What does it mean to give pearls to swine?

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ACanthony

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Matthew 7:6: Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

I never really understood this verse but after some research I think it means to be careful who to talk about the Gospel with. After all, if you had a Rolex watch or engagement ring, you would protect it and consider it very precious. Thus, our faith is precious too (far more precious indeed) and should be protected as well. If you preach to someone not open to the Gospel, it will do more harm than good. I know this would be true for lots of my co-workers. I have a brother also who I have been trying to preach to for years and I think God is telling me just to pray for him and live my faith with actions and not words. What does this verse mean for others? How do we balance this verse with the command to spread the Gospel? How do we know who is open to the Gospel?
 
The Fathers quoted in St. Thomas’s Catena Aurea support at least part of your interpretation, along with other interpretations (e.g. not giving the sacraments to unrepentant sinners).
 
Well, here’s what the Didache (AD 140) said about the passage:

"Let no one eat or drink of the Eucharist with you except those who have been baptized in the Lord; for it was in reference to this that the Lord said: “Do not give that which is holy to dogs.”
  • “The Faith of the Early Fathers, Volume I” selected and translated by William Jurgens
 
With regard to spreading the Gospel message, there is a passage in Scripture where the Lord tells those who are going out, two by two, to give the Gospel message, that if they are not welcome in some homes they should just kick the dust from their feet and go on.

So not feeding pearls to the swine reminds me of that passage. Not that we are to think of the people as swine, but if they are not welcoming what you are saying and are hostile, we should just leave them alone as they do not understand or want to understand.
 
Pearls are very valuable and treasured things, but what does a swine care about them? What would they do with pearls?

Just as swine have no appreciation for the pearls, there are many people who have no appreciation for the gospel. This is similar to the parable of sewing seeds onto fertile soil versus rocky ground. It’s a waste of your time and talents to repeat yourself over and over again with someone like this. If a person will not accept the gospel, then no amount of convincing on your part will do any good.
 
A pearl is fundamentally a grain of sand that got trapped inside an oyster.
It irritates the mussle, which in turn to reduce the irritatation starts secreting and surrounding the grain of sand with coats of the same substance the shell is made out of.

“Nacre” or “Mother of Pearl” a fancy name for hexagonal platelets of “Aragonite”.
A form of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3).

Women appreciate them for their beauty, however if you throw them to the swines (pigs) they would most certainly just eat them for their mineral value.

That is what Jesus meant in that passage.
Nacre (either in the pearl or the more common shell form) was valuable even then. In Papua New Guinea the indigenous tribes that live there still use Nacre shells as currency.

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