19
ney,” that has ups and downs and numerous
challenges. When I was young I wanted to
enjoy life. I wanted to live nicely, get what-
ever I wanted and then also have hope in the
coming Kingdom. It couldn’t work. My Dad was
a rail worker and could not afford the luxuries
of life for all the family. Also the gospel
requires that we don’t love money, but serve
God. If we do His will then he provides what-
ever we might need in our daily lives (Deut.
7:9-10; 1 Pet. 4:19; Luke 19:11-12).
The current global crises’ like power wrangles,
famine, earthquakes, wars, tsunamis etc. are
all an indication that the son of God is about
to return to earth and establish the Kingdom
of God on earth for the righteous; a world free
from all the tribulations that we are experi-
encing at the moment.
A
very fine cameo is given in Mark 7:24-
30, where Jesus talks to the Syropheni-
cian woman. She pleads with him to heal
her daughter, but he answers: “Let the
children first be filled: for it is not meet
to take the children’s bread, and to cast it
unto the dogs”. She says to him, “Yes,
Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of
the children’s crumbs”. The word for
“dogs” in both cases, and also in the equiv-
alent passages in Matthew 15:26,27, is the
Greek kunarion, which means a little dog,
a pet house-dog (see Young’s Concor-
dance).
There is another Greek word for ‘dog’,
used in Matthew 7:6: “Give not that which
is holy unto dogs”; and Luke 16:21: “more-
over the dogs came and licked his sores”;
this word is ku??n, which means a wild
pariah dog of the streets. However, Jesus
does not use this word when speaking to
the Syrophenician woman but, in compas-
sion, the more gentle word, a little dog,
thus showing that in time all Gentiles
would be granted the opportunity of eating
from the children’s table. She had very
great insight into the growth and wonder
of the true gospel.
| A.H.
Dogs under the table
Test Your Knowledge
An alphabet of Bible places
A
.
for the place where believers were
first called Christians (Acts 11)
B
.
for the pool in Jerusalem (John 5)
C
.
for the mountain where Elijah triumphed
(1 Kings 18)
D
.
for the place Saul was going when Jesus
appeared to him (Acts 9)
E
.
for the garden God made (Genesis 2)
F
.
for the place Paul was blown to (Acts 27)
G
.
for the lake where Jesus walked
on the water (Mark 6)
H
.
for the mountain where the
dew descends (Psalm 133)
I
.
for the land that God chooses (Isaiah 14)
J
.
for the place where the walls fell down
(Joshua 6)
K
.
for the valley/brook outside Jerusalem
(2 Samuel 15)
L
.
for the place where cedars grow
(Psalm 92)
M
.
for the place where Ruth came from
(Ruth 1)
N
.
for the place where Jesus lived (Matt.2)
O
.
for the place where gold comes from
(1 Kings 10)
P
.
for the land where Goliath came from
(1 Samuel 17)
Q
.
for the dangerous place near the island
of Clauda (Acts 27)
R
.
for the water which divided (Exodus 14)
S
.
for the place where the ten
commandments were given (Exodus 19)
T
.
for the city that is now under the sea
(Ezekiel 26)
U
.
for the place where Abram started from
(Genesis 11)
V
.
as in the V..... of Megiddo (Zech. 12)
W
.
where the children of Israel wandered
for 40 years
Z
.
for the future throne of Jesus Christ
(Psalm 2)