2010-03-102010-03-102003Jackson, GS 2003, 'Enemies of Israel: Ruth and the Canaanite Woman', HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 779-792.[http://www.hts.org.za/index.php/HTS/issue/archive]0259-9422 (print)http://hdl.handle.net/2263/13374Spine cut of Journal binding and pages scanned on flatbed EPSON Expression 10000 XL; 400dpi; text/lineart - black and white - stored to Tiff Derivation: Abbyy Fine Reader v.9 work with PNG-format (black and white); Photoshop CS3; Adobe Acrobat v.9 Web display format PDFThis article elaborates on the author’s monograph “Have mercy on me”: The story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15.21-28 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002). According to the monograph, Matthew uses the Psalms, the story of Ruth and rabbinic tradition to turn Mark’s story of the Syrophoenician woman (7:24-30) into a conversion formula for entrance into the Jewish community. This article employs an intertextuality approach to enhance the theory of proselytism in Matthew’s gospel. The Canaanite woman passes three-time rejection, one-time acceptance test that the first-century rabbis delineated from the story of Ruth for converting to Judaism.enFaculty of Theology, University of PretoriaRuthTheory of proselytismBible -- O.T. -- Ruth -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.Intertextuality in the BibleProselytizing -- JudaismEnemies of Israel : Ruth and the Canaanite WomanArticle