"... That Jesus is insulting the woman in his use of the word “dog” seems clear, even if not to those who want to protect Jesus from that problematic speech. But in calling the woman a dog, Jesus may be disparaging her not only as a Gentile, but also as a loose woman, perhaps even as a prostitute. Matthew alone of the evangelists identifies the woman as a Canaanite. As noted above, Canaanites were hated in part because of their practices, including the practices of their תושׁדק (female prostitutes) and םישׁדק (male prostitutes). By having Jesus call the Canaanite woman a dog, the evangelist may be bringing to mind Deuteronomy 23:18-19 which disparages Canaanite תושׁדק (female prostitute, in Deuteronomy 23:18), תונז (prostitution, in Deuteronomy 23:19), and dogs (there a reference to male prostitutes). Given Deuteronomy 23:18-19 as background, Jesus does not intend “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” However, the Canaanite woman, in reference to the same passage from Deuteronomy, can hear in it not only the word “dog,” but also the words הׁשדק (male prostitute) and הנוז (prostitution). That is, she hears both of the words applied to Tamar in Genesis 38. When the woman counters, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table,” (Matthew 15:27), she may be recalling Tamar, who despite being identified as the female equivalent to the male prostitute (a “dog” in Deuteronomy 23:18), is vindicated and called “righteous” (Genesis 38:26) ..."