Pearls Before Swine

[Inquiringperson]

What does Jesus mean when he said to not cast your pearls before swine?

 

[Leegal]

“The meaning of this proverb, then, is, do not offer your doctrine to those violent and abusive people who would growl and curse you; nor to those especially debased and profligate who would not perceive its value, would trample it down, and would abuse you.”

Pearls before Swine

 

[bmullins]

Give not that which is holy to dogs; neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turning upon you, they tear you. Matt 7:6

These were derogatory Jewish abusive and defamatory words to describe pagans. Dogs were generally wild and undomesticated, scavengers, eating of the garbage and dead. (This made them very unclean.) Swine were also specifically unclean even by law.

Jesus takes these words and redirects them toward anyone against the gospel, whether Jew or Gentile. (Phil 3:2, Rev 22:15)

In Judaism something was holy when it was consecrated for use during worship. If you treated something holy in a common way, it was profaned. Think of using the chalice from the Eucharistic table to drink a mixer at a party.

The early church applied this statement directly to the Holy Eucharist, which is why even today we withhold it from the unbaptized and non-Catholic.

Didache 9:5 - And let none eat or drink of your Eucharist but such as have been baptized into the name of the Lord, for of a truth the Lord hath said concerning this, Give not that which is holy unto dogs.

 

[thistle]

What does Jesus mean when he said to not cast your pearls before swine?

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 6. Give not that which is holy, or holy things, (as in the Greek) to dogs; i.e. to scandalous libertines, or infidels, who are not worthy to partake of divine mysteries and sacraments, who sacrilegiously abuse them, and trample them under their feet, as hogs do pearls. (Witham) — The sacred mysteries should not be given to those that are not properly instructed in the sublime nature of them; nor should we hold any communication of religion with those that are enemies to the truths of Christ, which they tread under their feet and treat contemptuously, and will be so far from having any more friendship for you on account of such a criminal complaisance, that it is more probable they will betray you and turn against you. (Haydock)

 

[Hokomai]

I think dogs get a bad rap from the Bible, with the only positive mention appearing in Tobit (and the Protestants even get rid of that one!). I am also quite fond of pigs, but agree is is unwise to cast pearls or anything of value before them, as they give an intensity to the concept of omnivore matched only in my experience by the other animal the Bible is not so fond of; the goat.

 

[bmullins]

I think dogs get a bad rap from the Bible, with the only positive mention appearing in Tobit (and the Protestants even get rid of that one!). I am also quite fond of pigs, but agree is is unwise to cast pearls or anything of value before them, as they give an intensity to the concept of omnivore matched only in my experience by the other animal the Bible is not so fond of; the goat.

I think if we lived in a third world country, with refuse piles and wild dogs and pigs running rampant we’d likely not think as fondly of them as we do. I am an animal lover, but from my farm days growing up the pigs can and will eat anything… even decomposing flesh. There is a great deal of difference in the dogs we know today as domesticated and specifically bred animals for docility and companionship, and the wild dogs that are found elsewhere.