:23); (ii) Refusal; "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24); (iii) Reproach; "It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs" (Matthew 15:26). But in spite of all she persevered and finally conquered.

the dogs In the original the diminutive is used = "little dogs." "Little whelps" Wyclif; "the whelps" Tyndale, Cranmer. The Jews, "the children of the kingdom" (Matthew 8:12), were wont to designate the heathen as "dogs," the noble characteristics of which animal are seldom brought out in Scripture (comp. Deuteronomy 23:18; Job 30:1; 2 Kings 8:13; Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15). Here however the term is somewhat softened. The heathen are compared not to the great wild dogs infesting Eastern towns (1 Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4; 2 Kings 9:10), but to the small dogs attached to households. In the East now the Mahometans apply this name to the Christians.