Matthew 15:26

The children are the Jews; the dogs are the Gentiles. Christ here speaks as a Jew, not yet revealing His true sentiments towards the Gentiles, for which see Matthew 8:11; John 4:23; Acts 10:28, etc. The rabbis often spoke of the Gentiles as dogs, e.g. 'He who eats with an idolater is like one who eats with a dog, for as a dog is uncircumcised, so also is an idolater.' 'The nations of the world are compared to dogs.' 'The holy convocation belongs to you, to yon, not to the dogs, to you, not to them that are without.' Yet Jesus, in adopting the contemptuous expression, slightly softens it. He says not 'dogs,' but 'little dogs,' i.e. household, favourite dogs, and the woman cleverly catches at the expression, arguing that if the Gentiles are household dogs, then it is only right that they should be fed with the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.