SYNOPTICS, SYNOPTISTS. — The term 'Syn- optics' is, according to the universal practice of modern NT scholars, applied to the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, as distinguished from the Gospel of St. John ; and these three Evangelists are known as the ' Synoptists.' It is so used because these Gospels are so constructed that, together, they present a synopsis or conspectus of the leading features of the work and teaching of our Lord. From Tatian, in the 2nd cent., to our own day, frequent attempts have been made to exhibit the Canonical Gospels in the form of a Harmony. Such a Harmony usually took the form of a com- pilation of these accounts of the life of Jesus, arranged in parallel columns, so as to present a complete Gospel, constructed out of the materials supplied by each Evangelist. The title of Tatian's lost work, the Diatessaron (to Sta reaadpoiv, ' the one by means of four '), illustrates the principle adopted in such Harmonies. In the early Church, and in- deed until the time when the modern view of the mutual relations of the Gospels was first stated by Griesbach in 1774, the example of Tatian was fol- lowed, and the Synopsis was made to embrace all four Gospels ; some, like Irenseus, being led by various reasons, more or less fanciful, to lay stress upon the fourfold nature of the Gospel. Modern scholars, however, observed that the Fourth Gospel differed from the others in so many important points as to call for separate treatment. It has been noted, for instance, that while St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, except in their accounts of the closing scenes, relate almost exclusively the Galila^an minis- try of Jesus, St. John confines himself mainly to His work in Judaea. It may be observed, in par- ticular, that the first three Gospels ' proceed in the main upon a common outline . . . variously filled up and variously interrupted, but ' which ' can be easily traced as running through the middle and largest section of each of their Gospels.' These Gospels form, in fact, a group altogether unique, in which, Avhile each member has its own distinctive peculiarities, all three are of a common type. See, further, art. Gospels, and the artt. on each of the Gospels. Hugh H. Cukeie.
SYROPHCENICIAN WOMAN.— So designated in Mk V^.* She is described further (1) in the same passage as a Greek ('EXXiji/is), i.e., according toJHeb. usage, one who spoke Greek as her ordinary language ; t and (2) in Mt lo^' as a Canaanite
* The readings are various. NAKL and other MSS have ^upo<fon!xi(rira ; EFGH, etc., 'Supa ioivixitra-x. For the ^vpoipomirirx. of the TR there is little authority.
t The word"EXAy,w is, indeed, often used in the NT in a yet wider sense, as the equivalent of Gentile (Ac 191", Ro 1^6 2»,
SYROPHCENICIAX WOMAN
SYROPHCENICIAN WOMAN 693
{Xafavala), equivalent here to Phoenician, in con- formity with tlie LXX, wliich renders Canaan by ^oiviKr]. The woman was apparently a Greek as regards language and culture, a Phccnician by descent, and a Syrian by provincial connexion.* Her name is mentioned in the Clementine Homilies (ii. 19, iii. 73) as Justa, and that of her daughter as Bemice.
1. The woman's approach to Christ on her daugliter's behalf is remarkable, for (1) Jesus be- longed to a race which liated or despised her countrymen, and were liated and despised by them. (2) He had healed none of her people, and had come into her district not for ministry, but for retirement and rest. (3) She had evidently received no encouragement from the disciples. Yet she comes to Him and addresses Him not as a general philanthroi)ist, but as Son of David. She had heai'd about Christ, probably, from some of ' those about Tyre and Sidon ' _who had waited early on His ministry before the appointment of the Twelve (Mk 3*). Her national prejudice against Jesus and a Jewisli Messiah had been broken down, her faith in His healing and exorcizing power was complete. The incentive to her faith and appeal is maternal love along Avith sore need. She is in great trouble, and one who has helloed otiiers in trial is at hand. She loves her stricken daughter, and warm affection surmounts all barriers.
2. Still more remarkable is our Lord's triple apparent repulse. (1) His silence at first and seeming indifference : ' He answered her never a word' (Mt 15'^^). (2) His apparent refusal on ac- count of lack of authority : ' I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' (3) His seemingly scornful reproach : ' It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast .it to the dogs' (Mt IS-**, Mk 7-^). For this repeated repulse, however, there was a triple reason. (1) Considera- tion for Jews. It was part of God's providential plan to use tlie Jews for the education and conver- sion of the world ; therefore tliey must not be needlessly and prematurely alienated from a Christ who was to be a Messiah equally for Jews and for Gentiles. The alienation was destined to come eventually for the nation as a whole, but it must not be hastened and intensified through any sudden process ; the extension of the Kingdom must be shown to be natural and inevitable — the proper recompense of a faith in Jehovali which constituted Gentiles genuine sons and daughters of Abraham. (2) Education of disci))les who shared more or less in the national prejudice and exclusiveness. The Twelve w^ere to become Apostles to the world, and Christ wished their eventual mission not to be merely imposed by authority, but to be the out- come of inward prompting. Accordingly He ex- cites {n) their pity, so as to cause them to become, even if selhsidy, intercessors for the woman ; t and (b) their admiration, by the manifestation in her of a faith which exceeded that of their own country- men. (3) Development of the woman's faith and love. He wlio ' knew what was in man ' saw the