The disciples’ plea to send her away was reacting to her continual crying out. They likely wanted Jesus to grant her request quickly to get her to stop following them. This is the only way Jesus’ answer in Matthew 15:24 would make sense (see also Matthew 15:32; Luke 11:8). Their reaction was not thus due to compassion for her distress but rather out of irritation, seeing a Gentile woman as a nuisance. As at other times during Jesus’ ministry (see Matthew 14:17), the disciples again tried to take matters into their own hands, instead of leaving it to Jesus. Their hearts again proved harder than his.
The disciples’ plea to send the Canaanite woman away was prompted by the woman’s continual crying out after them. Their words likely meant that they wanted Jesus to grant her request quickly so that she would stop following them. This is the only way Jesus’ answer in Matthew 15:24 would make sense (see also Matthew 15:32; Luke 11:8). Their reaction, therefore, was not in any way born out of compassion for her distress but rather out of irritation, because they regarded this Gentile woman as a nuisance.1
The disciples found the situation unbearable and, as in other instances during Jesus’ ministry (see Matthew 14:17), they here again tried to take matters into their own hands instead of leaving it to Jesus. Here their hearts again proved harder than his, for they simply wanted the matter over and done with as quickly as possible. Yet the phrase send her away
need not necessarily mean dismiss her without help.
It may also have carried the sense of settle the matter—grant her request and be done with it.
2
23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”