What did Jesus mean when He said it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs?
Jesus meant that Israel was the children and the Gentiles were the dogs. The bread belonged to the Jews, so it was not right to take what belonged to Israel and give it to a Gentile. The woman, a Gentile, accepted that distinction and asked only for crumbs.
Les explains that the woman first addressed Him as “thou son of David,” a Jewish term, but she was a Gentile, so that did not qualify her. She then dropped “son of David” and addressed Him as “Lord,” saying, “Lord, help me.” Jesus answered that it is not meet, or not right, to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs. Les identifies the children as the Jews and the dogs of Christ’s day as the Gentiles. So Jesus was saying it was not right to take what belongs to the Jew and give it to a Gentile; it would not work. But she did not give up. She answered, “truth Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Les illustrates this with a little house dog that would sit beside him while he ate, waiting for a crumb. The analogy is how in the world you could take what belonged to the family of Israel and give it to a Gentile—it just would not work.
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.