Do not cast your pearls before swine

This is a study of the words of Jesus about not casting your pearls before swine. There are different interpretations to explore and many great insights in these studies for the Christian life.

1. DO NOT CAST YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Don't cast your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6)
Matthew 7:6 6"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not
throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample
them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.


Question: "What did Jesus mean when He said to not cast your pearls before
swine (Matthew 7:6)?"

Answer: “Do not cast your pearls before swine” is a portion of the Sermon on
the Mount, and, to understand its meaning, we have to understand its context
and placement within the sermon. Christ had just finished instructing the
crowd on judgment and reproof: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For
in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure
you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1–2), and “You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). Then in verse 6,
Christ tempers these admonitions and shows us the difference between
“judgment” and “discernment.” We are not to be hypocritical judges, yet we
must be able to discern the swine, lest we cast our pearls before them.

Before Jesus says, “Do not cast your pearls before swine,” He says, “Do not
give dogs what is sacred.” An analogy mentioning dogs is also used in

2. Proverbs: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs
26:11). A dual reference to swine and dogs is also found in 2 Peter 2:22, “Of
[false teachers] the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A
sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’” In His sermon,
Jesus uses dogs and pigs as representative of those who would ridicule, reject,
and blaspheme the gospel once it is presented to them. We are not to expose
the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have no other purpose than to trample
it and return to their own evil ways. Repeatedly sharing the gospel with
someone who continually scoffs and ridicules Christ is like casting pearls
before swine. We can identify such people through discernment, which is
given in some measure to all Christians (1 Corinthians 2:15–16).

The command not to cast your pearls before swine does not mean we refrain
from preaching the gospel. Jesus Himself ate with and taught sinners and tax
collectors (Matthew 9:10). In essence, the instruction in Matthew 7:6 is the
same that Jesus gave to His apostles when He said, “If anyone will not
welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you
leave that home or town” (Matthew 10:14). We are to share the gospel, but,
when it becomes apparent that the gospel is not welcome, we are to move on.
We are responsible to share the good news; we are not responsible for
people’s response to the good news. Pigs don’t appreciate pearls, and some
people don’t appreciate what Christ has done for them. Our job is not to force
conversions or cram the gospel down people’s throats; there’s no sense in
preaching the value of pearls to swine. Jesus’ instruction to His apostles on
how to handle rejection was to simply go elsewhere. There are other people
who need to hear the gospel, and they are ready to hear it.
https://www.gotquestions.org/pearls-before-swine.html


PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES

3. Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls
before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear
you to pieces. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: Me dote (2PAAS) to agion tois kusin, mede balete (2PAAS) tous
margaritas umon emprosthen ton choiron, mepote katapatesousin (3PFAI)
autous en tois posin auton kai straphentes (APPMPN) rexosin (3PAAS)
humas.
Amplified: Do not give that which is holy (the sacred thing) to the dogs, and
do not throw your pearls before hogs, lest they trample upon them with their
feet and turn and tear you in pieces. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.
NLT: Don't give what is holy to unholy people. Don't give pearls to swine!
They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. (NLT - Tyndale
House)
Phillips: "You must not give holy things to dogs, nor must you throw your
pearls before pigs - or they may trample them underfoot and turn and attack
you." (New Testament in Modern English)
Wuest: Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls
before the hogs lest perchance they trample them under their feet and having
turned, lacerate you.
Young's: 'Ye may not give that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls
before the swine, that they may not trample them among their feet, and
having turned -- may rend you.
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine,
or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces:
Me dote (2PAAS) to agion tois kusin, mede balete (2PAAS) tous margaritas
umon emprosthen ton choiron, mepote katapatesousin (3PFAI) autous en tois
posin auton kai straphentes (APPMPN) rexosin (3PAAS) humas

4. Mt 7:10:14,15; 15:26; Proverbs 9:7,8; 23:9; 26:11; Acts 13:45, 46, 47;
Philippians 3:2; Hebrews 6:6; 10:29; 2Peter 2:22
Proverbs 11:22
Mt 22:5,6; 24:10; 2 Cor 11:26; 2 Ti 4:14,15
Matthew 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
NO GOSPEL PEARLS FOR
DOGS OR PIGS!
Do not give what is holy to dogs - If someone isn’t open to listen to you, there’s
no reason to continue speaking. Now this needs to be qualified -- most people
will initially resist the Gospel, but here Jesus is not speaking of resistance in
general but of a vicious attack against you and the Lord and His Gospel (like a
swine or dog would do! As described below "dogs" in Jesus' day were not
viewed as sweet little puppies!).
Here is the major point of this passage -
While followers of Jesus must not be guilty of condemning anyone, we must
learnt to discriminate in our witness.
You might ask "Well what about 2 Timothy 2:25-note where Paul writes
"with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may
grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth?" One key to
answering this question is to ask what does the Greek word opposition mean?
Zodhiates has an excellent comment writing that antidiatithemi speaks "either
those who directly oppose the Gospel or those who are ill-disposed toward or
unaffected by it. The latter meaning seems preferable because the Apostle
directs Timothy to treat the antidiatitheménous, those whose attitudes are
contrary or ill-disposed to the gospel, in a very different manner from the
anthistaménous (436), opposers, those actually opposing the gospel, from
whom he was to turn away ("Avoid [apostrepho in the present imperative =
command to keep on avoiding them!] such men as these" - 2 Ti 3:5-note)"
(Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament)

5. So it is a question of "discernment" -- if you have shared the Gospel since you
became a follower of Christ (and if you haven't shared it, you should!), over
time you can generally get a good "feel" for whether there is simply general
resistance to the Good News (as was frankly true of me before I came to
Christ and is true of all of us because Paul says all of us "were enemies [Greek
word echthros means hostile and speaks of our intrinsic hatred of God and
His Good News]." - Ro 5:10-note). General resistance is quite different than
vicious attacks. It is the latter to whom we are to shake the dust off our
sandals and move on!
See also explanation below from Gotquestions, a website that is highly
recommended.
Solomon - Do not reprove (Hebrew word yakach includes ideas of education,
discipline, teaching and admonishing) a scoffer (speaks words showing no
respect for the reprover), lest he hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will
love you. (Proverbs 9:8) (Reproof is wasted on a "scoffer" because the more
shallow and foolish the person is, the less willing he is to listen to wise, godly
counsel)
Jamieson, F, B -The opposite extreme to that of censoriousness is here
condemned—want of discrimination of character.... Religion is brought into
contempt, and its professors insulted, when it is forced upon those who cannot
value it and will not have it. But while the indiscriminately zealous have need
of this caution, let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors
down as dogs and swine, and excusing ourselves from endeavoring to do them
good on this poor plea.
Spurgeon writes...
There are some holy enjoyments, some gracious experiences, some deep
doctrines of the Word of God, which it would be out of place to speak of
before certain profane and unclean persons. They would only make a jest of
them; perhaps they might persecute you on account of them. No; holy things
are for holy men; and as of old the crier in the Grecian temple was wont to
say, before the mysteries were performed, “&Far hence, ye profane!&” so

6. sometimes, before we enter into the innermost circle of Christian converse, it
would be well for us to notice who is listening.
***
Zeal should always be tempered by prudence. There are times when it would
be treason to truth to introduce it as a topic of conversation,-when men are in
such a frame of mind that they will be sure rather to cavil at it than to believe
it. Not only speak thou well, but speak thou at the right time, for silence is
sometimes golden. See that thou hast thy measure of golden silence as well as
of silver speech.
***
When men are evidently unable to perceive the purity of a great truth, do not
set it before them. They are like mere dogs, and if you set holy things before
them they will be provoked to “&turn again and rend you&”: holy things are
not for the profane. “&Without are dogs&”: they must not be allowed to enter
the holy place. When you are in the midst of the vicious, who are like
“&swine,&” do not bring forth the precious mysteries of the faith, for they
will despise them, and “&trample them under their feet&” in the mire. You
are not needlessly to provoke attack upon yourself, or upon the higher truths
of the gospel. You are not to judge, but you are not to act without judgment.
Count not men to be dogs or swine; but when they avow themselves to be
such, or by their conduct act as if they were such, do not put occasions in their
way for displaying their evil character. Saints are not to be simpletons; they
are not to be judges, but, also, they are not to be fools.
Great King, how much wisdom thy precepts require! I need thee, not only to
open my mouth, but also at times to keep it shut.
Give (1325) (didomi) means to give based on decision of will of the giver.
Although the tense is not imperative, the force is that of an imperative or
command. We are to speak the truth in love, but we are not to allow love to
color or distort our sense of discernment. Note in this warning Jesus is not
trying to discourage us from sharing the gospel, but is calling for discernment
which is ever looking for listeners with prepared and not antagonistic hearts.

7. In Hebrews we read that "solid food is for the mature, who because of
practice have their senses (Ability to discriminate & make moral decisions.
Capacity for spiritual apprehension) trained (gumnazo = having experienced
vigorous training and control and in a state of increased moral strength which
allows one) to discern (decide between, make a judgment between) good and
evil." (Hebrews 5:14)
This verse makes it clear that Jesus does not exclude every kind of judgment
in Matthew 7:1-2 for here He just as plainly commands a certain kind of right
judgment or discernment in this verse, for such discrimination is necessary in
order to determine who is a dog and a hog!
Holy (40) (hagios) (Click for an in depth discussion of hagios) refers to that
which is is set apart (sanctified) for a special purpose.
Holy and pearls (see discussion below) are somewhat indefinite and as
discussed surely include the gospel message but also apply to other holy things
besides the gospel, such as the Holy Word, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Name,
etc. We are refrain from giving out these holy, precious things out of respect
for them more than out of contempt for the opposers. In fact, in this very
sermon, Jesus would still call us to "love your enemies, and pray for those
who persecute you" (notes Matthew 5:44)
Dogs (2965) (kuon) in the ancient world does not refer to dogs as we currently
think of them for they were seldom household pets but instead were largely
half-wild, dirty, greedy, snarling, vicious, flea-bitten, diseased, mongrel
scavenger, that often ran in packs. They are often on the point of starvation
and were known to devour corpses, and attack humans, in the night. Clearly
literal "dogs" in the ancient word were dangerous and despised.
Kuon -5 times in the NAS and always translated "dog" or "dogs": (Matt 7:6;
Luke 16:21; Phil 3:2; 2 Pet 2:22; Rev 22:15)
For example we read God's prophet Abijah's harsh message to the wife of the
evil Jeroboam declaring...
"Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs will eat. And he
who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat; for the LORD has

8. spoken it." (1 Kings 14:11) (Similar prophecies were decreed against Baasha’s
family, in 1Kings 16:4, and Ahab’s family, 1Kings 21:24.) (For bodies to be
devoured by dogs and wild birds of prey was considered one of the worst
disgraces that could befall a Jew)
The epithet "dogs" is used figuratively to refer to certain classes of men,
expressing their insolent rapacity, Psalms 22:16 and their beastly vices,
Deuteronomy 23:18.
It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS
TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in
the mire." (see notes on 2Peter 2:22)
Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the
murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
(Revelation 22:15-note)
Paul used the term "dogs" in his letter to Philippi warning the converts to...
Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false
circumcision (see notes Philippians 3:2)
The Jews used "dog" as a derogatory term referring to Gentiles in general. In
Philippi, Paul turned the tables so to speak and actually referred to Jews
(probably Judaizers) who professed to believe in Christ but depended upon
keeping the Law and the rituals of Judaism in order to "merit" salvation.
Thus in this sense Paul uses "Dogs" to refer to false teachers.
Barclay has a helpful note on dogs
With us the dog is a well-loved animal, but it was not so in the East in the time
of Jesus. The dogs were the pariah dogs, roaming the streets, sometimes in
packs, hunting amidst the garbage dumps and snapping and snarling at all
whom they met. J. B. Lightfoot speaks of
“&the dogs which prowl about eastern cities, without a home and without an
owner, feeding on the refuse and filth of the streets, quarrelling among
themselves, and attacking the passer-by.&”

9. In the Bible the dog always stands for that than which nothing can be lower.
When Saul is seeking to take his life, David’s demand is: “&After whom do
you pursue? After a dead dog! after a flea!&” (&1Sa 24:14&, cf. &2Ki 8:13&;
&Ps 22:16&, &20&). In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, part of the
torture of Lazarus is that the street dogs annoy him by licking his sores
(&Luke 16:21&). In Deuteronomy the Law brings together the price of a dog
and the hire of a whore, and declares that neither must be offered to God
(&Deut 23:18&). In Revelation the word dog stands for those who are so
impure that they are debarred from the Holy City (&Rev 22:15-note&). That
which is holy must never be given to dogs (&Mt 7:6&). It is the same in Greek
thought; the dog stands for everything that is shamelessly unclean. It was by
this name that the Jews called the Gentiles. There is a Rabbinic saying, “&The
nations of the world are like dogs.&” So this is Paul’s answer to the Jewish
teachers. He says to them, “&In your proud self-righteousness, you call other
men dogs; but it is you who are dogs, because you shamelessly pervert the
gospel of Jesus Christ.&” He takes the very name the Jewish teachers would
have applied to the impure and to the Gentiles and flings it back at
themselves. A man must always have a care that he is not himself guilty of the
sins of which he accuses others. (Barclay, W: The Letters to the Philippians,
Colossians, and Thessalonians. The New Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed.
Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. John Knox Press)
Dogs and swine (5519) describe profane people who treat spiritual matters
with contempt. They are unbelievers who are enemies of the gospel and are
people to avoid. This verse does not mean that the blessings of the gospel are
not to be offered to the Gentiles (remembering that Jews in Jesus' day
frequently referred to Gentiles as "dogs"), but rather that precious spiritual
truths should not be pressed upon those who are either unready or unwilling
to accept or appreciate their value. The verse continues logically in the train
of thought developed in the sayings which immediately precede it. While
judging others is not the prerogative of man, there are, nonetheless, those
whose uncleanness and violence prevent the sharing of the most noble truths
of the Christian faith.
Brothers (referred to in Mt 7:3-5) and “dogs” or “swine” must not be treated
alike. Believers must discriminate carefully, clearly indicating that Jesus'

10. command to stop judging in Matthew 7:1 was not meant to exclude discerning
judgment, but only condemnatory, critical judgment.
Swine are just as contemptible and filthy as dogs. The OT mentions swine
among the unclean animals (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8) and the eating of swine
flesh is an abomination in (Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17) Swine are not only unclean
animals but can be vicious and are capable of savage attacks against people.
The wild boar of the wood was frequently met with in the woody parts of
Palestine, especially in Mount Tabor. In Psalm 80:13 the powers that
destroyed the Jewish nation are compared to wild boars and wild beasts of the
field.

Wild Boars
Can Tear you to Pieces!
The phrase “what is holy” or set apart from the common and profane and
consecrated to God is used synonymously with "pearls".
Pearls (3135) (margaritēs) were usually regarded as precious stones in Jesus'
day. Pearls are found in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean
and were brought into the western culture through Alexander the Great’s
conquests. Pearls were priced way beyond the purchasing power of the
average person and in order to obtain a pearl of great value a merchant might
have to sell all his possessions (cf Mt 13:46)
Margaritēs is used by Jesus as a figure of speech for what is of supreme
worth. The Jews used "margaritēs" to refer to a valuable saying. Jesus is
saying that whatever is very precious in the spiritual realm should be treated
with reverence and not entrusted to those who, because of their utterly
wicked, vicious, and despicable nature, are like dogs and hogs.
Trample (2662 (katapateo from katá = intensifies meaning + patéo = tread,
trample, fig to treat contemptuously) means to step down forcibly upon often
with the implication of seeking to destroy or ruin. The idea is to spurn, to
reject with disdain, treat contemptuously, treat with rudeness and insult or

11. thoroughly despise someone or something. Jesus pictures hogs trampling the
pearls with their feet, thus treating them with utter disdain.
In Matthew Jesus returns to Nazareth, His home town, and we read that
"they took offense (verb skandalizo - see in depth study of noun, skandalon) at
Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his
home town, and in his own household." And He did not do many miracles
there because of their unbelief." (Mt 13:57-58)
So here we see Jesus practicing the same principle He is laying down for His
disciples to practice.
D A Carson comments that "The pigs trample the pearls under foot (perhaps
out of animal disappointment that they are not morsels of food), and the dogs
are so disgusted with "what is sacred" that they turn on the giver. Gaebelein,
F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament.
Zondervan Publishing)
Spurgeon comments that...
It is a pity to talk about some of the secrete of our holy faith in any and every
company. It would be almost, profane to speak of them in the company of
profane men. We know that they would not. understand us; they would find
occasion for jest and ridicule, and therefore our own reverence for holy things
must cause us to lay a finger on our lips when we are in the presence of
profane persons. Do not let us, however, carry out one precept to the exclusion
of others. There are dogs that eat of the crumbs that fall from the master’s
table. Drop them a crumb. And there are even swine that may yet be trans.
learned; to whom the sight of a pearl might give some inkling of a better
condition of heart. Cast not the pearls before them, but you may show them to
them sometimes when they are in as good a state of mind as they are likely to
be in. It is ours to preach the gospel to every creature; that is a precept of
Christ, and yet all creatures are not always in the condition to hear the gospel.
We must choose our time. Yet even this I would not push too far. We are to
preach the gospel in season and out of season. Oh! that we may be able to
follow precepts as far as they are meant to go, and no further.

12. Turn (4762) (strepho from trope = a turn or revolution) means to twist, turn
quite around or reverse.
Tear (4486) (rhegnumi) means to break in pieces, disrupt or lacerate as dogs
would do.
Clearly to be an undiscerning simpleton (as might occur in one who took the
meaning of "do not judge" to an extreme interpretation which Jesus did not
intend) can place one in a dangerous position (cf "trample", "tear to pieces"!)
Paul gives us an example of a vicious opponent of the gospel warning Timothy
to beware of...
Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him
according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously
opposed our teaching. (notes 2 Timothy 4:14-15)
VOLTAIRE AN ILLUSTRATION OF A "DOG/SWINE" - The French
philosopher Voltaire would certainly fit the picture of a spiritual "dog and a
hog", who violently opposed God, His Holy Word and His precious Son. How
tragic that one of the most fertile and talented minds of his time (which
parenthetically bears witness to the common grace and longsuffering of our
great Father), was such a vicious opponent of truth, using his pen to retard
and demolish Christianity as much as humanly possible. Once speaking about
our Lord Jesus Christ, Voltaire uttered the unspeakable words "Curse the
wretch!" Voltaire was so self deceived and arrogant that he once boasted that
within "twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall
destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear." God however is not
mocked beloved (see Galatians ) and so not surprisingly shortly after
Voltaire's death the very house in which he printed his vicious anti-Christian
literature became the home of the Geneva Bible Society! A nurse who
attended Voltaire at the time of his horrible death vowed "For all the wealth
in Europe I would not see another infidel die." Voltaire's' physician, Trochim,
also attended the infidel up to the time of his last breath, and is quoted as
hearing Voltaire's last desperate (rightly so) cry "I am abandoned by God and
man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months'
life. Then I shall go to hell; and you will go with me. O Christ! O Jesus

13. Christ!" In short, Voltaire, as brilliant as he was intellectually, is the epitome
of the type of individual citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven must refrain from
repeatedly sharing the precious and holy truths of God's Gospel.
We are not to continue to present the gospel to those who repeatedly mock,
scorn and deride it. To be sure, this determination sometimes is obvious as in
the case of rank infidels but in other situations requires God's wisdom (see
role of prayer in Matthew 7:7-8-note) and Spirit controlled guidance. There is
a limit Jesus says and when that time arrives, it is high time for the
ambassador of Christ to depart company.
And so we see Jesus instructing His disciples "And into whatever city or
village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it; and abide there until you go
away. And as you enter the house, give it your greeting. And if the house is
worthy, let your greeting of peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let
your greeting of peace return to you. And whoever does not receive you, nor
heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of
your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city." (Matthew 10:11-
15)
In the same way Jesus pronounced judgment on the Galilean towns which for
the most part rejected the light of His presence and His gospel "Woe to you,
Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre
and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum,
will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the
miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have
remained to this day. (Mt 11:21-23)
And we see Paul's reaction to the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews of
Corinth "After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found
a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from
Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to
leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he

14. stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers.
And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade
Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the
Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And when they resisted and blasphemed, he
shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own
heads! I am clean. From now on I shall go to the Gentiles. (Acts 18:1-6, see
also Acts 13:44-51, 28:17-28; Ro 16:17-18).
Writing to Titus on the Isle of Crete Paul instructed him "Reject a factious
(divisive, one who causes division) man after a first and second warning,
knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
(Titus 3:10-11)
Herod Antipas was a dog...swine, who heard John gladly, Mark recording
"for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy
man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but
he used to enjoy listening to him." (Mark 6:20) Herod proved his "canine
character" because this same Herod turned on John the Baptist and had him
beheaded him (see Mt 14:1-12; Mk 6:14-28; Lu 9:7-9). Later, Jesus Christ
refused to give what was holy to Herod "Now Herod was very glad when he
saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had been
hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him. And
he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing." (Luke
23:8-9-note)
And after Jesus rose from the dead He showed Himself to no one who was not
a believer.
In the parable of The Barren Fig Tree Jesus explained that God was patience,
but His patience was not endless "And He began telling this parable: "A
certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he
came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-
keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree
without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And
he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig

15. around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not,
cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9-note)
Solomon presents a similar principle regarding bestowal of "holy things" on
dogs and hogs...
A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken
beyond remedy. (Proverbs 29:1)
Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you (don't bother rebuking mockers;
they will only hate you), Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. (Proverbs
9:8)
Jesus' teaching is in fact imminently logical for if we were to remain in the
company of those who constantly ridicule the small gate and narrow way of
the Gospel, we would by default, fail to enter other "fields" which Jesus
described in other passages declaring...
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. (Mt 9:37)
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are
white for harvest. (John 4:35)
Hendriksen - The suggestion may be correct that, since pearls resemble peas
or acorns, these hogs, having greedily tasted a few and having discovered that
they can do nothing with them, in anger trample the pearls underfoot and
turn and tear to pieces those who had flung such non-edibles in front of them.
(Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House)
ILLUSTRATION - J Vernon McGee tells the following story - I remember a
Tennessee legislator friend of mine who was a heavy drinker. He was
wonderfully converted and is a choice servant of God today. The other
members of the legislature knew how he drank. Then they heard he “got
religion,” as they called it. One day this fellow took his seat in the legislature,
and his fellow-members looked him over. Finally, someone rose, addressed the
chairman of the meeting and said, “I make a motion that we hear a sermon
from Deacon So-and-So.” Everyone laughed. But my friend was equal to the

16. occasion. He got to his feet and said, “I’m sorry, I do not have anything to say.
My Lord told me not to cast my pearls before swine.” He sat down, and they
never ridiculed him anymore. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary:
Nashville: Thomas Nelson)

Gotquestions - Question: "What did Jesus mean when He said to not cast your
pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6)?"

Answer: “Do not cast your pearls before swine” is a portion of the Sermon on
the Mount, and, to understand its meaning, we have to understand its context
and placement within the sermon. Christ had just finished instructing the
crowd on judgment and reproof: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For
in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure
you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1–2), and “You hypocrite,
first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to
remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). Then in verse 6,
Christ tempers these admonitions and shows us the difference between
“judgment” and “discernment.” We are not to be hypocritical judges, yet we
must be able to discern the swine, lest we cast our pearls before them.
Before Jesus says, “Do not cast your pearls before swine,” He says, “Do not
give dogs what is sacred.” An analogy mentioning dogs is also used in
Proverbs: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs
26:11). A dual reference to swine and dogs is also found in 2 Peter 2:22, “Of
[false teachers] the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A
sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’” In His sermon,
Jesus uses dogs and pigs as representative of those who would ridicule, reject,
and blaspheme the gospel once it is presented to them. We are not to expose
the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have no other purpose than to trample
it and return to their own evil ways. Repeatedly sharing the gospel with
someone who continually scoffs and ridicules Christ is like casting pearls
before swine. We can identify such people through discernment, which is
given in some measure to all Christians (1 Corinthians 2:15–16).

17. The command not to cast your pearls before swine does not mean we refrain
from preaching the gospel. Jesus Himself ate with and taught sinners and tax
collectors (Matthew 9:10). In essence, the instruction in Matthew 7:6 is the
same that Jesus gave to His apostles when He said, “If anyone will not
welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you
leave that home or town” (Matthew 10:14). We are to share the gospel, but,
when it becomes apparent that the gospel is not welcome, we are to move on.
We are responsible to share the good news; we are not responsible for
people’s response to the good news. Pigs don’t appreciate pearls, and some
people don’t appreciate what Christ has done for them. Our job is not to force
conversions or cram the gospel down people’s throats; there’s no sense in
preaching the value of pearls to swine. Jesus’ instruction to His apostles on
how to handle rejection was to simply go elsewhere. There are other people
who need to hear the gospel, and they are ready to hear it. (From
Gotquestions.org - recommended resource)
CAUTION TO BE USED IN REPROVING
Matt. 7:6
Charles Simeon
IN the holy Scriptures there are not only such directions as are necessary for
the saving of the soul, but such also as are of a prudential nature, calculated
for the rectifying of our judgment, and the regulating of our conduct, in less
important matters. A pious person would obtain salvation, though he should
not be discreet in his mode of communicating instruction or reproof to others.
But it is desirable that “the man of God should be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works:” and therefore he should attend as well to
those admonitions which are of secondary importance, as to those which
relate to the fundamental points of faith or practice. The words before us are
connected with the prohibition respecting the judging of others. To judge
others uncharitably will expose us to similar treatment from them, as well as
to the displeasure of Almighty God. Before we presume to judge others at all,
we ought to be diligent in searching out and amending our own faults; without
which we are but ill qualified to reprove the faults of others. We ought also to

18. consider the state of the person whom we undertake to reprove: for if he be
hardened in his wickedness, and disposed to resent our well-meant
endeavours, it will be more prudent to let him alone, and to wait for some
season when we may speak to him with a better prospect of success. Such is
the import of the caution in our text; from whence we may observe,
I. That religious instruction is often most unworthily received—
The value of religious instruction is but little known—
[Education in general is esteemed one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy;
nor is any sacrifice, whether of time or money, deemed too great for the
obtaining of the benefits arising from it. A richly-furnished mind, a cultivated
taste, a polished manner, are distinctions which the richer part of the
community particularly affect: and they are most envied who possess in the
highest measure such accomplishments. But divine knowledge is considered as
of little worth: though it would enrich the soul beyond all conception, and
adorn it with all the most amiable graces, and is therefore most fully
characterized by the name of “pearls,” yet has it no beauty, no excellency, in
the eyes of carnal men: the generality are as insensible of its value as swine are
of the value of pearls, which they would “trample under their feet” as mire
and dirt. Of this however we may be assured, that instruction, even though it
be in a way of reproof, lays us under the deepest obligation to him who gives
it&&.]
Many, instead of being pleased, are only irritated and offended at it—
[Nothing under heaven has ever given more offence than this. Men may utter
lewdness and blasphemy, and create but little disgust: but let them bear their
testimony against sin, or proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, and
instantly an indignation is excited in every bosom. In the house of God indeed
a certain licence is allowed, provided the preacher be not too faithful: but in a
private company the mention of such things is considered as a death-blow to
social comfort, and is reprobated as an insufferable nuisance. Even in the
public ministry those who “labour with fidelity in the word and doctrine” are
not unfrequently treated with every species of indignity. No name is too odious
for them to bear, no opposition too violent to be raised against them.

19. It is supposed indeed by some, that the offence excited by ministers arises
from the erroneousness of their statements, or the injudiciousness of their
manner. But what then shall we say to the treatment which Christ and his
Apostles met with? Did our blessed Lord want any qualification that could
recommend his doctrine? Did he not exhibit “the meekness of wisdom,” and
“speak as never man spake?” And was not Paul guided and instructed by God
himself in his ministrations? Yet were both he and his Divine Master
represented as babblers and deceivers; and one cry was raised against them
both, “Away with them; it is not fit that they should live.”
Nor is it more against the doctrines of Christianity that this prejudice exists,
than it does against its practice. The doctrine of “Christ crucified is still to
some a stumbling-block, and to others foolishness:” and the same anger that
rankled in the bosoms of Herod and Herodias against John, who condemned
their incestuous connexion, is called forth at this time against any one who
shall condemn the customs of the world&&. Our Lord’s words may still be
used by all his faithful followers, “The world hateth me, because I testify of it
that the works thereof are evil&&.” Doubtless the inveteracy of wicked men
will shew itself in different ways and different degrees, according to the
different circumstances under which it is called forth: but no times or
circumstances have ever superseded the necessity of attending to the caution
in the text: there ever have been multitudes who would take offence at the
kindest efforts for their welfare&&, and, like ferocious “dogs, would turn
again and rend you.” Reprove iniquity, and you will still be deemed “the
troublers of Israel;” and those who are reproved will say of you, “I hate
Micaiah, for he doth not speak good of me, but evil.”]
From this aversion which men feel to religious instruction, it appears,
II. That great caution is to be used in administering it—
The direction in our text was given to the whole multitude of those who heard
our Lord’s discourse; and therefore may be considered as applicable,
1. To ministers—

20. [Though it is not to be confined to them, it does not exclude them. Doubtless
where numbers of persons are assembled to hear the word of God, it is not
possible to suit oneself to the disposition and taste of every individual. The
rule which God himself has laid down must in such cases be followed: “He
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully&&.” A minister must
“warn men, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear:” he must
“commend himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God,” “keeping
back nothing that is profitable unto them,” but “declaring unto them the
whole counsel of God.” Still, however, the caution in the text is necessary for
him. He should consider the state of his hearers, and should adapt his
discourses to their necessities. Our blessed Lord, knowing how full of
prejudice the Jews were, “spake the word to them in parables, as they were
able to hear it.” In like manner, though we must not seek the applause of man,
(for “if we please men, we cannot he the servants of Jesus Christ;”) yet we
should endeavour to “please all men for their good to edification:” we should
argue with them on principles which they acknowledge; we should be content
to give “milk to babes,” and to reserve the “strong meat” for such as are able
to digest it. We should pay attention to every thing that may lessen prejudice
and conciliate regard: and, though we must not affect “the wisdom of words,
which would only make void the cross of Christ,” we should “search out
acceptable words,” and be especially careful to “speak the truth in love.” Our
great object should be not to “deliver our own souls,” (though doubtless we
must be careful to do that,) but principally to “win the souls” of others.]
2. To Christians in general—
[As “men do not light a candle, to put it under a bed or under a bushel, but to
give light to those who are in the house,” so God, when he illuminates any
soul, expects that the light he has imparted should be diffused for the good of
others. But in endeavouring to instruct others, we should consider the tune,
the manner, the measure of instruction, that will be most likely to ensure
success. In particular, we should not press matters when our exhortations are
contemned as foolish, or resented as injurious. Not that our concern should be
about ourselves, as though we feared either the contempt of men, or their
resentment; but we should be afraid of hardening them, and thereby
increasing their guilt and condemnation. As to ourselves, we should gladly

21. “suffer all things for the elect’s sake:” but for them we should “weep, as it
were, in secret places&&,” and “gladly spend and be spent for them, though
the more abundantly we love them the less we be loved.” If, indeed, after all
our labour, we find that our efforts are only rejected by them with disdain, we
may then with propriety leave them to themselves, and, like the Apostles,
bestow our attention on more hopeful subjects&&. As the priests imparted of
the holy food to every member of their families, but gave none of it to dogs, so
may you give your holy things to others, and withhold it from those who have
shewn themselves so unworthy of it.]
We will now apply the subject,
1. To those who are strangers to the truth—
[From the indifference which is usually shewn to divine things, it is evident
that the value of religious knowledge is but little known. If we could inform
persons how to restore their health, or how to recover an estate, or how to
obtain any great temporal benefit, they would hear us gladly, and follow our
advice with thankfulness; but when we speak of spiritual benefits, they have
no ears to hear, no hearts to understand: they are ready to say to us, as the
demoniac to Christ, “Art thou come to torment us before our time?” But let it
not be so with you. Think in what light God represents such conduct&& — —
— what regret you will hereafter feel&& — — — and what augmented
punishment you will endure&& — — — And may God “open your hearts,
that you may attend to the things” that belong unto your peace, before they be
for ever hid from your eyes!]
2. To those who know it—
[Whilst we exhort you to be cautious in admonishing others, we would caution
you also against being soon discouraged. Think not every one assimilated to
dogs or swine because he resists the truth for a season; but give “line upon
line, and precept upon precept,” and “instruct in meekness them that oppose
themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, by whom they have been led
captive at his will.”

22. And whilst you take upon you to admonish others, be willing to receive
admonition also yourselves. It is not every religious professor that is so open
to conviction as he ought to be&&, and that will receive reproof like David,
esteeming it as “an excellent oil, that shall not break his head&&. Watch over
your own spirit, therefore, and exemplify in yourselves the conduct you
require in others.


STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES

Adam Clarke Commentary
Give not that which is holy - Το αγιον, the holy or sacred thing; i.e. any thing,
especially, of the sacrificial kind, which had been consecrated to God. The
members of this sentence should be transposed thus: -
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
Lest they turn again and rend you:
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
Lest they trample them under their feet
The propriety of this transposition is self-evident. There are many such
transpositions as these, both in sacred and profane writers. The following is
very remarkable: -
"I am black but comely;
"As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon."
That is,
"I am black as the tents of Kedar,
"Comely as the curtains of Solomon."

23. See many proofs of this sort of writing in Mr. Wakefield's Commentary.
As a general meaning of this passage, we may just say: "The sacrament of the
Lord's supper, and other holy ordinances which are only instituted for the
genuine followers of Christ, are not to be dispensed to those who are
continually returning like the snarling ill-natured dog to their easily
predominant sins of rash judgment, barking at and tearing the characters of
others by evil speaking, back biting and slandering; nor to him who, like the
swine, is frequently returning to wallow in the mud of sensual gratifications
and impurities."

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
Give not that which is holy … - By some the word “holy” has been supposed
to mean “flesh offered in sacrifice,” made holy, or separated to a sacred use;
but it probably means here “anything connected with religion” - admonition,
precept, or doctrine. Pearls are precious stones found in shell-fish, chiefly in
India, in the waters that surround Ceylon. They are used to denote anything
especially precious, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12-16; Matthew 13:45. In
this place they are used to denote the doctrines of the gospel. “Dogs” signify
people who spurn, oppose, and abuse that doctrine; people of special sourness
and malignity of temper, who meet it like growling and quarrelsome curs,
Philemon 3:2; 2 Peter 2:22; Revelation 22:15. “Swine” denote those who
would trample the precepts underfoot; people of impurity of life; those who
are corrupt, polluted, profane, obscene, and sensual; those who would not
know the value of the gospel, and who would tread it down as swine would
pearls, 2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 11:22. 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. This verse
furnishes a beautiful instance of what has been called the “introverted
parallelism.” The usual mode of poetry among the Hebrews, and a common
mode of expression in proverbs and apothegms, was by the parallelism, where
one member of a sentence answered to another, or expressed substantially the

24. same sense with some addition or modification. See the Introduction to the
Book of Job. Sometimes this was alternate, and sometimes it was introverted -
where the first and fourth lines would correspond, and the second and third.
This is the case here. The dogs would tear, and not the swine; the swine would
trample the pearls under their feet, and not the dogs. It may be thus
expressed:
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
Lest they (that is, the swine) trample them under their feet,
And turn again (that is, the dogs) and rend you.


The Biblical Illustrator
Matthew 7:6
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
Prudence necessary in conversing upon religious subjects

I. The bad characters and dispositions of some; men here represented by the
allusion of “ dogs” and “ swine.”
1. We may be sure they are unworthy the powers and dignity of human
nature. There are in their character-
2. How deplorably human nature is capable of being corrupted.
3. Watch against all tendencies towards the beginnings of these evil
dispositions.

25. II. The necessity and reasonableness of treating the affairs of religion with
caution and prudence in our conversing with others.
1. Since we know that sacred things are so liable to be abused by profane
persons.
2. That it may be attended with bad consequences of ill treatment to
ourselves-“lest they turn again and rend you.” (J. Abernethy, M. A.)
The dogs and the swine
The lesson is one of reverence and discretion.

I. As to the preaching of the gospel.

II. As to statements of spiritual experience.

III. As to the admission to sacred privileges and functions in the Church. (D.
Fraser, D. D.)


Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.
Dummelow thinks this passage means "that the most holy things ought not to
be offered indiscriminately to all persons."[1] In such a view, the dogs and
swine would refer to mean and vicious persons who have no desire to
apprehend spiritual things. This interpretation has come down from very
ancient times. Clement of Alexandria said, "It is difficult to exhibit the true
and transparent words respecting the true light to swinish and untrained
hearers."[2] Another view is that the sacred abilities and powers of life should

26. not be squandered upon the appetites and lusts of the flesh which can never be
satisfied but which end by "rending" the giver. This, of course, is true, but is
not necessarily what Jesus said here.
[1] J. R. Dummelow, One Volume Commentary (New York: Funk and
Wagnalls Company, 1932), p. 649.
[2] Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, p.
312.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Give not that which is holy to the dogs,.... Dogs were unclean creatures by the
law; the price of one might not be brought into the house of the Lord, for a
vow, Deuteronomy 23:18 yea, these creatures were not admitted into several
temples of the HeathensF8. Things profane and unclean, as flesh torn by
beasts, were ordered to be given to them, Exodus 22:31 but nothing that was
holy was to be given them, as holy flesh, or the holy oblations, or anything that
was consecrated to holy uses; to which is the allusion here. It is a common
maximF9 with the Jews,
ot ,sgniht yloh meeder ton od yeht taht" ,םיבלכל ןליכאהל םישדקה תא ןידופ ןיאש
give to the dogs to eat".'
Here the phrase is used in a metaphorical sense; and is generally understood
of not delivering or communicating the holy word of God, and the truths of
the Gospel, comparable to pearls, or the ordinances of it, to persons
notoriously vile and sinful: to men, who being violent and furious persecutors,
and impudent blasphemers, are compared to "dogs"; or to such, who are
scandalously vile, impure in their lives and conversations, and are therefore
compared to swine;
neither cast ye your pearls before swine. But since the subject Christ is upon is
reproof, it seems rather to be the design of these expressions, that men should
be cautious, and prudent, in rebuking and admonishing such persons for their

27. sins, in whom there is no appearance or hope of success; yea, where there is
danger of sustaining loss;
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you: that is,
despise the admonitions and reproofs given, and hurt the persons who give
them, either by words or deeds; see Proverbs 9:7. The Jews have some sayings
much like these, and will serve to illustrate themF11;
םיריזחה ינפל םינינפה וכילשת לא, "do not cast pearls before swine", nor deliver
wisdom to him, who knows not the excellency of it; for wisdom is better than
pearls, and he that does not seek after it, is worse than a swine.'

Geneva Study Bible
2 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your a pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.

(2) The stiff-necked and stubborn enemies of the gospel are unworthy to have
it preached unto them.

(a) A pearl is known among the Greeks for its oriental brightness: and a pearl
was in ancient times greatly valued by the Latins: for a pearl that Cleopatra
had was valued at two hundred and fifty thousand crowns: and the word is
now borrowed from that, to signify the most precious heavenly doctrine.


Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Prostitution of Holy Things. The opposite extreme to that of censoriousness is
here condemned - want of discrimination of character.

28. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs — savage or snarling haters of truth
and righteousness.
neither cast ye your pearls before swine — the impure or coarse, who are
incapable of appreciating the priceless jewels of Christianity. In the East, dogs
are wilder and more gregarious, and, feeding on carrion and garbage, are
coarser and fiercer than the same animals in the West. Dogs and swine,
besides being ceremonially unclean, were peculiarly repulsive to the Jews, and
indeed to the ancients generally.
lest they trample them under their feet — as swine do.
and turn again and rend you — as dogs do. Religion is brought into contempt,
and its professors insulted, when it is forced upon those who cannot value it
and will not have it. But while the indiscriminately zealous have need of this
caution, let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors down
as dogs and swine, and excusing ourselves from endeavoring to do them good
on this poor plea.

People's New Testament

Give not that which is holy unto dogs. The dog was regarded an unclean
animal by the Jewish law. They probably represent snarling, scoffing
opposers. The characteristic of dogs is brutality. To try to instill holy things
into such low, unclean, and sordid brutal minds is useless.

Neither cast pearls before swine. The swine were also unclean. They would
have no use for pearls, and perhaps would rush upon those who scattered the
pearls. So, too, there are men so dull, imbruted and senseless, as to reject the
pearls of truth. It is our duty to help and to try to save others, but we must use
common sense.

29. Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament
That which is holy unto the dogs (το αγιον τοις κυσιν — to hagion tois kusin).
It is not clear to what “the holy” refers, to ear-rings or to amulets, but that
would not appeal to dogs. Trench (Sermon on the Mount, p. 136) says that the
reference is to meat offered in sacrifice that must not be flung to dogs: “It is
not that the dogs would not eat it, for it would be welcome to them; but that it
would be a profanation to give it to them, thus to make it a skubalon, Exodus
22:31.” The yelping dogs would jump at it. Dogs are kin to wolves and infest
the streets of oriental cities.
Your pearls before the swine (τους μαργαριτας μων εμπροστεν των χοιρων —
tous margaritas hūmōn emprosthen tōn choirōn). The word pearl we have in
the name Margarita (Margaret). Pearls look a bit like peas or acorns and
would deceive the hogs until they discovered the deception. The wild boars
haunt the Jordan Valley still and are not far removed from bears as they
trample with their feet and rend with their tusks those who have angered
them.

Vincent's Word Studies
That which is holy ( τὸ ἅγιον )
The holy thing, as of something commonly recognized as sacred. The
reference is to the meat offered in sacrifice. The picture is that of a priest
throwing a piece of flesh from the altar of burnt-offering to one of the
numerous dogs which infest the streets of Eastern cities.
Pearls before swine ( μαργαρίτας ἔμπροσθεν τῶν χοίρων )
Another picture of a rich man wantonly throwing handfuls of small pearls to
swine. Swine in Palestine were at best but half-tamed, the hog being an
unclean animal. The wild boar haunts the Jordan valley to this day. Small
pearls, called by jewellers seed-pearls, would resemble the pease or maize on
which the swine feed. They would rush upon them when scattered, and,

30. discovering the cheat, would trample upon them and turn their tusks upon the
man who scattered them.
Turn ( στραφέντες )
The Rev. properly omits again. The word graphically pictures the quick,
sharp turn of the boar.
Rend ( ῥήξωσιν )
Lit., break; and well chosen to express the peculiar character of the wound
made by the boar's tusk, which is not a cut, but a long tear or rip.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Here is another instance of that transposition, where of the two things
proposed, the latter is first treated of.
Give not — to dogs - lest turning they rend you: Cast not - to swine - lest they
trample them under foot. Yet even then, when the beam is cast out of thine
own eye, Give not - That is, talk not of the deep things of God to those whom
you know to be wallowing in sin. neither declare the great things God hath
done for your soul to the profane, furious, persecuting wretches. Talk not of
perfection, for instance, to the former; not of your experience to the latter.
But our Lord does in nowise forbid us to reprove, as occasion is, both the one
and the other.

The Fourfold Gospel
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the
swine1, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and rend you.

31. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the
swine. The connection here is not obvious. This saying, however, appears to be
a limitation of the law against judging. The Christian must not be censoriously
judicial, but he should be discriminatingly judicious. He must know dogs and
swine when he sees them, and must not treat them as priests and kings, the fit
objects for the bestowal of holy food and goodly ornaments. Dogs and swine
were unclean animals. The former were usually undomesticated and were
often fierce. In the East they are still the self-appointed scavengers of the
street. The latter were undomesticated among the Jews, and hence are spoken
of as wild and liable to attack man. Meats connected with the sacrificial
service of the altar were holy. Even unclean men were not permitted to eat of
them, much less unclean brutes. What was left after the priests and clean
persons had eaten was to be burned with fire (Leviticus 6:24-30; Leviticus
7:15-21). To give holy things to dogs was to profane them. We are here
forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a
manner as to degrade or profane it. Saloons ought not to be opened with
prayer, nor ought adulterous marriages to be performed by a man of God. To
give pearls to swine is to press the claims of the gospel upon those who despise
it until they persecute you for annoying them with it. When such men are
known, they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in refusing to
answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles
when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme.
Compare Leviticus 15:2,3; Leviticus 21:23-27; Acts 13:46; Acts 19:9.


Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
By that which is holy, and pearls, are meant the truths and doctrines of the
gospel; by dogs, and swine, debased and utterly profligate men. The sentiment
is, that religious instruction is not to be urged upon men who are so sunk in
depravity that they will receive it with imprecations and blasphemy.

32. Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

6.Give not that which is holy It is unnecessary to repeat oftener, that Matthew
gives us here detached sentences, which ought not to be viewed as a continued
discourse. The present instruction is not at all connected with what came
immediately before, but is entirely separate from it. Christ reminds the
Apostles, and, through them, all the teachers of the Gospel, to reserve the
treasure of heavenly wisdom for the children of God alone, and not to expose
it to unworthy and profane despisers of his word.
But here a question arises: for he afterwards commanded to preach the
Gospel to every creature, (Mark 16:15;) and Paul says, that the preaching of it
is a deadly savor to wicked men, (2 Corinthians 2:16;) and nothing is more
certain than that it is every day held out to unbelievers, by the command of
God, for a testimony, that they may be rendered the more inexcusable. I
reply: As the ministers of the Gospel, and those who are called to the office of
teaching, cannot distinguish between the children of God and swine, it is their
duty to present the doctrine of salvation indiscriminately to all. Though many
may appear to them, at first, to be hardened and unyielding, yet charity
forbids that such persons should be immediately pronounced to be desperate.
It ought to be understood, that dogs and swine are names given not to every
kind of debauched men, or to those who are destitute of the fear of God and of
true godliness, but to those who, by clear evidences, have manifested a
hardened contempt of God, so that their disease appears to be incurable. In
another passage, Christ places the dogs in contrast with the elect people of
God and the household of faith, It is not proper to take the children’s bread,
and give it to dogs, (Matthew 15:27.) But by dogs and swine he means here
those who are so thoroughly imbued with a wicked contempt of God, that they
refuse to accept any remedy.
Hence it is evident, how grievously the words of Christ are tortured by those
who think that he limits the doctrine of the Gospel to those only who are
teachable and well-prepared. For what will be the consequence, if nobody is
invited by pious teachers, until by his obedience he has anticipated the grace

33. of God? On the contrary, we are all by nature unholy, and prone to rebellion.
The remedy of salvation must be refused to none, till they have rejected it so
basely when offered to them, as to make it evident that they are reprobate and
self-condemned, ( αὐτοκατάκριτοι ,) as Paul says of heretics, (Titus 3:11.)
There are two reasons, why Christ forbade that the Gospel should be offered
to lost despisers. It is an open profanation of the mysteries of God to expose
them to the taunts of wicked men. Another reason is, that Christ intended to
comfort his disciples, that they might not cease to bestow their labors on the
elect of God in teaching the Gospel, though they saw it wantonly rejected by
wicked and ungodly men. His meaning is lest this inestimable treasure should
be held in little estimation, swine and dogs must not be permitted to approach
it. There are two designations which Christ bestows on the doctrine of
salvation: he calls it holy, and compares it to pearls. Hence we learn how
highly we ought to esteem this doctrine.
Lest these trample them under their feet Christ appears to distinguish
between the swine and the dogs: attributing brutal stupidity to the swine, and
rage to the dogs And certainly, experience shows, that there are two such
classes of despisers of God. Whatever is taught in Scripture, for instance,
about the corrupt nature of man, free justification, and eternal election, is
turned by many into an encouragement to sloth and to carnal indulgence.
Such persons are fitly and justly pronounced to be swine Others, again, tear
the pure doctrine, and its ministers, with sacrilegious reproaches, as if they
threw away all desire to do well, all fear of God, and all care for their
salvation. Although he employs both names to describe the incurable
opponents of the Word of God, yet, by a twofold comparison, he points out
briefly in what respect the one differs from the other.

James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
THAT WHICH IS HOLY
‘Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.’
Matthew 7:6

34. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs—that is to say, never surrender the
higher to the lower, never sink the celestial to the terrestrial; never desecrate
that which has been consecrated. That was the sound piece of advice that our
Lord gave to men and women who were trying to aim at a higher life while
they were living in and mixing with the world. As they needed the lesson then,
we want it now, when hardly anything is regarded as holy. What shall we say
then that we specially need to remember is in danger of losing its sacred
character?
I. The holiness of manhood.—Manhood is holy, and yet men desecrate their
manhood. I take up some novel, some book, and I read there a character so
true to life, a man who carries an atmosphere of unholiness wherever he goes,
a man whose character men shudder at when he goes into their clubs, a man
whose presence women fear when he goes into their drawing-rooms. It is hard
to keep our manhood holy in these days, and as we face the real true facts of
life we think perhaps of some one man from that great mass of middle-class
men who are the real strength of England, and we think what his manhood is
exposed to. He is living, perhaps, in lodgings, he gets home from his work
tired and weary, he has his meal alone, and then he goes out through the open
door into the streets, and then, to use Bible language, sin lieth at the door.
There it is curled up like a dog on the doorstep all ready to meet him. There is
the test to his manhood.
II. The holiness of womanhood.—And the same is true of womanhood. We
know there are women who in one mad moment have thrown their holiest and
their best to the dogs. We know their temptations, we know what it means to
them. They have lowered the level of womanhood. They have desecrated the
consecrated. They have made themselves a sort of right of way for the public
to walk over. To them the Master says, as to the men, ‘Give not that which is
holy to the dogs.’
III. The holiness of childhood.—The children are holy; if ever there is a time
in life when men and women have been holy it is when they were children.
And yet look how children are by their parents literally thrown to the dogs,
sent out into life unwarned of everything. What wonder that they go when
they are sent to the dogs!

35. IV. The holiness of health.—Health is holy. Don’t fling away health as men
and women do so wildly, so recklessly. Take care of the drugs, take care of the
stimulants that are so easily to be had. Take care of the way you spend your
recreation hours. Life is in that sense holy, and it is to be treated as you would
treat a church or churchyard. Fence it in from the dogs, fence it in from all
that desecrates it. All life really is sacred and holy. Your interest, your work in
life is holy.
—Canon Holmes.
Illustrations
(1) ‘The picture is of a glorious and a great temple, the priests sacrificing some
spotless lamb, and as they stand at the altar the picture is that of an Eastern
dog—a coarse, cruel scavenger—creeping up the distance of the temple, and
then the priest taking a piece of this pure spotless lamb and throwing it to the
dog. Every Jew would regard it as a scandal, every one to whom our Lord was
speaking would know to what He referred.’
(2) ‘I have read the story of a child whose after life was the life of many a man.
He was a judge’s son, and he stood at last in a felon’s dock, and the judge who
was trying the case knew, and knew well, the man’s father. And he said to the
prisoner at the dock: “Don’t you remember your father as you stand in that
dock?” “Yes,” was the reply, “I do remember my father, and the greatest
remembrance that I have of him is that whenever I wanted a word of advice,
whenever I wanted him to enter into my boy life, he replied, ‘Go away, and
don’t worry or bother.’” And the result was that an English judge was
enabled to complete a great work that he was writing upon the law of trusts,
when there in the dock was his own son, an example of the way in which he
had failed to keep that most sacred trust of all—the trust of bringing up a
child that he had brought into the world.’


John Trapp Complete Commentary

36. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Ver. 6. Give not that which is holy to dogs, &c.] Having shown how, here our
Saviour shows whom {a} we should admonish. Give not holy things,
wholesome counsels or rebukes (called elsewhere "reproofs of life," Proverbs
15:31, precious balms, excellent ointments, which may heal a wound but make
none, Psalms 141:1) to dogs, that will not be taken by the ears; or swine, that
if they light upon such a pearl, will only grunt and go their ways. "Beware of
dogs, beware of evil workers," Philippians 3:2, such especially as have
wrought so hard, walked so far and so fast, that now they are set down to rest
in the seat of the scornful. {b} Beware of such botches; there is no good to be
done upon them, or to be gotten by them, but a great deal of danger. The
Cynics admonished all they met; if men would not hearken, they counted it an
easy loss to cast away a few words upon them. But our Saviour prescribeth us
prudence and caution. He will not have holy speeches spent and spilt upon
despisers, his pearls trampled on by swinish epicures. Mourn we may, with
Jeremiah, {Jeremiah 9:1} for such mad dogs as furiously fly in the face of
them that fairly tell them of their faults. Pray we must and pity such sensual
swine, such sottish and scurrilous wretches, as grunt against goodness, and
feed insatiably upon the garbage of carnal contentments. {c} As dogs and
swine were unclean creatures and unfit for sacrifice, so are those for
admonition that would entertain it with cruelty or scurrility. "Speak not in
the ears of a fool," saith Solomon, "for he will despise the wisdom of thy
words," Proverbs 23:9. And again, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee;
rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee," Proverbs 9:8. David prays for a
friendly reprover, Psalms 141:5. Job cries, {Job 13:23} "Make me to know my
transgression and my sin." Hezekiah stormed not at that sharp and sad
message, Isaiah 39:8. Jonah, though testy enough, lays his hand upon his
mouth, and seals up his prophecy with silence after God’s reprehension.
Tacuit virgo licet publice perstricta. The Virgin Mary held her peace, John
2:4, when her Son took her up so short for her forwardness, before all the

37. company. So did St Peter, when St Paul took him up for halting at Antioch,
Galatians 2:14, and commendeth that epistle wherein St Paul had witnessed
that reproof, among the rest, 2 Peter 3:16. The two disciples going to Emmaus
constrained that stranger that had chided them for their unbelief, to abide
and eat with them, Luke 24:29. And lukewarm Laodicea, so roundly reproved
and sorely threatened with shameful spewing out, repented, and was
reformed; as some ground and gather from that title our Saviour assumes in
the preface to the epistle, "the beginning of the creation of God." Eusebius
also testifieth that there was a flourishing Church there in his days. {d} Next
to the not deserving of a reproof, is the well taking of it. No sugar can deprive
a pill of its bitterness. None but the gracious can say, "Let the righteous smite
me." Bees only pass by roses and violets, and sit upon thyme, which is hot and
biting. Most men, when we seek to fetch them out of their sins, to awaken
them out of the snare of the devil, they fret and snarl, as those that are
wakened out of sleep are apt to do. They snuff and take scorn, are as horse
and mule, untameable, untractable; the more you rub their galled backs the
more they kick. These stray asses will not be brought home, Exodus 23:4-5.
These old bottles will break with such new wine. The more you touch these
toads, the more they swell; the more you meddle with these serpents, the more
they gather poison to spit at you. Go about to cool them, you shall but add to
their heat, as the smith’s forge fries when cold water is cast upon it; and as hot
water if stirred casteth up the more fume. Joseph is for his good will in this
kind hated of his brethren; Jonathan of Saul, who cast a javelin at him;
Micaiah of Ahab, Amos of Amaziah, Jeremiah of his flagitious countrymen,
Christ of the Jews, Paul of the Galatians, John Baptist of Herod. If John touch
his white sin (and who will stand still to have his eyes picked out?) John must
to prison. In other things he will dance after John’s pipe; but if his incest be
meddled with, John must hop headless. Stay to wrest that string in tune, and it
will snap and break upon you. Now for such scoffing Ishmaels and furious
opposites, that refuse to be reformed, hate to be healed, let them read their
doom, Psalms 50:21-22, and see here their destiny. Every good man is bound
in conscience to pass by them as incorrigible, irreformable, and not to afford
them so much as a pull out of the fire, so much as a caveat to prevent those
curses that are coming upon them. But he that is filthy must be filthy still; he
must wallow as a swine, and perish in his own corruptions; he must rage as a

38. mad dog, and run into the pit of hell, nobody must offer to stop or stay him in
his career.

{a} Hinc illud monitum, Pythag. σιτιον εις αμισθα μη εμβαλλειν. Plut.

{b} Psalms 1:1, εν καθεδρα των λοιμων. Sept.

{c} χοιρος, of χερας, filth. So porcus; quasi spurcus.

{d} Post tam gravem επιτιμιαν haud dubie resipuit. Pareus.


The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann

An additional counsel:
v. 6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.
Moral criticism is necessary, religious teaching cannot be discarded. But it
would be the height of folly and the very contrary of unauthorized judging to
unload one's religious beliefs and experiences, tender sentiments, moral
convictions, on any one that comes along, no matter in what condition he
might be. For Christians especially the sacred doctrines of Christ are the
precious pearls on the ring of His mercy. To cast these before dogs and swine,
before people to whom nothing is sacred, that blaspheme everything holy, is to
expose the most sacred beauty to coarseness. And the result is that those very
people are encouraged to profane the holy name of God, to think it a proper

39. subject of blasphemous attacks. And it cannot fail: some of the mud will
spatter on him that lacked judgment; he will be responsible for the
desecration, and therefore also guilty before God. Note the figure of speech
used by the Lord, the second verb referring to the first subject, and the first
verb to the second subject.



Sermon Bible Commentary
Matthew 7:6, Matthew 7:12
Consider:—
I. The reserve which will not give things holy to dogs. The dog was reckoned,
with the swine, among the unclean animals. They were both of them types of
the grossly sensual kind of sinners, given over to mere brute appetite, and
insensible to any higher life. Hence it was a common saying, "Without are
dogs," to indicate the general carnality of the Gentile world. Things holy
belong to the holy, or at any rate to those who recognize them to be holy, and
will treat them, therefore, with the reverence which is their due. We are
bound to act so that these sacred things shall not be despised, and that our
good shall not be evil spoken of, and that we shall not needlessly arouse the
opposition and hatred to spiritual concerns which these carnal minds are so
ready to indulge in.
II. There is also a similar reserve with regard to things precious: "Neither cast
your pearls before swine." The things precious, indicated by pearls, may be
also, no doubt, very sacred, but they do not belong to the holy privacies of
religious life. On the contrary, they are meant for use and free circulation; for
by the pearls I understand chiefly the truths of the Gospel. This second
proverb implies that even in the performance of the great Christian duty of
preaching the Gospel there is still left room for some discretion and reserve,
lest by unwise speech we bring dishonour on the truth and needless

40. persecution on ourselves. These two things must combine ere we shall be
justified in keeping silence.
III. For our practical guidance in such matters it seems to me we must always
read these words in the light of the great principle, "Whatsoever ye would
that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." That is to say, it is our
duty in certain cases to consider how we ourselves would like it if the truth
were forced on our attention at such a time, or in such a way, as to provoke
our opposition to it, and lead us into sinful rejection of its claims.
W. C. Smith, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 292.


Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
Matthew 7:6. Give not that which is holy, &c.— Lest these trample,—and
those turn again and tear you. There is a similar maxim to this in the
Talmudical writings: "Do not cast pearls before swine;" to which is added, by
way of explanation, "Do not offer wisdom to one who knows not the price of
it." This was one reason why our Saviour taught in parables. Compare Acts
13:45-46.
Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
By that which is holy, understand the word and ordinances in general, but
admonition and reproof in particular: By dogs and swine, incorrigible and
unreclaimable sinners, hardened scorners of holy things: It is a proverbial
speech, expressing how sure charitable reprehensions are to be cast away
upon incorrigble sinners.
Learn, 1. That it is possible for sinners to arrive at such a height and pitch in
wickedness and sin, that it may be a Christian's duty not to admonish or
reprove them.
Observe, 2. How Christ provides, as for the honour of his word, so for the
safety of those that publish it. As Christ will not have his word offered to some

41. sinners, lest they should abuse it, so also lest they should abuse those that
bring it: When sinners turn swine, and we are in danger of being rent by
them, Christ himself gives us a permission to cease reproving of them.

Golden Chain Commentary on the Gospels
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
Aug.: Because the simplicity to which He had been directing in the foregoing
precepts might lead some wrongly to conclude that it was equally wrong to
hide the truth as to utter what was false, He well adds, "Give not that which is
holy to the dogs, and cast not your pearls before swine."
Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; The Lord had commanded us to love our enemies,
and to do good to those that sin against us. That from this Priests might not
think themselves obliged to communicate also the things of God to such, He
checked any such thought saying, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs;" as
much as to say, I have bid you love your enemies, and do them good out of
your temporal goods, but not out of My spiritual goods, without distinction.
For they are your brethren by nature but not by faith, and God gives the good
things of this life equally to the worthy and the unworthy, but not so spiritual
graces.
Aug., Serm. in Mont., ii, 20: Let us see now what is the holy thing, what are
the dogs, what the pearls, what the swine? The holy thing is all that it were
impiety to corrupt; a sin which may be committed by the will, though the
thing itself be undone. The pearls are all spiritual things that are to be highly
esteemed. Thus though one and the same thing may be called both the holy
thing and a pearl, yet it is called holy because it is not to be corrupted; and
called a pearl because it is not be contemned.
Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; "That which is holy" denotes baptism, the grace
of Christ"s body, and the like; but the mysteries of the truth are intended by
the pearls. For as pearls are inclosed in shells, and such in the deeps of the sea,

42. so the divine mysteries inclosed in words are lodged in the deep meaning of
Holy Scripture.
Chrys.: And to those that are right-minded and have understanding, when
revealed they appear good; but to those without understanding, they seem to
be more deserving reverence because they are not understood.
Aug.: The dogs are those that assault the truth; the swine we may not
unsuitably take for those that despise the truth. Therefore because dogs leap
forth to rend in pieces, and what they rend, suffer not to continue whole, He
said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs;" because they strive to the
utmost of their power to destroy the truth. The swine though they do not
assault by biting as dogs, yet do they defile by trampling upon, and therefore
He said, "Cast not your pearls before swine."
Rabanus: Or; The dogs are returned to their vomit; the swine not yet
returned, but wallowing in the mire of vices.
Pseudo-Chrys.: Otherwise; The dog and the swine are unclean animals; the
dog indeed in every respect, as he neither chews the cud, nor divides the hoof;
but swine in one respect only, seeing they divide the hoof, though they do not
chew the cud. Hence I think that we are to understand by the dog, the Gentiles
who are altogether unclean, both in their life, and in their faith; but by the
swine are to be understood heretics, because they seem to call upon the name
of the Lord.
"Give not therefore that which is holy to the dogs," for that baptism and the
other sacraments are not to be given but to them that have the faith. In like
manner the mysteries of the truth, that is, the pearls, are not to be given but to
such as desire the truth and live with human reason. If then you cast them to
the swine, that is, to such as are grovelling in impurity of life, they do not
understand their preciousness, but value them like to other worldly fables,
and tread them under foot with their carnal life.
Aug.: That which is despised is said to be trodden under foot: hence it is said,
"Lest perchance they tread them under foot."

43. Gloss. interlin.: He says, "Lest perchance," because it may be that they will
wisely turn from their uncleanness. [ed. note: the gloss. has "guia non
possunt."]
Aug.: That which follows, "Turn again and rend you," He means not the
pearls themselves, for these they tread under foot, and when they turn again
that they may hear something further, then they rend him by whom the pearls
on which they had trode had been cast. For you will not easily find what will
please him who has despised things god by great toil. Whoever then undertake
to teach such, I see not how they shall not be trode upon and rent by those
they teach.
Pseudo-Chrys.: Or; The swine not only trample upon the pearls by their
carnal life, but after a little they turn, and by disobedience rend those who
offend them. Yea often when offended they bring false accusation against
them as sowers of new dogmas. The dogs also having trode upon holy things
by their impure actions, by their disputings rend the preacher of truth.
Chrys.: Well is that said, "Lest they turn;" for they feign meekness that they
may learn; and when they have learned, they attack.
Pseudo-Chrys.: With good reason He forbade pearls to be given to swine. For
if they are not to be set before swine that are the less unclean, how much more
are they to be withhold from dogs that are so much more unclean. But
respecting the giving that which is holy, we cannot hold the same opinion;
seeing we often give the benediction to Christians who live as the brutes; and
that not because they deserve to receive it, but lest perchance being more
grievously offended they should perish utterly.
Aug.: We must be careful therefore not to explain ought to him who does not
receive it; for men the rather seek that which is hidden than that which is
opened. He either attacks from ferocity as a dog, or overlooks from stupidity
as swine.
But it does not follow that if the truth be kept hid, falsehood is uttered. The
Lord Himself who never spoke falsely, yet sometimes concealed the truth, as
in that, "I have yet many things to say unto you, the which ye are not now able

44. to bear." [John 16:12] But if any is unable to receive these things because of
his filthiness, we must first cleanse him as far as lays in our power either by
word or deed.
But in that the Lord is found to have said some things which many who heard
Him did not receive, but either rejected or contemned them, we are not to
think that therein He gave the holy thing to the dogs, or cast His pearls before
swine. He gave to those who were able to receive, and who were in the
company, whom it was not fit should be neglected for the uncleanness of the
rest. And though those who tempted Him might perish in those answers which
He gave to them, yet those who could receive them by occasion of these
inquiries heard many useful things.
He therefore who knows what should be answered ought to make answer, for
their sakes at least who might fall into despair should they think that the
question proposed is one that cannot be answered. But this only in the case of
such matters as pertain to instruction of salvation; of things superfluous or
harmful nothing should be said; but it should then be explained for what
reason we ought not to make answer in such points to the enquirer.

Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary
6.] The connexion, see below.
τὸ ἅγιον] Some have thought this a mistranslation of the Chaldee, א ָדָדָק, an
earring, or amulet; but the connexion is not at all improved by it. Pearls bear
a resemblance to peas or acorns, the food of swine, but earrings none
whatever to the food of dogs. The similitude is derived from τὸ ἅγιον, or τὰ
ἅγια, the meat offered in sacrifice, of which no unclean person was to eat
(Leviticus 22:6-7 ; Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 22:14 (where τὸ ἅγ. is used), 15,
16). Similarly in the ancient Christian Liturgies and Fathers, τὰ ἅγια are the
consecrated elements in the Holy Communion. The fourteenth canon of the
Council of Laodicæa orders μὴ τὰ ἅγια … εἰς ἑτερας παροικίας διαπέμπεσθαι.
Again, Cyril of Jerus.: μετὰ ταῦτα λέγει ὁ ἱερεύς τὰ ἅγια τοῖς ἁγίοις. ἅγια, τὰ
προκείμενα, ἐπιφοίτησιν δεξάμενα ἁγίου πνεύματος. (See Suicer on the word.)

45. Thus interpreted, the saying would be one full of meaning to the Jews. As
Abp. Trench observes (Serm. Mount, p. 136), “It is not that the dogs would
not eat it, for it would be welcome to them; but that it would be a profanation
to give it to them, thus to make it a σκύβαλον, Exodus 22:3.” The other part of
the similitude is of a different character, and belongs entirely to the swine,
who having cast to them pearls, something like their natural food, whose value
is inappreciable by them, in fury trample them with their feet, and turning
against the donor, rend him with their tusks. The connexion with the
foregoing and following verses is this: “Judege not,” &c.; “attempt not the
correction of others, when you need it far more yourselves:” still, be not such
mere children, as not to distinguish the characters of those with whom you
have to do. Give not that which is holy to dogs,” &c. Then, as a humble hearer
might be disposed to reply, ‘If this last be a measure of the divine dealings,
what bounties can I expect at God’s hand?’ (This, to which Stier objects, R.
Jesu, i. 233, edn. 2, I must still hold to be the immediate connexion, as shewn
by the knowing how to give good gifts, and the instances adduced below.)—
(Matthew 7:7), ‘Ask of God, and He will give to each of you: for this is His
own will, that you shall obtain by asking (Matthew 7:8),—good things, good
for each in his place and degree (Matthew 7:10-11), not unwholesome or
unfitting things. Therefore (Matthew 7:12) do ye the same to others, as ye
wish to be done, and as God does, to you: viz. give that which is good for each,
to each, not judging uncharitably on the one hand, nor casting pearls before
swine on the other.’

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE: 1327
CAUTION TO BE USED IN REPROVING
Matthew 7:6. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your
pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again
and rend you,

46. IN the holy Scriptures there are not only such directions as are necessary for
the saving of the soul, but such also as are of a prudential nature, calculated
for the rectifying of our judgment, and the regulating of our conduct, in less
important matters. A pious person would obtain salvation, though he should
not be discreet in his mode of communicating instruction or reproof to others.
But it is desirable that “the man of God should be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works:” and therefore he should attend as well to
those admonitions which are of secondary importance, as to those which
relate to the fundamental points of faith or practice. The words before us are
connected with the prohibition respecting the judging of others. To judge
others uncharitably will expose us to similar treatment from them, as well as
to the displeasure of Almighty God. Before we presume to judge others at all,
we ought to be diligent in searching out and amending our own faults; without
which we are but ill qualified to reprove the faults of others. We ought also to
consider the state of the person whom we undertake to reprove: for if he be
hardened in his wickedness, and disposed to resent our well-meant
endeavours, it will be more prudent to let him alone, and to wait for some
season when we may speak to him with a better prospect of success. Such is
the import of the caution in our text; from whence we may observe,
I. That religious instruction is often most unworthily received—
The value of religious instruction is but little known—
[Education in general is esteemed one of the greatest blessings we can enjoy;
nor is any sacrifice, whether of time or money, deemed too great for the
obtaining of the benefits arising from it. A richly-furnished mind, a cultivated
taste, a polished manner, are distinctions which the richer part of the
community particularly affect: and they are most envied who possess in the
highest measure such accomplishments. But divine knowledge is considered as
of little worth: though it would enrich the soul beyond all conception, and
adorn it with all the most amiable graces, and is therefore most fully
characterized by the name of “pearls,” yet has it no beauty, no excellency, in
the eyes of carnal men: the generality are as insensible of its value as swine are
of the value of pearls, which they would “trample under their feet” as mire
and dirt. Of this however we may be assured, that instruction, even though it

47. be in a way of reproof, lays us under the deepest obligation to him who gives it
[Note: Proverbs 25:11-12.].]
Many, instead of being pleased, are only irritated and offended at it—
[Nothing under heaven has ever given more offence than this. Men may utter
lewdness and blasphemy, and create but little disgust: but let them bear their
testimony against sin, or proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, and
instantly an indignation is excited in every bosom. In the house of God indeed
a certain licence is allowed, provided the preacher be not too faithful: but in a
private company the mention of such things is considered as a death-blow to
social comfort, and is reprobated as an insufferable nuisance. Even in the
public ministry those who “labour with fidelity in the word and doctrine” are
not unfrequently treated with every species of indignity. No name is too odious
for them to bear, no opposition too violent to be raised against them.
It is supposed indeed by some, that the offence excited by ministers arises
from the erroneousness of their statements, or the injudiciousness of their
manner. But what then shall we say to the treatment which Christ and his
Apostles met with? Did our blessed Lord want any qualification that could
recommend his doctrine? Did he not exhibit “the meekness of wisdom,” and
“speak as never man spake?” And was not Paul guided and instructed by God
himself in his ministrations? Yet were both he and his Divine Master
represented as babblers and deceivers; and one cry was raised against them
both, “Away with them; it is not fit that they should live.”
Nor is it more against the doctrines of Christianity that this prejudice exists,
than it does against its practice. The doctrine of “Christ crucified is still to
some a stumbling-block, and to others foolishness:” and the same anger that
rankled in the bosoms of Herod and Herodias against John, who condemned
their incestuous connexion, is called forth at this time against any one who
shall condemn the customs of the world [Note: It is said of Herodias, ἐνεῖχεν
αὺτῷ, which we translate “She had a quarrel against him” but the idea seems
to be, “She fastened on him, like a dog,” that would tear him to pieces. Mark
6:19.]. Our Lord’s words may still be used by all his faithful followers, “The
world hateth me, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil [Note:

48. John 7:7.].” Doubtless the inveteracy of wicked men will shew itself in
different ways and different degrees, according to the different circumstances
under which it is called forth: but no times or circumstances have ever
superseded the necessity of attending to the caution in the text: there ever
have been multitudes who would take offence at the kindest efforts for their
welfare [Note: Proverbs 9:7-8.], and, like ferocious “dogs, would turn again
and rend you.” Reprove iniquity, and you will still be deemed “the troublers
of Israel;” and those who are reproved will say of you, “I hate Micaiah, for he
doth not speak good of me, but evil.”]
From this aversion which men feel to religious instruction, it appears,
II. That great caution is to be used in administering it—
The direction in our text was given to the whole multitude of those who heard
our Lord’s discourse; and therefore may be considered as applicable,
1. To ministers—
[Though it is not to be confined to them, it does not exclude them. Doubtless
where numbers of persons are assembled to hear the word of God, it is not
possible to suit oneself to the disposition and taste of every individual. The
rule which God himself has laid down must in such cases be followed: “He
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully [Note: Jeremiah
23:28.].” A minister must “warn men, whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear:” he must “commend himself to every man’s conscience in the
sight of God,” “keeping back nothing that is profitable unto them,” but
“declaring unto them the whole counsel of God.” Still, however, the caution in
the text is necessary for him. He should consider the state of his hearers, and
should adapt his discourses to their necessities. Our blessed Lord, knowing
how full of prejudice the Jews were, “spake the word to them in parables, as
they were able to hear it.” In like manner, though we must not seek the
applause of man, (for “if we please men, we cannot he the servants of Jesus
Christ;”) yet we should endeavour to “please all men for their good to
edification:” we should argue with them on principles which they
acknowledge; we should be content to give “milk to babes,” and to reserve the
“strong meat” for such as are able to digest it. We should pay attention to

49. every thing that may lessen prejudice and conciliate regard: and, though we
must not affect “the wisdom of words, which would only make void the cross
of Christ,” we should “search out acceptable words,” and be especially careful
to “speak the truth in love.” Our great object should be not to “deliver our
own souls,” (though doubtless we must be careful to do that,) but principally
to “win the souls” of others.]
2. To Christians in general—
[As “men do not light a candle, to put it under a bed or under a bushel, but to
give light to those who are in the house,” so God, when he illuminates any
soul, expects that the light he has imparted should be diffused for the good of
others. But in endeavouring to instruct others, we should consider the tune,
the manner, the measure of instruction, that will be most likely to ensure
success. In particular, we should not press matters when our exhortations are
contemned as foolish, or resented as injurious. Not that our concern should be
about ourselves, as though we feared either the contempt of men, or their
resentment; but we should be afraid of hardening them, and thereby
increasing their guilt and condemnation. As to ourselves, we should gladly
“suffer all things for the elect’s sake:” but for them we should “weep, as it
were, in secret places [Note: Jeremiah 13:17.],” and “gladly spend and be
spent for them, though the more abundantly we love them the less we be
loved.” If, indeed, after all our labour, we find that our efforts are only
rejected by them with disdain, we may then with propriety leave them to
themselves, and, like the Apostles, bestow our attention on more hopeful
subjects [Note: Acts 13:45-46. 2 Chronicles 25:14-16.]. As the priests imparted
of the holy food to every member of their families, but gave none of it to dogs,
so may you give your holy things to others, and withhold it from those who
have shewn themselves so unworthy of it.]
We will now apply the subject,
1. To those who are strangers to the truth—
[From the indifference which is usually shewn to divine things, it is evident
that the value of religious knowledge is but little known. If we could inform
persons how to restore their health, or how to recover an estate, or how to

50. obtain any great temporal benefit, they would hear us gladly, and follow our
advice with thankfulness; but when we speak of spiritual benefits, they have
no ears to hear, no hearts to understand: they are ready to say to us, as the
demoniac to Christ, “Art thou come to torment us before our time?” But let it
not be so with you. Think in what light God represents such conduct [Note:
Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 15:31-32.] — — — what regret you will hereafter
feel [Note: Proverbs 5:12-13.] — — — and what augmented punishment you
will endure [Note: Matthew 10:14-15.] — — — And may God “open your
hearts, that you may attend to the things” that belong unto your peace, before
they be for ever hid from your eyes!]
2. To those who know it—
[Whilst we exhort you to be cautious in admonishing others, we would caution
you also against being soon discouraged. Think not every one assimilated to
dogs or swine because he resists the truth for a season; but give “line upon
line, and precept upon precept,” and “instruct in meekness them that oppose
themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance, and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, by whom they have been led
captive at his will.”
And whilst you take upon you to admonish others, be willing to receive
admonition also yourselves. It is not every religious professor that is so open
to conviction as he ought to be [Note: Galatians 4:16.], and that will receive
reproof like David, esteeming it as “an excellent oil, that shall not break his
head [Note: Psalms 141:5.]. Watch over your own spirit, therefore, and
exemplify in yourselves the conduct you require in others.]


Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament
Matthew 7:6. The endeavour to correct the faults of others must be confined
within its proper limits, and not allowed to become a casting of holy things to
the dogs. As is usual, however, in the case of apophthegms, this progress in the
thought is not expressed by a particle ( ἀλλά). To abandon the idea of

51. connection (Maldonatus, de Wette, Tholuck), or to suppose (Kuinoel,
Neander, Bleek; Weiss doubtful) that Matthew 7:6-11, at least Matthew 7:6,
do not belong to this passage, is scarcely warranted.
τὸ ἅγιον] the holy, not the holy flesh, דְּדַׂק ר ֹד ֶשׁ, Jeremiah 11:15, Haggai 2:12,
the flesh of sacrifices (v. d. Hardt, Paulus, Tholuck), which, besides, would
require to be more precisely designated, otherwise there would be just as
much reason to suppose that the holy bread, לחם קדש (1 Samuel 21:5), or any
other meat-offering (Leviticus 22:2), was meant. Christ has in view the holy in
general, figuratively designating in the first clause only the persons, and then,
in the second, the holy thing. What is meant by this, as also by τοὺς
μαργαρίτας immediately after, is the holy, because divine evangelic, truth by
which men are converted, and which, by τοὺς μαργαρ. ὑμῶν, is described as
something of the highest value, as the precious jewel which is entrusted to the
disciples as its possessors. For Arabian applications of this simile, comp.
Gesenius in Rosenm. Rep. I. p. 128.
Dogs and swine, these impure and thoroughly despised animals, represent
those men who are hardened and altogether incapable of receiving evangelic
truth, and to whom the holy is utterly foreign and distasteful. The parallelism
ought to have precluded the explanation that by both animals two different
classes of men are intended (the snappish, as in Acts 13:46; the filthy livers,
Grotius).
μήποτε καταπ., κ. τ. λ., καὶ στραφέντες, κ. τ. λ.] applies to the swine, who are
to be conceived of as wild animals, as may be seen from αὐτούς and the whole
similitude, so that, as the warning proceeds, the figure of the dogs passes out
of view, though, as matter of course, it admits of a corresponding application
(Pricaeus, Maldonatus, Tholuck). But this is no reason why the words should
be referred to both classes of animals, nor why the trampling should be
assigned to the swine and στράφ. ῥήξ. to the dogs (Theophylact, Hammond,
Calovius, Wolf, Kuinoel). For the future καταπ. (see the critical remarks),
comp. note on Mark 14:2; Matthew 13:15.
ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτ.] instrumental.

52. στραφέντες] not: having changed to an attitude of open hostility (Chrysostom,
Euth. Zigabenus), or to savagery (Loesner), but manifestly, having turned
round upon you from the pearls, which they have mistaken for food, and
which, in their rage, they have trampled under their feet; the meaning of
which is, lest such men profane divine truth (by blasphemy, mockery,
calumny), and vent upon you their malicious feeling toward the gospel. In how
many ways must the apostles have experienced this in their own case; for,
their preaching being addressed to all, they would naturally, as a rule, have to
see its effect on those who heard it before they could know who were “dogs
and swine,” so as then to entice them no further with the offer of what is holy,
but to shake off the dust, and so on. But the men here in view were to be found
among Jews and Gentiles. It is foreign to the present passage (not so Matthew
15:26) to suppose that only the Gentiles as such are referred to (Köstlin,
Hilgenfeld).

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament
Matthew 7:6. ΄ὴ δῶτε, give not) Here we meet with the other extreme; for the
two extremes are, to judge those who ought not to be judged, and to give holy
things to the dogs. Too much severity and too much laxity.(303)— κυσὶ,
χοίρων, dogs, swine) Dogs feed on their own filth, swine on that of others. See
Gnomon on 2 Peter 2:22; Philippians 3:2. The holy and dogs are put in
opposition to each other in Exodus 22:30;(304) a dog is not a wild beast, but
yet it is an unclean animal.— ὑμῶν, your) An implied antitheton.(305) That
which is holy is the property of GOD pearls are the secret treasures of the
faithful, intrusted to them by GOD.— ῥήξωσιν, rend) This also appears to
refer to the swine.(306)— ὑμᾶς, you) From whom they expected something
else, husks, etc.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
By swine and dogs, our Saviour doubtless understandeth wicked men of
several sorts, either such as are more tame sinners, trampling upon holy

53. things, and with swine wallowing in the mire of lusts and corruptions,
Proverbs 26:11 2 Peter 2:22; or, by dogs, more malicious, revengeful,
boisterous sinners may be meant, whose consciences will serve them to bark
and grin at the word of God, to mock at holy things, to persecute those that
bring them the gospel, and are their open enemies, because they tell them the
truth. The gospel is to be preached to every creature, Mark 16:15. But when
the Jews were hardened, and spake evil of that way before the multitude, & c.,
Acts 19:9, the apostles left preaching to them. The precept doubtless is
general, directing the ministers of Christ to administer the holy things, with
which they are intrusted, only to such as have a right to them, and under
prudent circumstances, so as the holy name of God may not be profaned, nor
they run into needless danger.

Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
That which is holy; the holy flesh of the sacrifices.
Trample them; as things to them valueless.
Turn-and rend you; turn from the pearls in rage to attack the given, because
he has offered them what they cannot eat. Dogs and swine represent selfish,
quarrelsome, rapacious, and sensual men, whom it is often best to leave to
themselves, lest our indiscreet labors be not only thrown away as regards
them, but turn to our own injury. Scorners and scoffers should sometimes be
let alone, lest, on being reproved, they become more injurious than they
otherwise would be, to themselves and to others. Proverbs 9:7-8.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges
6. The connection between this verse and the preceding section is not quite
obvious. It seems to be this. Although evil and censorious judgment is to be
avoided, discrimination is needful. The Christian must be judicious, not
judicial.

54. τὸ ἅγιον, i.e. ‘spiritual truths.’ Some have seen in the expression a reference to
the holy flesh of the offering (Haggai 2:12). But this allusion is very doubtful;
see Meyer on this passage.
κυσίν … χοιρῶν. Unclean animals; see the proverb quoted 2 Peter 2:22; cp.
Philippians 3:2, βλέπετε τοὺς κύνας, βλέπετε τοὺς κακοὺς ἐργάτας; also Hor.
Ep. I. 2. 25, ‘vel canis immundus vel amica luto sus.’ See note on ch. Matthew
15:26.
μαργαρίτας. The only gems mentioned in the Gospels, twice named by Jesus:
here, where they signify the deepest spiritual thoughts of God and heaven, and
ch. Matthew 13:46, where ‘the pearl of great price’ is the kingdom of heaven
itself. The general sense is ‘use discrimination, discern between holy and
unholy, between those who are receptive of these high truths and those who
are not.’ The profane will despise the gift and put the giver to shame. Want of
common sense does great harm to religion.
μήποτε καταπατήσουσιν. The future indicative is sometimes used in final
clauses in place of the subjunctive after ὅπως and ὄφρα, very rarely (in
Classics) after μή. Goodwin, Greek Moods and Tenses, § 44, note 1.
ἐν τοῖς ποσίν. [1] ‘with their feet,’ or [2] ‘at their feet.’
This verse is a good example of Hebrew poetical form; the fourth line, καὶ
στραφέντες ῥήξωσιν ὑμᾶς, being in parallel relation to the first, μὴ δῶτε
κ.τ.λ.; the third, μήποτε καταπατήσουσιν κ.τ.λ. in relation to the second. Thus
the appropriate actions are ascribed to the κύνες and the χοιροί.
\
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
6. Dogs… swine — Our Lord in these last verses has cautioned us how we
hastily judge a good man, a brother. He now teaches us how to estimate the
reverse character, or any character. The dog and the swine are symbols of
depraved men, the ferocious and the sensual.
The dogs of the East, especially the street dogs, who have no owners, and exist
in great hordes as a nuisance, are an abomination often mentioned in

55. Scripture. The swine, ceremonially unclean by the Mosaic law, and physically
filthy and disgusting to all view, properly comes in with the dog to represent
conjointly the ferocious and the sensual.
Now we must discern these characters. We must not intrust a holy thing to a
dog. Apostles and bishops must not commit the office of the ministry to a
wicked man. No sacred deposit, or responsibility, or even principle
(symbolized by pearls) must be imparted to an unfit man. No doctrines or
religious experiences must be brought before an incapable sensualist. In fine,
in imparting the official trusts and the truths of the Gospel, we must discern
men’s moral qualities, and deal with them accordingly.
In the latter part of the verse, the phrase, lest they trample them under their
feet, refers to the swine. It describes the gross disregard which sensual men
have for the most perfect gems of truth. Turn again and rend you, refers to
the dogs. It alludes to the bitter irritation with which fierce natures treat the
offers of truth to which they are opposed. Give the dog a pearl, and he will
bite and tear you.
In regard to pearls, see note on Matthew 13:45.

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
a Do not give what is holy to the dogs,
b Nor cast your pearls before the swine,
b Lest the result is that they trample them under their feet,
a And turn and rend you.
These words close down with a firm warning the major chiasmus commencing
at Matthew 6:1, the sub-section chiasmus commencing at Matthew 6:19 and
the passage chiasmus commencing at Matthew 7:1, each of which have been
dealing with ‘what is holy’, and they lead in to what follows. They act as a
warning that much of the teaching that He has been giving is for believers
who have entered under the Kingly Rule of Heaven, and that they should

56. therefore be careful to whom they pass it on. And at the same time they act as
an introduction to and contrast with what follows. For while what is holy is
not for dogs and pigs, it certainly is for God’s holy people (1 Peter 2:9-10), the
children of the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 13:38), and is certainly
something that must be sought unceasingly by them.
In each of the preceding passages and ‘sections’ Jesus has been revealing
something of the inner ‘secrets’ of the Kingly Rule of Heaven. These have
included the contents of the Lord’s Prayer, with special emphasis on their
pleas in it for God’s Name to be hallowed, for His Kingly Rule to come, and
His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven; His teaching concerning laying
up treasure in Heaven, the need for singleness of eye, and the call to serve God
and not mammon; the call to seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His
righteousness; and the approach they are to adopt towards fellow believers in
the matter of judgment on failure. All these are ‘holy’ matters. They are for
the disciples. They refer to something that is more valuable than pearls
(Matthew 13:45-46). So He now gives warning to them against their taking
these holy things and offering them to those who will treat them lightly. For
He points out that all that will happen if they do is that these holy things will
be trodden underfoot, and unnecessary persecution may result.
They are to beware therefore of treating ‘outsiders’ in quite the same way as
they treat fellow-believers, and especially outsiders who are not amenable to
the Good News they bring. It is one thing to offer these things to ‘sheep’ who
love the Shepherd, and of whom they can therefore be required, it is quite
another to offer them to packs of dogs and herds of swine. Thus dogs and pigs
must be approached differently, and they must show careful discernment in
what they reveal to them and offer to them. They must not give them what is
holy, they must not offer them pearls of spiritual wisdom or of spiritual
guidance for insiders, which is only for those who are spiritual (1 Corinthians
2:11-16). They must not profane holy things.
As we have pointed out above, the dogs in mind in the illustration were the
ones which roamed around in a semi-wild condition, often in packs,
scavenging for food and living on the outskirts of society. They thus well
pictured non-disciples who were ‘outside’ the new congregation of the new

57. Israel, and especially those who made clear their desire to keep their distance
and who growled when approached. Jesus may well have had in mind here the
use of this term ‘dogs’ by Jews when speaking of the Gentiles, with a similar
idea in mind. For they saw them as outside the control of the Law and of the
living God, in the same way as dogs were outside the control of the city elders.
Swine on the other hand were seen by Jews as something to be avoided at all
costs. They were ritually ‘unclean’ animals. No Jew would wish to have
anything to do with them. Jesus may well therefore in this picture have had in
mind those Jews who proved themselves unclean by refusing Jesus’ message.
Elsewhere He says that His disciple must shake the dust of such Jews off their
feet, as an indication that they were as unclean as the Gentiles (Matthew
10:14). Calling them pigs therefore would be no more insulting, but would be
equally revealing. It is pointing out that they are the very opposite of what
they claim to be. They prided themselves on being ‘clean’, but in fact they
were revealing by their refusal to respond to Jesus an evil heart of unbelief, in
other words that they were very much unclean. Thus by describing them as
‘pigs’ Jesus might well be emphasising that those Jews who did not respond to
His message were those who were truly unclean. The Pharisees accused him
and His disciples of being ritually ‘unclean’ because they did not follow the
strict requirements of the Pharisees with regard to ritual washings. But He
wanted His disciples to know that in point of fact it was they who were
unclean, for uncleanness results from what is in the heart (Matthew 15:18-20;
Mark 7:20-23), and their hearts had never been cleansed.
On the other hand 2 Peter 2:22 demonstrates that dogs and pigs were
regularly cited together in illustrations and proverbs, being seen as equally to
be avoided. So they may here only indicate those who have to be treated
carefully because they are not under the Kingly Rule of Heaven and are
antagonistic or indifferent towards it. Like the dogs they keep well out of the
way of those who are ‘within’, and like the pigs they are unsuited for it and
have no appetite for it.
So Jesus warning is that what is to be holy and precious to the disciples, the
words that He has been teaching them, was not to be introduced to such
people, for it would arouse wrong reactions within them. They would treat it

58. with contempt, and reject it, and trample it under foot, and would even
retaliate violently against it because of the sinfulness in their hearts. We have
examples of such a reaction to ‘holy things’ in Matthew 26:68; Matthew
27:29; Luke 16:14; Acts 2:13; Acts 4:3; Acts 4:21; Acts 6:10-12; Acts 7:57-58;
Acts 9:29; Acts 13:45-46; Acts 14:2; Acts 14:19; Acts 17:5; Acts 17:13; Acts
17:32; Acts 18:12; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:28-29; Acts 22:22-23; Acts 26:24, and
while in many of these cases it was unavoidable because it was a reaction to
the preaching of the Good News, in some of these cases it resulted in the
decision to cease preaching to certain people and going elsewhere in
accordance with what Jesus says here.
In the near context the main idea in mind has been that of dealing with the
failures of others. So the initial point that is being made is that they are not to
involve outsiders in such judgments. Community judgments must be kept
within the community. Furthermore, while quite clearly it is true that they are
to demonstrate to ‘outsiders’ that they are sinners and in need of mercy,
nevertheless they are not to have the same expectations of them as they have
of fellow-believers. They are not to approach them in the same way, nor to
judge them on the same basis, for they are not party to the teaching of the
Kingly Rule of Heaven. Dealings with such ‘outsiders’ are thus to be on a very
different basis from dealings with believers, for outsiders not only do not walk
in the light, but have often turned against it. Thus they cannot be upbraided
for much of their behaviour in quite the same way, and to do so may well
provoke unnecessary and unwelcome retaliation, or might even result in
blasphemy or their treading these holy things underfoot. In the words that
they bring to such people this must always be remembered
The fierceness of wild dogs and full grown pigs, especially bad tempered
boars, and sows in heat or protecting piglets, was well known. Thus they well
illustrated the fierceness of men’s hearts. And it was a warning to use
discernment in what they preached to whom. If we live in circumstances
where we think man not so fierce we must not underestimate how much of our
society today has been influenced by the areas in which we live having had
their ideas shaped by Christian belief from childhood, especially if we live in
areas whose lifestyles are partly based, often unconsciously, on those beliefs.
But the sad fact is that there are still many parts of our society and of the

59. world today where life is tough. And there are even more parts where the
preaching of Jesus would and does arouse violent reaction. However, while
there is certainly much fierceness and bitterness in the world, it should not be
so amongst true Christians, (nor will it often be among those who have been
influenced by them).
‘That which is holy.’ The thought here is of teachings such as those that He
has been giving them, which are dear to the hearts of God’s people but which
yet might seem strange to indifferent or antagonistic non-believers, especially
if similar requirements were being laid on them. Such teachings were
therefore best kept ‘within the fold’. His point is that there are many such
spiritual truths, and many kinds of behaviour requirement, which are only for
those ‘within’, (those who can compare spiritual things with spiritual - 1
Corinthians 2:13), and should not be revealed to, or expected of, those
‘without’, and Jesus is saying that we must thus use discernment in our
witnessing. For those ‘without’, the central message must be that of the saving
message of Christ, ‘repent for the Kingly Rule of Heaven is at hand’. It must
be the message of the Gospel. But we should not meanwhile seek to press on
them other types of spiritual experience, nor call on them to conform to other
spiritual requirements, nor expect them to understand other spiritual truths,
for if we do the effect may well be off-putting, and even worse.
Some have suggested that the basis of the phrase concerning ‘giving what is
holy to the dogs’ has in mind meat that has been sacrificed (and is therefore
holy), and scraps of which should not then be thrown literally to the dogs, and
it may well be that He had that in mind. But if that is so it is simply as an
illustration of what we have just stated. He is saying ‘just as you would not
throw what remains from holy sacrifices to the dogs, so must you not toss
these holy things of which I have spoken to those who are not ready to receive
them’. Jesus is not giving instructions about Temple procedure but preaching
discernment and commonsense. And besides, however much of a reaction
such an action as casting sacrificial meat to dogs might bring from Jews, such
meat would hardly be unacceptable to the dogs, nor would it cause the dogs to
turn on them. The principle is in fact rather that unholy and lawless people
will not appreciate holy things.

60. It may also include a warning against continually pressing the Gospel, which
is in itself essentially holy, on those who have had the full opportunity of
responding to it, and have continually rejected it. For by doing so they would
be in danger of bringing it into ridicule and causing people to blaspheme (e.g.
Acts 13:45; Acts 19:9). We should note in this regard how Jesus told His
disciples, that when they proclaimed the Gospel in a town and had persevered
with it, and then found that town totally unwilling to hear them, they should
turn from that town, shaking their dust from off their feet, so that they might
move on to another (Matthew 10:14; Matthew 10:23). And we can compare
how He Himself also eventually refused to reveal the truth to those who had
despised it or were treating it lightly, such as Herod (Luke 23:9), while He had
been willing to speak to an interested Pilate (John 18:33-38). Compare also
Acts 18:5-7; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Titus 3:10-11. It is true that we must witness
to all. But once men begin to react in blasphemy and have become hardened it
does no good to continue to press the Gospel continually on them. It will only
result in more blasphemy, and worse.
‘Pearls.’ That is, that which is most precious to believers, but which
unbelievers would ridicule, or treat with contempt. It is a reminder that we
should consider carefully the message that we present to outsiders. Pearls are
regularly seen as indicating what is most precious, including the Kingly Rule
of Heaven (Matthew 13:45-46) and the foundations of the new Jerusalem
(Revelation 21:21). Thus they may also be seen as including here some of the
teachings of the Sermon on the Mount concerning that Kingly Rule and what
is connected with it. For as well as reacting to the Lord’s Prayer, most
unbelievers of those days would also, for example, have scoffed at Matthew
6:19-34. Such exhortations were best kept for believers, and revealed to
outsiders through the lives of those believers, rather than through words.
We can compare Jesus’ words here in Matthew 7:5-6 with the words of
Proverbs 9:8, ‘do not reprove one who is contemptuous or he will hate you,
rebuke one who is wise and he will love you’. That is the lines along which
Jesus is thinking, and He may well have had it in mind here.
It should be noted how well this last verse (Matthew 7:6) adequately caps off
the larger part-section, paralleling and contrasting with Matthew 6:19 where

61. the treasures on earth would be attacked by moth, rust (or rats) and thief,
whereas here the misuse of spiritual treasures results in attacks on believers
by dogs and swine, and how well it also parallels Matthew 7:1-2, where wrong
judgments similarly result in definite repercussions. It also closes this whole
section from Matthew 6:1 onwards with the warning that, while they must
heed His teaching, they must remember that outsiders will not see things in
quite the same way as believers. For example, to outsiders not aware of the
coming of the Kingly Rule of Heaven, Jesus’ ideas about prayer and what to
pray for might seem strange (and it might even be dangerous to pray ‘your
Kingly Rule come’ in front of representatives of Caesar), and the idea of not
laying up treasure on earth, and of trusting God for the supply of their needs,
might well be seen as foolish (see Luke 16:14), while on the other hand the
suggestion that the Gentiles did not do these things because they were
Gentiles, or could not see God as their heavenly Father in the same way,
although true, might well have been seen as infuriating.
A further lesson from this parable, with its depiction of unbelievers in terms
of ‘wild animals’ may be an indication of the need for a work of the Spirit in
order for such people to become believers. The only way that such ‘dogs’ and
‘pigs’ could be saved would be by being humanised, and having new life put
within them. We can compare here how the nations were seen as wild beasts
while Israel, who did believe on the living God, were looked on as ‘human’, as
the son of man (Daniel 7), and further, how Nebuchadnezzar was ‘humanised’
as a result of his repentance (Daniel 4:28-37; Daniel 7:4). But new life is what
the Messiah has come to bring, the life of the coming age (John 1:12-13; John
3:1-6; John 3:16; John 5:24). So it can always be borne in mind that such a
‘humanisation’ is available from Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:12-13; John
3:1-6) even to the dogs and pigs (Matthew 7:6 above) if they repent, and thus
it is that message that they must take them, not one that assumes that they are
already believers.


Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable

62. The disciple"s relationship to antagonists7:6

Jesus" disciples had a responsibility to pass their knowledge of the kingdom
on to others so they, too, could prepare for it. Jesus gave them directions
about this responsibility in this verse. This exhortation balances the one He
just gave ( Matthew 7:1-5). The disciples could be too naive and fail to be
discerning (cf. Matthew 5:43-47).

Pigs were typically unclean, wild, vicious animals. Likewise most dogs were
not domestic pets but unclean, wild, despised creatures. This verse contains a
chiastic construction. The dogs turn and tear to pieces those who give them
special gifts, and the pigs trample under foot the pearls thrown before them
(cf. Proverbs 11:22). What is holy and the pearls in this illustration evidently
represent the good news announcing the kingdom. The pigs and dogs
probably do not represent all Gentiles but people of any race who react to the
good news by rejecting and turning against those who bring it to them (cf.
Matthew 10:14; Matthew 15:14). [Note: Cf. Calvin, 1:349.]

"As with other parts of Jesus" teaching, the point is not an absolute
prohibition, because then the disciple could not share the gospel with those
who are not responsive. Rather, the point is that the disciple is not obligated to
share with those who are hard-hearted." [Note: Bock, Jesus according . . .,
p146. Cf. Proverbs 9:8; Proverbs 23:9.]


Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Matthew 7:6. If the preceding verses were addressed to the opposing
Pharisees, our Lord now turns to the disciples. We prefer to explain: Harsh

63. judgment and unwise correction of others were reproved (Matthew 7:1-5);
now comes a warning against laxity of judgment, childish ignorance of men.
The two extremes often meet. The latter, no less than censoriousness, is an
unwise attempt at the correction of others, and will be avoided by those who
‘see clearly.’
Give not that which is holy, i.e., the sacrificial meat, the provision of the
priests, unto the dogs. These, regarded as specially unclean in the East, will
receive it, but such giving will be a desecration.
Neither cast ye your pearls before the swine. Still more foolish; ‘the swine’
will not receive the ‘pearls,’ which are of no value to them, as they cannot eat
them. A resemblance between pearls and the natural food of swine need not
be assumed; the reference is to what is most precious. ‘The dogs’ and ‘the
swine’ were both unclean, the former probably represent what is ‘low,
unclean, heretical; the latter what is hostile, stubborn, and savage.’ Eastern
dogs are more disgusting than ours, and eastern swine more savage. The rest
of the verse applies only to the savage swine.
Lest they trample them under their feet. The pollution, not the destruction, of
the precious things is represented.
And turn and rend you, turning from the precious pearls, or, turning upon
you. The main reason urged is the defilement of what is precious; but the
other danger follows. ‘Even saving truth must be withheld from those who
would surely reject it with contempt and savage hatred’ (J. A. Alexander).
Lange: ‘The dogs ultimately become swine, just as that which is holy is
further designated as pearls, and the iniquity of the first action passes into the
madness of the second. At last the full consequences appear, when the swine
turn from the gift to the giver and rend the profane sinners.’ No
encouragement, however, either to ‘cowardly suppression of the truth,’ or
revenge against its rejectors. The Crusaders and others drew the latter
inference. Pharisaism does not ‘cast out the beam,’ but often ‘casts away the
pearls.’

64. The Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 7:6. A complementary counsel. No connecting word introduces this
sentence. Indeed the absence of connecting particles is noticeable throughout
the chapter: Matthew 7:1; Matthew 7:6-7; Matthew 7:13; Matthew 7:15. It is
a collection of ethical pearls strung loosely together. Yet it is not difficult to
suggest a connecting link, thus: I have said, “Judge not,” yet you must know
people, else you will make great mistakes, such as, etc. Moral criticism is
inevitable. Jesus Himself practised it. He judged the Pharisees, but in the
interest of humanity, guided by the law of love. He judged the proud,
pretentious, and cruel, in behalf of the weak and despised. All depends on
what we judge and why. The Pharisaic motive was egotism; the right motive is
defence of the downtrodden or, in certain cases, self-defence. So here.—
καταπατήσουσι: future well attested, vide critical note, with subjunctive,
ῥήξωσι, in last clause; unusual combination, but not impossible. On the use of
the future after μήποτε and other final particles, vide Burton, Syntax of the
Moods and Tenses in N. T. Greek, § 199.— τὸ ἅγιον, τοὺς μαργαρίτας: what is
the holy thing, and what are the pearls? In a moral aphorism special
indications are not to be expected, and we are left to our own conjectures. The
“holy” and the “pearls” must define themselves for each individual in his own
experience. They are the things which are sacred and precious for a man or
woman, and which natural feeling teaches us to be careful not to waste or
expose to desecration. For this purpose knowledge of the world,
discrimination, is necessary. We must not treat all people alike, and show our
valuables, religious experiences, best thoughts, tenderest sentiments, to the
first comer. Shyness, reserve, goes along with sincerity, depth, refinement. In
all shyness there is implicit judgment of the legitimate kind. A modest woman
shrinks from a man whom her instinct discerns to be impure; a child from all
hard-natured people. Who blames woman or child? It is but the instinct of
self-preservation.— κυσίν, χοίρων. The people to be feared and shunned are
those represented by dogs and swine, regarded by Jews as shameless and
unclean animals. There are such people, unhappily, even in the judgment of
charity, and the shrewd know them and fight shy of them; for no good can
come of comradeship with them. Discussions as to whether the dogs and the

65. swine represent two classes of men, or only one, are pedantic. If not the same
they are at least similar; one in this, that they are to be avoided. And it is
gratuitous to limit the scope of the gnome to the apostles and their work in
preaching the gospel. It applies to all citizens of the kingdom, to all who have a
treasure to guard, a holy of holies to protect from profane intrusion.—
μήποτε, lest perchance. What is to be feared?— καταπατήσουσιν, ῥήξωσιν:
treading under foot ( ἐν τ. π., instrumental, with, de Wette; among, Weiss)
your pearls ( αὐτους), rending yourselves. Here again there is trouble for the
commentators as to the distribution of the trampling and rending between
dogs and swine. Do both do both, or the swine both, or the swine the
trampling and the dogs the rending? The latter is the view of Theophylact,
and it has been followed by some moderns, including Achelis. On this view the
structure of the sentence presents an example of ἐπάνοδος or ὑστέρησις, the
first verb referring to the second subject and the second verb to the first
subject. The dogs—street dogs, without master, living on offal—rend, because
what you have thrown to them, perhaps to propitiate them, being of uncertain
temper at the best, is not to their liking; the swine trample under foot what
looked like peas or acorns, but turns out to be uneatable.
Before passing from these verses (Matthew 7:1-6) two curious opinions may
be noted. (1) That ἅγιον represents an Aramaic word meaning ear-ornaments,
answering to pearls. This view, once favoured by Michaelis, Bolten, Kuinoel,
etc., and thereafter discredited, has been revived by Holtzmann (H. C.). (2)
That ὀφθαλμός (Matthew 7:3; Matthew 7:5) means, not the eye, but a village
well. So Furrer. Strange, he says, that a man should need to be told by a
neighbour that he has a mote in his eye, or that it should be a fault to propose
to take it out! And what sense in the idea of a beam in the eye? But translate
the Aramaic word used by Jesus, well, and all is clear and natural. A
neighbour given to fault-finding sees a small impurity in a villager’s well and
tauntingly offers to remove it. Meantime his own boys, in his absence, throw a
beam into his own well (Zeitsch. für M. und R. vide also Wanderungen, p.
222).

66. Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments
Matthew 7:6. Give not, &c. — Even when the beam is cast out of thine own
eye. Give not that which is holy unto dogs — That is, talk not of the deep
things of God to those whom you know to be wallowing in sin; neither declare
the great things God hath done for your soul, to the profane, furious,
persecuting wretches. Talk not of high degrees of holiness, for instance, to the
former; nor of your own experience to the latter. But our Lord does in no wise
forbid us to reprove, as occasion is, both the one and the other. There is a
transposition in the latter clauses of this verse, where, of the two things
proposed, the latter is first treated of. The sense is, Give not — to dogs — lest,
turning, they rend you. Cast not — to swine, lest they trample them under
their feet.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
Give not that which is holy, 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)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
dogs. Note the Introversion here.
g | dogs.
h | swine.

67. h | swine.
g | dogs (and the dogs).
they: i.e. the swine. trample. All the critical texts read "shall trample upon".
under = with. Greek. en.
and = and [the dogs].
turn again and = having turned.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs - savage or snarling haters of truth
and righteousness.
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine - the impure or coarse who are
incapable of appreciating the priceless jewels of Christianity. In the East dogs
are wilder and more gregarious, and, feeding on carrion and garbage, are
coarser and fiercer than the same animals in the West. Dogs and swine,
besides being ceremonially unclean, were peculiarly repulsive to the Jews, and
indeed to the ancients generally.
Least they trample them under their feet-as swine do-and turn again and rend
you - as dogs do. Religion is brought into contempt, and its professors insulted
when it is forced upon those who cannot value it and will not have it. But
while the indiscriminately zealous have need of this caution, let us be on our
guard against too readily setting our neighbours down as dogs and swine, and
excusing ourselves form endeavouring to do them good on this poor plea.
Enough one might think, had been said on this subject in Matthew 6:5-15. But
the difficulty of the foregoing duties seems to have recalled the subject, and
this gives it quite a new turn. 'How shall we ever be able to carry out such
precepts as these, of tender, holy, yet discriminating love?' might the humble

68. disciple inquire. 'Go to God with it.' is our Lord's reply; but He expresses this
with a fullness which leaves nothing to be desire, urging now not only
confidence, but importunity in prayer.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(6) That which is holy.—The words point to the flesh which has been offered
for sacrifice, the “holy thing” of Leviticus 22:6-7; Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus
22:16, of which no un clean person or stranger, and à fortiori no unclean
beast, was to eat. To give that holy flesh to dogs would have seemed to the
devout Israelite the greatest of all profanations. Our Lord teaches us that
there is a like risk of desecration in dealing with the yet holier treasure of
divine truth. Another aspect of the same warning is brought out in the second
clause. The fashion of the time had made pearls the costliest of all jewels, as in
the parable of Matthew 13:45 (comp. also 1 Timothy 2:9), and so they too
became symbols of the preciousness of truth. The “dogs” and the “swine,” in
their turn, represent distinct forms of evil, the former being here, as in
Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15, the type of impurity, the latter (as in Psalms
80:13) of ferocity. The second comparison may possibly imply, as in a
condensed fable, the disappointment and consequent rage of the swine at
finding that what they took for grain was only pearls. We are to beware lest
we so present the truth, either in direct teaching or by an undiscerning
disclosure of the deeper religious emotions of the soul, to men, that we make
them worse and not better than before.
We are met by the questions, Are we, then, to class our fellow-men under
these heads, and to think of them as dogs and swine? Is not this to forget the
previous teaching, and to judge with the harshest judgment? The answer to
these questions must be found, we may believe, in thinking of the dogs and
swine as representing not men and women as such, but the passions of this
kind or that which make them brutish. So long as they identify themselves
with those passions, we must deal cautiously and wisely with them. St. Paul
did not preach the gospel to the howling mob at Ephesus, or to the “lewd
fellows of the baser sort” at Thessalonica, and yet at another time he would

69. have told any member of those crowds that he too had been redeemed, and
might claim an inheritance among those who had been sanctified. We need, it
might be added, to be on our guard against the brute element in ourselves not
less than in others. There, too, we may desecrate the holiest truths by dealing
with them in the spirit of irreverence, or passion, or may cynically jest with
our own truest and noblest impulses.


Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible
Matthew 7:6. Dogs and Swine.—Lk. omits, as a reflection on Gentile readers.
To the Jew, Gentiles were dogs, and careless Jews perhaps swine. The saying
looks like a modification of the command not to judge; the disciple must
exercise some discrimination (? in teaching).—that which is holy is a strange
parallel to pearls; it may be a mistaken rendering of the Aramaic word for
ear-rings. Didaché, ix., quotes the saying in forbidding the admission of the
unbaptized to the Eucharist. Note the inverted parallelism; it is the swine that
trample, the dogs that turn and bite.

The Bible Study New Testament
Do not give what is holy to dogs. Jews did not think of dogs as "man's best
friend." Dogs roamed in snarling packs and were scavengers. They were
"unclean" by religious law, and they came to be the symbol of cruel, inhuman
people who opposed every good thing. It is useless to teach spiritual things to
such a person. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs. Pigs were also
religiously "unclean." Having no use for pearls, they would savagely attack
those who threw them. Symbolically, there is a type of mind which would
attempt to destroy the one who spreads Truth. It is our duty to help all people
and save as many as possible, but there is a type of person whom we cannot
reach. [But avoid "judging" who this person is.
END OF STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES

70. Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Pearls And Swine
Matthew 7:6
W.F. Adeney
At the first blush of it this reads more like a motto of the scribes than a
proverb from the large-hearted Christ. It is quite as important to see what it
does not mean as to lay hold of its positive teaching, because we are all
tempted to abuse it in order to excuse our narrowness and selfishness.
I. MISAPPRENSIONS OF THE PROVERB.
1. In neglect of the poor. This is the most gross and insulting abuse of the
principle which can be thought of. No one would venture to express it in so
many words when he was thus misdirecting it. Yet virtually such an
application of it is very common. It is thought that any coarse fare will be
good enough for the poor; not only coarse food and clothes, but coarse
treatment, coarse methods of religion, coarse amusements, and the
ministration of coarse men. To bring works of art and good music to "the
lower classes" is thought to be wasteful. Refined people are not to spend
themselves on the common people. This is Pharisaism without its religion - the
pride of the cultivated Roman with the bitterness of the scornful Pharisee.
2. In contempt of the illiterate. The Gnostics reserved their choicest ideas for
the inner circle of the initiated. Ignorant people might walk by faith; Gnostics
had attained to knowledge. This is not the religion of Christ. He rejoices that
God reveals his best truth to babes and sucklings.
3. In despair of the sinful. We are tempted to shrink from speaking of Christ
to the very lowest people. It looks like a profanation to set the treasures of the
gospel before them. They can hear the Law that condemns their sin; the
beautiful thoughts of God's grace in Christ are too good for them. This, too, is

71. unchristian. Christ brought his good tidings to all men, and the first to leap up
and grasp it were the publicans, the sinners, and the harlots.
II. THE TRUE APPLICATION OF THE PROVERB. If these obvious uses of
it are all contrary to the mind and method of Christ, how does he wish us to
use it? Let us look at it on two sides - in regard to men and in regard to truth.
1. In regard to men. Who are the dogs and the swine? Not the poor and the
illiterate; not only or always the abandoned and degraded.
(1) The cynical. Cynicism most effectually excludes the gospel. It is not best
conquered by being offered the gems of Divine grace. It needs to be made
ashamed of itself.
(2) The greedy. Dogs and swine are proverbially gluttonous. We must here
think of the former animals not as we know them in England - as man's true
friends and companions - but as they are in the East, pariahs of the animal
world, surly scavengers of the streets. Low, selfish greed prevents its victims
from appreciating Divine truth.
(3) The unclean. The animals named are typical of foulness. Now, we have
seen that the gospel is for sinners. But it comes to their better selves. It has no
contact with their corrupt imagination. Sensuous pictures of religious
experience lead the degraded to defile the very religion of holiness.
2. In regard to truth.
(1) In personal experience. The Christian is not to hang his heart upon his
sleeve. There is a spiritual modesty, a decency in religion. We need to be
careful how we unveil the choice experience of communion between the soul
and its Saviour.
(2) In revealed truth. All men may have all truth, but not at all times and in all
ways. We must choose an opportunity. There is a word in season. Some
aspects of truth are best for publicity, others for private meditation, though
all are for every seeking soul. - W.F.A.

72. Biblical Illustrator
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.
Matthew 7:6
Prudence necessary in conversing upon religious subjects
J. Abernethy, M. A.
I. THE BAD CHARACTERS AND DISPOSITIONS OF SOME; MEN HERE
REPRESENTED by the allusion of " dogs" and " swine."
1. We may be sure they are unworthy the powers and dignity of human
nature. There are in their character —
(1)Stupid impunity;
(2)Stubborn forwardness. They snarl at admonitions.
2. How deplorably human nature is capable of being corrupted.
3. Watch against all tendencies towards the beginnings of these evil
dispositions.
II. THE NECESSITY AND REASONABLENESS OF TREATING THE
AFFAIRS OF RELIGION WITH CAUTION AND PRUDENCE IN OUR
CONVERSING WITH OTHERS.
1. Since we know that sacred things are so liable to be abused by profane
persons.
2. That it may be attended with bad consequences of ill treatment to ourselves
— "lest they turn again and rend you."
(J. Abernethy, M. A.)

The dogs and the swine

73. D. Fraser, D. D.
The lesson is one of reverence and discretion.
I. As to the preaching of the gospel.
II. As to statements of spiritual experience.
III. As to the admission to sacred privileges. and functions in the Church.
(D. Fraser, D. D.)


What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine (referencing Matthew
7:6)?

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21 Answers

Mark Hamric, Christian
Updated Jul 11, 2019 · Author has 3.4k answers and 2.6m answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.
Jesus is using symbolism here so that his words could easily be carried
through the ages. What is “holy” what is “the dogs” what is “your pearls” and
what is “swine”?

That which is holy is the revelation knowledge of God’s word. Especially if it
concerns who Jesus is; but can be broadened to include the things the Lord
has shown you in your personal walk of faith.

75. The dogs are those who once followed Jesus but then turned back to their old
ways.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy
commandment delivered unto them. 22 But it is happened unto them
according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and
the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Another thing about dogs is they beg. I gave a lesson about this in another
question when a woman came begging to Jesus and he called her a dog. Your
faith is Holy Bread not to be cast to beggars. I will talk about that sow a little
later.

The pearls are representative of being adorned with Godliness and wisdom
and good works. Think about how pearls are formed. Something
uncomfortable enters into an oyster and over time the oyster layers it with a
silky substance and it grows and grows. God’s word is like that; when we first
receive it, it makes us uncomfortable but overtime it grows and grows layer
by layer. It will never truly feel comfortable to us but it will make us more and
more valuable to Jesus.

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven as a man who went and sold all he had
to purchase a single pearl of great price.
Mat 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking
goodly pearls: 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that he had, and bought it.
The pearl referred to is the believer that Jesus purchased on the cross.
However in most references to pearls throughout the scriptures it is teaching
us that they are not as valuable as God’s wisdom. The book of revelation
describes a great evil city that is adorned as a woman in pearls (Rev 18:16). In
this instance pearls would represent earthly or worldly wisdom.

76. One of my favorite things to see a woman wear are pearls. To me they are
more attractive than precious stones. However the scripture teaches that
although these things are valuable they are not to be worn as a show piece in
churches.
1Ti 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls,
or costly array; 10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with
good works.
So this shows doing good works are like wearing pearls. Your deeds in Christ
will shine on their own you do not have to boast on them.

The swine is the last symbol on the list. Swine or pigs were forbidden as meat
to the Jews but all of the dietary laws had symbolic meanings. The swine are
unclean because they have cloven hooves but do not chew the cud. But in
order to understand this we need to understand that pigs are representing
religious teachers who look holy in the eyes of men but they do not meditate
on God’s word. They can be summed up in the saying “they walk the walk but
they do not talk the talk.” We also know that pigs will eat the roots of plants
thus killing the plant because it has destroyed its ability to draw nutrients.
They are like religious busybodies that will dig into your life and root up your
past to make themselves appear good.

So to answer your question about Mat 7:6 “Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

Let me paraphrase it like this;

77. Do not share your daily walk with God with backsliders who are living their
old life, neither expose what God has taught you or your good works with
people who like to look as if they know more than you do, if you do they could
use it to undermine your calling and labors of love in Christ, bringing up your
flaws or discourage others from following your good example, which would
leave you feeling unworthy and broken.
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Related Questions
More Answers Below
What does this mean in the Bible, "Do not cast pearls before swine"?
Why should we not "cast Pearls Before Swine" (Matthew 7 verse 6)?
What is the meaning of Matthew 27:52?

78. What is the meaning of "Cast not ye pearls before swine"?
When Jesus says, "Do not cast your pearls before swine," are pearls the
gospel and swine atheists?


Antonia Anni, My Religion is Love.
Answered Mar 14, 2012 · Author has 366 answers and 411.8k answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
One thing to note is the context of this verse.
Jesus was talking to his Disciples, 'Believers', on the Mountain
(Matt 5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and
sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. )

Jesus was teaching them how they ought to behave. Jesus began to address
judging from 7:1-6. The particular verse you quote is about Judgements
towards 'Unbelievers'

Jesus uses Metaphors

1. 'Dogs' and 'Pigs' are scavengers and unclean animals respectively { See 2
Peter 2:22 and Provs 26:11}

2. The Truth they the disciples had come to know, is precious like Sacred
objects and Pearls.

79. The Lesson

1. The 'dogs' and 'pigs' here are not all 'Unbelievers' They are Unbelievers
who have received the truth and refuse it. Some of them will even twist the
truth and throw it at them. They will literally attack them, the Disciples.

2. The disciples should be able to discern whom to share it with, and when to
move on. Instead of cheapening it by offering it to dogs (People who
obstinately reject it) and instead of continuing to creating occasions for pigs to
blaspheme and twist the truth (making the pearls dirty) They are to move on
to other people.
23.8k views · View 30 Upvoters · View Sharers



John Simpson, Christian
Answered Mar 14, 2012 · Author has 7.1k answers and 5.4m answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
Verse 6 reminds us that some may well not be willing to be helped, but will
turn on us.

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you;
rebuke a wise man and he will love you

80. (Prov. 9:7-8).

The contrast between brothers and pigs or dogs is probably significant. We
may expect a fellow-Christian to welcome our help and profit from it, if wisely
and lovingly done. Unbelievers, however, when offered 'sacred', or precious,
things ('pearls'), may 'trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear
you to pieces'. Jesus appears to be referring here to the holy gospel of the
kingdom of God, the pearls of eternal life and a promised inheritance. His
disciples must be careful in their preaching. Those who reject them and their
message must be left alone; they must shake the dust of such homes and
villages off their feet (10:1-16). In those verses he adds wolves to the
description of dogs and pigs here in chapter 7. This is not a description of all
Gentiles (cf. 15:26, where a different word is used), but of people of any race
who show scorn and hatred towards the messengers of the gospel, whether
official or otherwise. Thus we find an Old Testament prophet facing and
rebuking Amaziah, King of Judah. The king rejects the prophet’s warning in
violent and threatening terms: 'Have we appointed you an adviser to the
king? Stop! Why be struck down?' The prophet wisely stops, after giving a
final warning (2Chr. 25:16).

It is clear, then, that not judging does not exclude a sane and charitable
assessment of our hearers' state, so as to treat them wisely and correctly. Paul
warns his readers: 'Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the
most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt [suited appropriately to their taste], so that you may know
how to answer everyone' (Col. 4:5-6). Paul’s exhortation to make the most of
every opportunity warns us against writing people off too soon. We must not
give up preaching, witnessing and, especially, living godly lives before
'ordinary' unbelievers (1 Peter 3:1). Nevertheless, due caution is in order; it is
not wise, or even loving, to provoke 'mockers' with our words.

81. John Legg, Welwyn Commentary Series – The King and His Kingdom:
Matthew simply explained
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Nathan Ketsdever, lifelong theological questioner, writer, & arm chair
philosopher
Answered Jul 15, 2017 · Author has 32.9k answers and 12m answer views
Originally Answered: Why does Jesus say “Do not cast your pearls before
swine”?
I guess an almost literal reading would be do not cast your pearls of wisdom
before people who are animalistic and/or pig-headed. I think its more don’t
waste your time doing so—if they’ve proven to be highly resistant.
Got Questions points out:
Before Jesus says, “Do not cast your pearls before swine,” He says, “Do not
give dogs what is sacred.” An analogy mentioning dogs is also used in
Proverbs: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs
26:11). A dual reference to swine and dogs is also found in 2 Peter 2:22, “Of
[false teachers] the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A
sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’” In His sermon,
Jesus uses dogs and pigs as representative of those who would ridicule, reject,

82. and blaspheme the gospel once it is presented to them. We are not to expose
the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have no other purpose than to trample
it and return to their own evil ways. Repeatedly sharing the gospel with
someone who continually scoffs and ridicules Christ is like casting pearls
before swine. We can identify such people through discernment, which is
given in some measure to all Christians (1 Corinthians 2:15–16).
The command not to cast your pearls before swine does not mean we refrain
from preaching the gospel. Jesus Himself ate with and taught sinners and tax
collectors (Matthew 9:10). In essence, the instruction in Matthew 7:6is the
same that Jesus gave to His apostles when He said, “If anyone will not
welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you
leave that home or town” (Matthew 10:14). We are to share the gospel, but,
when it becomes apparent that the gospel is not welcome, we are to move on.
We are responsible to share the good news; we are not responsible for
people’s response to the good news. Pigs don’t appreciate pearls, and some
people don’t appreciate what Christ has done for them. Our job is not to force
conversions or cram the gospel down people’s throats; there’s no sense in
preaching the value of pearls to swine. Jesus’ instruction to His apostles on
how to handle rejection was to simply go elsewhere. There are other people
who need to hear the gospel, and they are ready to hear it.
Source: What did Jesus mean when He said to not cast your pearls before
swine (Matthew 7:6)?
9.3k views · View 25 Upvoters


Related Questions
More Answers Below
What is the meaning of "Cast not ye pearls before swine"?
When Jesus says, "Do not cast your pearls before swine," are pearls the
gospel and swine atheists?

83. What do you think of Matthew 5:4? What is meant by this?
What does Matthew 5:44 mean?
What's the phrase "Don't cast your pearls before swine" mean?

Earnest Farr, Quoran since back in the credit system days
Answered Nov 23, 2016 · Author has 2.8k answers and 3.5m answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
This saying is part of a long string of sayings of Jesus presented in Matthew
chapters 5–7.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine,
or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.”
The references to pigs and dogs naturally — in this context, anyway — bring
up associations with non-Jews. Pigs, of course, are unclean to Jews, and dogs
are used as a metaphor for gentiles in Matthew as well as in Mark.
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then
a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have
mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him,
saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was
sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt
before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the
children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered
her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her
daughter was healed instantly.
Matthew 15:21–28
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a
house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape

84. notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately
heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman
was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out
of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair
to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him,
“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to
her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she
went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24–30
Pearls also appear elsewhere in Matthew, in a saying from Jesus, as a symbol
of the Kingdom of God.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding
one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:45–46
Because the quotation is taken out of its original context and placed into a
series of sayings attributed to Jesus, it’s not possible to know precisely what
the reference is here. It may simply be advice to avoid unappreciative people,
but the symbology of pigs and dogs and the warning against being attacked,
coupled with the symbology of the pearl, makes me think there’s more to it
than that.
At the time of the writing of the gospels, there was a difference of opinion
among various Christian groups over who would be saved. Jesus’ brother
James, who headed the mother church in Jerusalem until the city fell to the
Romans, believed that only Jews (whether “born under the Law” or
converted) would be saved. Paul disagreed, noting prophecies which state that
all nations would bow to the one true God after the establishment of the
Kingdom of God on earth, implying that some non-Jews would survive the
wrath and judgment of God unconverted.
The story of the woman with the possessed daughter addresses this issue. In
this instance, Jesus proclaims that he is sent to the nation of Israel, but that he
is also sent to non-Jews if they believe in him. And by the time of the writing

85. of the Gospel According to Matthew, the majority of Christians were gentiles.
By the time the Gospel According to John is written, Christian Jews had been
banned from the synagogues.
The “pearls before swine” parable is attributed directly to Jesus, and so may
reflect the views of Jesus or of his followers prior to the onset of the mission to
the Gentiles, which began after Jesus’ death. If so, it is a kind of justification
or explanation of why the mission of Jesus is to the Jews, and a warning
against attempting to bring unconverted gentiles into the fold.
It’s interesting to note that studies on apocalyptic groups, which Jesus’ group
certainly was, show that they generally shun outsiders until the apocalyptic
predictions fail, at which point they tend to begin aggressively seeking
converts (there’s a fascinating chapter on this in Influence: Science and
Practice by Robert B. Cialdini). So it may be that this parable reflects the
group’s views during the life of Jesus, that outsiders and unbelievers were to
be shunned.
12k views · View 6 Upvoters



James Witherspoon
Answered Nov 24, 2016 · Author has 417 answers and 148.2k answer views

Have you ever had an extremely spiritual experience? Maybe an answer to a
prayer or a passage of scripture that answered a question that had been
plaguing you for months?
What is your most prized memory and why is it important to you? Maybe it
how your mother used to cut the crusts off of your toast. Or maybe it is the
birth of your first child. Or even the day that you were married to the person
you love.

86. Would you take that most prized memory and make a porn film out of it?
Would you defile your memory in that way? Why not? Is it because the
memory is important to you? Do you think it would be important to those who
partake of porn, or would they consume, ridicule, and move on to the next
thing?
Now image the same thing for your most spiritual experience? Maybe it was
your first communion, or your baptism, or your marriage, or the christening
of your first child, or grandchild. Would you desecrate that memory by
making a porn film out of it? Why not?
What you esteem as pearls are of little worth to those who do not share the
pearl with you. Just like you would not share your most intimate details with
the world (especially in today’s internet) and expect the rest of the world to
show the same respect that you have for these intimate details.
1.4k views · View 2 Upvoters



Sharon Metzger Neve, studied Theology & Christian Ministry
Updated Apr 24, 2017

To me this means: Don't share the close personal or precious things of your
heart with those that
Aren't listening anyway
Won't appreciate the value of what you are sharing
Will make fun of you or put you down
Have their hearts hardened to what you are sharing…

87. Although, as a Christian, I always try to ask the Lord what He would have me
share with whomever. Sometimes people mock, disregard or act like they are
not listening, but God knows their heart. You may be planting valuable seeds:
they may consider what you said later and it could make a difference.
Though I don’t think believers should feel obligated to share their faith in
every situation. That is legalistic religion and can lead to the Good News and
the precious or tender things of your heart being ‘trampled underfoot’ and
wounding your soul (‘tear you to pieces.’)
1.8k views · View 11 Upvoters · Answer requested by Jared Eide



Tim Bright, Drone Designer, Genius, World Changer
Answered Mar 5, 2017 · Author has 487 answers and 261.9k answer views
Originally Answered: What does “pearls before swine” mean?
> What does “pearls before swine” mean?
The term originates from the Bible in Matthew 7:6. In the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus counsels his disciples not to cast holy things to dogs or cast
pearls before swine because they will trample them and then turn and tear
you to pieces.
The term has since passed into the vernacular as an exhortation never to give
something precious to those who will not appreciate its value.
1.2k views · View 7 Upvoters

88. Greg Lauer, Born-again believer, teacher, writer. In that order.
Answered Jul 15, 2017 · Author has 849 answers and 123.5k answer views
Originally Answered: Why does Jesus say “Do not cast your pearls before
swine”?
It actually means pretty much what you think it means: Don’t waste your time
continuing to present the truth of God’s Word and things of the Spirit to
people who are so hardened that they react angrily to the mere mention of
God and vehemently reject His very existence, let alone His grace and mercy.
Reminds me of a few people I’ve met on Quora. It also explains why I waste
far less of my precious time on Quora than I used to.
532 views · View 7 Upvoters



Godwin Goziem Jireh, Christian theologian and Bible School operator for
more than 2 decades.
Answered Nov 22, 2016 · Author has 3.1k answers and 2.1m answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
In simple terms, we can say that pearls are used to denote anything precious
(see Matthew 13:45; Revelation 17:4; 18:12-16). In this verse they are used to
represent the doctrines of the gospel. Swine or pigs represent those who would
trample doctrinal precepts underfoot; ‘people of impurity of life; those who
are corrupt, polluted, profane, obscene, and sensual; those who would not
know the value of the gospel, and who would tread it down as swine would
pearls, 2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 11:22.’
Matthew Poole's Commentary explains further:

89. By swine and dogs, our Saviour doubtless understandeth wicked men of
several sorts, either such as are more tame sinners, trampling upon holy
things, and with swine wallowing in the mire of lusts and corruptions,
Proverbs 26:11, 2 Peter 2:22; or, by dogs,more malicious, revengeful,
boisterous sinners may be meant, whose consciences will serve them to bark
and grin at the word of God, to mock at holy things, to persecute those that
bring them the gospel, and are their open enemies, because they tell them the
truth. The gospel is to be preached to every creature, Mark 16:15. But when
the Jews were hardened,and spake evil of that way before the multitude, & c.,
Acts 19:9, the apostles left preaching to them. The precept doubtless is
general, directing the ministers of Christ to administer the holy things, with
which they are intrusted, only to such as have a right to them, and under
prudent circumstances,so as the holy name of God may not be profaned, nor
they run into needless danger.
3.4k views · View 2 Upvoters



Fred Acquistapace, DD Religion & The Bible, United Methodist Church
(1954)
Answered Jul 15, 2017 · Author has 865 answers and 56k answer views
Originally Answered: Why does Jesus say “Do not cast your pearls before
swine”?
Jesus was a Jew and a man of his time. Just as other Jews, they referred to
Gentiles as dogs, and considered swine abominable. The verse reads, “Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you,”
Matthew 7:6.
Jesus sent the Apostles out to preach “the gospel of the kingdom” which was
the kingdom of Israel, onlt to the Jews. They were not to preach to Gentiles,

90. or even Samaritans. Their holy scriptures were not to be shared with Gentiles.
Their pearls of wisdom were for Jews alone. The Gentiles would simply
ridicule their beliefs, and then possibly do them harm.
Jesus never changed his message as long as he lived. After he died, however,
Paul went out preaching his own gospel, was rejected by the Jews, and Paul
then turned to the Gentiles when he founded his churches.
When the gospels were written they all ended with an empty tomb, but no
resurrection. The early Pauline church took Paul’s story of a risen Jesus and
added it to the gospels. They were able to write things they wish Jesus would
have said, and one of these things was that the gospel was to be preached to all
nations, even to Gentiles.
We have reason to believe this was not something Jesus ever told the Apostles.
About 8 or 10 years after Jesus died Peter had a visit with Cornelius and the
Apostles were upset with him. Even Paul, “the Apostle to the Gentiles” didn’t
turn to Gentiles until 8 or 9 years after his conversion.
424 views



John Martin Kuvarapu, A Catholic Monk, Spiritual Director at Sacidananda
Ashram,Shantivanam (1984-present)
Answered Jul 15, 2019 · Author has 1k answers and 42.8k answer views

It means: do not share profound truths to people who do not understand
them. Pigs donot know the value of pearls. If a person throws pearls before
pigs they may think that stones are thrown at them and may come attack the
person who threw stones at them.

91. Jesus was throwing pearls of wisdom, eternal truths but some of his listeners
did not understand him. They thought Jesus was throwing stones at them and
they attacked him. He was crucified on the cross.
May be Jesus was saying from his own experience and advising people to be
careful with whom they share eternal truths or pearls of wisdom.
55 views



Rostam Ferdowsi, Educational Assistant at California State University, Los
Angeles (2016-present)
Answered Jul 15, 2017 · Author has 1.3k answers and 452.3k answer views
Originally Answered: Why does Jesus say “Do not cast your pearls before
swine”?
It can have many meanings.
For example,
One modern argument is that dogs and pigs represent Gentiles and heathens,
and that this verse is rare relic demonstrating that Jesus' original message
was intended only for the Jews. Harrington notes that such warnings are
found in rabbinic works of the period. [6] In Jewish literature heathens were
often compared to dogs, and the unclean pig was a Jewish symbol for the
Roman Empire. In 2 Peter 2:22 dogs and swine quite clearly refers to heretics.
According to Schweizer this verse was used by Jewish Christians to attack the
Gentile churches, to argue that Gentile Christians would turn on the Jews by
rejecting their laws and destroying Israel. [7]
Matthew 7:6 - Wikipedia
Or it can have another meaning. However, the above understanding is not a
bad one for in the gospels the Jews are seen as the betters of the non-Jews.

92. For example,
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting,
“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a
demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged
him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He
answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she
came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is
not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said,
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’
table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be
done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 15:21-28 - New Revised Standard Version
But who knows. Every person or group has their own understanding.
Good luck with yours.
1k views · View 1 Upvoter



Les Mikesell
Answered Jul 16, 2017 · Author has 6.9k answers and 615.1k answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
In Quora terms it means not to bother trying to teach someone anything if
they already have their mind made up and aren’t going to listen. That is, if
they’ve posted about religion, creationism, politics, etc. don’t bother telling
them they are wrong. It won’t end well. Likewise for posts mentioning
depression, mental illness, or circumcision, logic is not going to apply…
356 views

93. Simon Bridge, Atheist, studied religion
Answered Jun 15, 2017 · Author has 17.2k answers and 3.9m answer views

Matthew 7:6 Commentaries: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not
throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet,
and turn and tear you to pieces.
Dogs and swine represent those men who are hardened and altogether
incapable of receiving evangelic truth, and to whom the holy is utterly foreign
and distasteful.
It means not to try to convert people who won’t appreciate it … it’s like
saying that not only will some people just refuse your wisdom, they will
despise and persecute you for it.
The passage is largely ambiguous though - so it is open to interpretation.
865 views · View 1 Upvoter · Answer requested by Bob Ramsey



James Jordan, former Editor (1980-2017)
Answered Jul 15, 2017 · Author has 457 answers and 95.3k answer views
Originally Answered: Why does Jesus say “Do not cast your pearls before
swine”?

94. It is actually a very harsh statement. But there are people who want to take
advantage of you, or who mean you harm for whatever reason. There is a
point with people when you should give up trying to help or be nice to them.
These are people who will hurt you, and they will no matter what, so dont give
them anything.
Like a druggie who keeps wanting drug money, and who will steal it from you
if given half a chance. So dont give htem a chance..
585 views · View 3 Upvoters



Philip Jones, Graduated from a real seminary
Answered Nov 24, 2016 · Author has 3.1k answers and 955.8k answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
There are a number of answers here. Some of them may be correct. I’ll let you
decide. I feel compelled to share a bon mot uttered by a professor of German I
studied under. This man was famous for being an easy C. Minimal effort
could get you a B. He was basically a really talented scholar burned out by
uncaring students.
Once while we were waiting for the Holy Spirit or somebody to help one of
our number to translate a sentence, he said, “Boys, sometimes I think higher
education is casting artificial pearls before real swine.”
Women please note: It was an all-men’s college. It’s co-ed now.
691 views · Answer requested by David McPherson

95. Correnia Hale, Sharing Good News Assistant at Heavens Grocery Store
(2003-present)
Answered Nov 11, 2018 · Author has 244 answers and 62.5k answer views

Matthew 7:6 King James Version (KJV)
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
do not give holy food to dogs, and my pearls before swine , they turn against
me and find way to turn me to pieces. walk all over you, tell you its no good,
then they will use it for their liking make theirself rich.
pigs want eat up your rich lessons make money off of it.
296 views



Dan Hern
Answered Jul 12, 2016 · Author has 70 answers and 8.5k answer views
Originally Answered: What does it mean to not cast your pearls before swine?
Swine is a pig which is an abomination and unclean to us the pearl is the word
of God which is glorious and perfect, if someone is disgracing and has
blasphemed the word of God we're not supposed to continue to give them the
word if they are not accepting the word because we gave them a chance and if
a swine gets that pearl they can easily mislead someone for their advantage
and not for the purpose of saving their soul
I can give you scriptures if you need them
826 views · Answer requested by Kimberly D. Halpern

96. Toby Dillon, Lifelong follower of Christ
Answered Nov 22, 2016 · Author has 13.4k answers and 6.3m answer views

Generally, it means that the secrets and mysteries of God will never be
revealed by me in public spaces such as this, where the uneducated and
unprepared will misunderstand, mock, and otherwise “trample” them.
There are many questions I’ve attempted to answer that, in the end, I cannot,
here. It’s a pity, but it’s the nature of hidden truth.
782 views · View 1 Upvoter

EMMANUEL Festus
Answered Feb 22, 2017

The word of Jehovah is as precious as pearls an should not be give to those not
ready or deserving to receive it.preaching the word of God to such ones may
even result in physical harassment because their hearts are not yet ready to
yield to the power of the word.Such ones are not conscious of their spiritual
needs
https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-to-not-cast-your-pearls-before-
swine-referencing-Matthew-7-6

97. Pearls and Pigs
Matthew 7:6

Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. He did that. His faithful disciples
also assume the role of servant. They serve God, one another, and those who
are lost, and those who are in need and distress. In this materialistic society
where self-centeredness is the rule of the day, the Christian is taught to be
gracious and compassionate.

Christians have God-given obligations to preach and teach the truth and to
help those in need. We are told to be good neighbors, and this is illustrated in
the parable of "The Good Samaritan" by a willingness to become involved.
We must not take these responsibilities lightly (Romans 1:14; Galatians 6:10).

But, as is usually the case, there is another side to our responsibilities as
servants. Sometimes Christians, in their eagerness to be compassionate and
Christ-like, fail to recognize that God put limitations on this aspect of our
discipleship. It is not always good stewardship to expend the time and energy
to teach the truth or to render assistance to those apparently in need of such.
In fact, sometimes to do so is poor stewardship and betrays our Lord's trust in
us. While we do not want this fact to be used as an excuse to ignore our
responsibilities to act, neither do we want to waste the things the Lord has
entrusted to us, including our lives and ourselves.

The Principle: Casting Pearls Before Swine

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw pearls before swine, lest
they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
(Matthew 7:6).

98. Of course, these words of Jesus are allegorical. I doubt that any were literally
casting pearls before swine. The meaning is pretty simple to figure out; "Do
not persist in offering what is sacred or of value to those who have no
appreciation for it, because your gift will not only become contaminated and
be despised, your generous efforts could also be rebuffed and perhaps even
openly attacked."

The "dogs" and "swine" here stand for the unappreciative and worldly;
unappreciative and uncaring men and women who belittle the value of what is
offered to them. "That which is holy" would be the meat offered in sacrifice to
God. A dog could care less whether it came from the altar or the garbage. The
swine have no appreciation for either the beauty nor the value of the pearls
under their feet.

Your life, time, energy, opportunities and abilities are God's pearls. They're
His! You and I are merely His stewards overseeing His possessions (1
Corinthians 6:19,20; 4:1,2; 1 Peter 4:8-11). We must show discernment as to
what use we make of God's possessions. It is possible to waste them either by
using them when we should not as well as not using them when we should.

Examples of the Principle Applied

"Jesus therefore perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by
force, to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain to be by Himself
alone." (John 6:15).

Jesus was very popular at this stage of His ministry. The main reason for this
is that He had just miraculously fed five thousand plus people. The purpose

99. was twofold; the people were hungry, and Jesus wanted to illustrate the more
important spiritual bread, the bread of life, that He was offering them in His
teachings.

But the people did not want the bread of life. They wanted more of the
physical bread to eat. They began following Him for the wrong reason (vs. 26-
27). Jesus offered them spiritual bread, but they did not want that (vs. 40-41).
When Jesus refuses to duplicate the earlier miracle, continuing instead to
redirect their attention toward the words of life, the people finally lose interest
and leave (vs. 66). They were unappreciative of the pearls Jesus was offering
them. Jesus simply refused to allow His efforts to be wasted on those who had
little interest in His purpose and mission.

On another occasion, those who continued to ignore the implications of His
earlier miracles, demanded He provide yet more. They were testing Him and
were not really interested in what these signs signified about Jesus' identity.
Jesus simply refused their request (Matthew 16:1-4). He was not here to
perform for them or to satisfy their curiosity (Luke 23:8,9).

Jesus made it quite clear that His disciples were to move on when a city
indicated its lack of interest in the gospel offered it by preachers and teachers
(Matthew 10:11-14). Paul continued this practice (Acts 13:44-52; 18:5-7).

What is the disciple to do when someone is in physical need because of a
refusal to support himself? Jesus tells us not to cast our pearls before swine,
and the application of this would be not to give such a person assistance (2
Thessalonians 3:10,11).

Need For Discernment

100. "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, be shrewd
as serpents, and innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16).

How do we know when to say "yes" or "no"? We need to have wisdom and
discernment. But some may use this as an excuse not to act when they really
should. Most certainly that is so. Remember, we will all answer to God who
knows our hearts. I will stand before Him having made some mistakes in
judgment because I cannot read hearts. He knows that. But do not let me
stand before Him having selfishly or lazily shirked my duty. He will hold me
accountable.

But it may not be as difficult to determine when to offer the pearls of God and
when not to do so. Jesus said that even those in the world are capable of
making such judgments (Luke 16:8; cf. vss. 8-13). In fact, He says that they
sometimes do a better job of it than "the sons of light."

Jesus told us how we can "know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:20). We are
urged to ask God for wisdom in these and other matters (James 1:5-8). We
must realize that sometimes the right thing to do is to say "no" (Philippians
1:8-11). A good steward learns when those times are.

By Jon W. Quinn
From Expository Files 7.4; April 2000

101. Pearls Before Swine
After speaking about not judging our neighbor before dealing with the sin in
our own hearts lest we become hypocrites, Jesus speaks a very important
principle that often gets overlooked. He says in Matthew 7:6, "Do not give
what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will
trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." Let’s take
this piece by piece.

First, He says that we are not to give what is holy to dogs. What is holy is
anything that is set apart, pure, undefiled, and Christlike rather than worldly.
We know God is holy as is His Word, but we are supposed to tell the world,
even "dogs," about Christ. So Jesus can’t be saying not to share the gospel. So
what else could be holy? The answer is the child of God. Positionally God sees
those who have trusted in Christ for salvation as holy (Ephesians 2:1-8).
Conditionally, we are works in progress until we die (Philippians 2:12);
however, since Christ is in us, the world can see His holiness in and through us
(2 Corinthians 4:6-7). In fact, they should see this if we want to have any
chance at credibly sharing the gospel (Hebrews 12:14). So the idea Jesus is
after here is that we don’t disrespect ourselves such that we allow ourselves to
be given over to destructive, evil entities. There are many who would
manipulate us, deceive us, teach us false information, and just suck the very
life right out of us (Revelation 22:15). There are people who are encouragers,
and there are those who take our energy and hope away. Paul affirms this
reality in Philippians 3:2 saying, "Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil
workers, beware of the false circumcision." We are not to disrespect ourselves
who are the very vessels of Christ by letting others walk all over us, abuse us,
or lead us astray. We should not give what is holy to the dogs because we are
not dogs but rather children of God. We should love those in the world, but
we should not be like it, of it, or darkened and defeated by it. We must
maintain our holiness, preach the gospel, stand for truth, and yet all the while
we must not let ourselves get weakened, defeated, and confused by errors of
practice and thought. We must not let others manipulate or control our
emotions, thoughts, or behavior, whether purposefully or not. Only Christ

102. should control us because He is the ultimate example of holiness (2
Corinthians 5:14). Only He is to be our Master.

Yet there is another meaning to this exhortation from our Savior as well. He
says that we are not to throw our pearls before swine. Swine eat the leftovers,
not the delicacies, and they are content with doing so because they are pigs.
That is what pigs do. Dogs eat the crumbs from the table and even things
worse, and pigs aren’t much better. In fact, pigs love rolling in mud, refuse,
and the like. They are stinky, filthy animals. So why would a person give a
shiny, valuable jewel to such an animal? It doesn’t make any sense, but
obviously we must be prone to such foolishness or our Lord wouldn’t have
had to tell us otherwise. When would we do such a thing? Well, sometimes
Christians get burned by their own desire to be "loving," "caring," and
"nice." The fact of the matter is that Jesus was much more than just a nice
guy who was always there for everybody all the time. The reality is that He
had a mission, an agenda, a clear-cut purpose and focus, and a schedule
crafted by the will of God. He didn’t stop to heal every single person or to cast
out every single demon. Sometimes He left the crowds to pray. Sometimes He
went on to another village or town. He knew His time was short and that there
were things He needed to do. By implication, there were things that He
couldn’t do, things to which He had to think and say "no." I have seen well-
meaning Christians (and believe me, I have done it many times myself)
sacrifice their own well being and even the well being of others who need them
in order to "minister" to a person in need. The fact of the matter is that,
though we are called to serve and be sacrificial, we are not to give pearls to
swine. For example, consider the Christian pastor or counselor who advises a
professing brother or sister in the Lord over and over again, yet the person
never changes. At what point should he stop and recognize that the person is
hard of heart, enjoying the life of the swine? There are limits that we must be
willing to seek. Sometimes Satan sets people in our paths in order to destroy
us because he knows that we will sacrifice the things we should be doing in
order to minister to the "needy" and "weak" one. We must be discerning
enough to know when to say when and how to concretely place limits upon
people. Swine don’t deserve pearls of wisdom because all they will do with the

103. wise counsel is roll around with it in the mud. We should always pray for
people, and there is never a reason to give up hope. However, there is a time to
let a person be and let God deal with them alone. There are many true seekers
who need our help, so we need to beware of the impostors, the swine who at
first don’t seem to be so.

We must learn discernment and who is truly humble, teachable, and willing to
learn and change. Why is this so important? Because the swine do more than
just ruin pearls; their purpose is to ruin us. The swine to whom we keep
giving our precious pearls of energy, time, wisdom, and sacrifice are not really
interested in the pearls as they profess to be but in, as Jesus says, turning and
tearing us to pieces. They were never interested in the truth or in turning
from sin but rather in destroying us and feasting upon us. As we function in
the church long enough, we will encounter these people. We must be careful
and watch out for the swine because our very spiritual, physical, emotional,
and financial well-beings are at stake.

Lord, you have sent us out as sheep among wolves. Please enable us to have
discernment to know where the ground is fertile and where to sow our seeds.
Help us to be shrewd as serpents yet innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).
Protect us, preserve us, and lead us in all wisdom, power, and strength to bear
abundant fruit for Your kingdom. In Christ’s name, Amen.
http://www.relevantbibleteaching.com/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=140023918&s
ec_id=140001239


Dogs and Swine, Holy and Pearls

For the most part, Jesus’ teaching is little known. People know selected
sections, but when it comes to being conversant with Jesus’ teaching in its

104. totality, only a few are acquainted. A case in point is what Jesus taught in
Matthew 7: 6:
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you."
Jesus’ teaching is both terse and revealing. Man has a responsibility to
"judge" in the sense of discernment and determination based on fruit (cp.
Matt. 7: 1, 20 and 7: 6). In fact, man is commanded to judge "righteous
judgment" (John 7: 24). There are two players in our study verse, dogs and
swine and two associated actions, rend you and trample under foot. Let us
appreciate at the very outset of our study of Matthew 7: 6 that the verse
contains a command.
The players, dogs and swine. Dogs were not uncommon in Jesus’ day.
However, for the most part, the dog was considered a scavenger and ran in
packs. They were notorious for consuming all manner of reject (cp. Ex. 22:
31). The objectionable habit of dogs is used by Peter to teach the
reprehensible condition of the apostate child of God, "The dog is turned to his
own vomit again" (2 Pet. 2: 22). The term "dog" is figuratively used to stand
for false teachers and those who shall be outside of heaven (Phili. 3: 2, Rev.
22: 15).
The swine is also unfavorably mentioned in the scriptures, being unclean to
the Jew (Lev. 11: 7). Swine were associated with filth and were also used by
Peter regarding the fallen away ones (Prov. 11: 22, 2 Pet. 2: 22). It was
appropriate that the prodigal son ended up "feeding the swine" (Luke 15: 15,
16).
The case of dogs and swine. The dog and swine have no capacity for holy
and precious matters. Hence, they make proper symbols for people who lack
the ability to discern the excellent (cp. Rom. 1: 31). Dogs and hogs also have
no aptitude or inclination toward real value (Acts 22: 22). Furthermore, the
holy and precious stones have no practicality to dogs and swine. After all,
what can a dog or hog do with that which is holy and precious?

105. The holy and pearls. Under the Jewish Economy that was prevailing at the
time of Jesus’ words, meat offered in sacrifice was holy (Ex. 29: 37). Such
meat after offered has a specified use, for the consumption of the officiating
priest. Hence, the thought of such meat being given to undiscerning
scavengers was unthinkable. Valuable pearls have always been esteemed by
man and such intrinsic worth is seen in the scriptures (Matt. 13: 45, 46).
"Holy" and "pearls" stand for spiritual speciality, exclusiveness, and worth.
The gospel is God’s power to save, we are told in unequivocal terms (Rom. 1:
16). The seventy were given the following instructions in the limited
commission:
"But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways
out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this,
that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you, that it
shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city"(Luke 10: 10-
12).
Regarding the preparatory gospel commission involving the seventy, the
emphasis was on "heareth you" (Luke 10: 16). The same emphasis is seen in
the sending out of the apostles on their limited commission, "And whosoever
shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that home
or city, shake off the dust of your feet" (Matt. 10: 14). The gospel is holy or
concentrated because it sets apart and it is valuable in view of forgiveness, the
church, heaven, etc. (John 17: 17; Acts 2: 38; Matt. 16: 18; I Pet. 1: 4).
Two associated actions performed by the dogs and swine. Under Jesus’
circumstance involving introverted parallelism, the dogs turn again and rend
you and the swine trample under foot. One naturally "gives" to dogs and
"cast" to swine. Here, though, the command is not to give and cast.
Regarding giving to dogs that which is holy, Jesus said they will turn and
"rend" you. The Greek word rendered "rend" is used seven times in the
Greek Testament. It is translated to "break" and "tear" (Matt. 9: 17; Mark 9:
18).

106. The swine will abuse what you offer them, trample them under foot. Again,
swine have no appreciation, cognizance, or practical association regarding
valuable pearls. Rather than hold up the pearls in esteem, they will stomp
them down into the filth and mire of the hog pen.
The modus operandi of the dogs and swine. Dogs "rend you" or according
to the Amplified Version, "tear you in pieces." How do people with the
capacity, aptitude, and lack of appreciation of the value of the gospel rend
you? Such people when especially presented with repeated efforts to teach
them can actually resort to literal physical violence. Those to whom Stephen
preached murdered him (Acts 7:54-60). Often, the assault is verbal. The dogs
will assign an evil motive to any and every thing you say, attempting to make
you appear the sinner (cp. Gen. 3: 4, 5). They will resort to lying and
slandering you.
The swine will trample the pearls under foot. When presented with the
gospel, the swine will be seen desecrating the message of the gospel. It is they
who often contend that man’s salvation is by grace alone and that it does not
matter how the saved lived. They cheapen the grace of God and turn it into a
license to commit sin (2 Cor. 6: 1, Rom. 6: 1ff.). They reduce the church for
which Jesus died to a social institution, simply providing the placation for the
pleasures of men (cp. I Tim. 3: 15). The swine are heard saying, "Jesus was
living with Mary Magdalene and he was bi-sexual."
What Jesus is saying is do not give and cast the precious gospel of Jesus
Christ to dogs and swine because they will personally attack you and disgrace
and shame the truths of the gospel.
How does the Christian ascertain the identity of dogs and swine? By their
"fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. 7: 20). When people start personally
attacking or shaming the gospel, they have revealed themselves as Jesus’ dogs
and swine!
In closing, dogs and swine can be observed throughout the history book of
the New Testament, Acts. We see those who when the gospel was preached,
embracing it and we can observe some who resented the truth and personally
attacked those who offered it (Acts 17: 2-6; 11-13; 32-34).

107. http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR313.htm


"Pearls Before Swine," comes from Matthew 7:6
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine,
or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

It seems like a funny thing for Jesus to include on His famous "Sermon on the
Mount," but He was the master of picture language and deeper
meaning...cryptic nuances that take some thought.

I wanted to do a page on this, so got out our trusty Matthew Henry
commentaries and was prepared to spend the day copying it all down when
Mark, my husband, informed me that it's a lot quicker to "copy and paste" on
the computer.
It had never entered my mind that Matthew Henry might be on the
computer...I thought he "lived" on our bookshelf.
Boy, sometimes, I realize how half of me still lives in the dark ages while the
other half is trying to enter into the computer age.
Anyway, I found, not only Matthew Henry, but tons of other commentaries
too....some even easier and more "21st century-friendly" than good old Matt
Henry.

I'll only include three, but for the students out there, keep your eyes on my
site for the full length version including "fourteen" commentaries...coming
soon.

108. By the way, you can read the Bible online at Bible.com in a choice of 24
versions, plus tons of languages including three types of French and three
types of Greek and even get free Bible downloads...Arabic maybe? or Russian,
or Chinese? Its also great for copying and pasting and for comparison studies.
The couple who registered "Bible.com" were pretty smart. I understand
managing the site is their full time job....good for them.
Anyway, back to "pearls before swine"...

First Section--Literal Example
During the beginning of the twentieth century, our city, Muscatine, Iowa was
known as the Pearl Button Capital of the World. Because it's on the
Mississippi River there was an abundance of clam shells...free for the taking.
Everyone and his brother. entered into the business of gathering shells, and
cutting out blanks for buttons. (It's said that parts of our city are built on four
feet of the discarded punched out shells.)
But, before they could be cut, they needed to be opened and cleaned.
There was no better way than to "cook them"...this would kill the mussel and
open them, making it easy to work with the money-making shell.
Were there pearls in those multitudes of clams?
You bet!
Some young friends of ours, just this summer, gathered clams for fishing bait.
In the small number they gathered, they found three pearls! They were small,
but pearls all the same. They made a great gift for their mom.
I've talked to others also who have firsthand experience of Mississippi River
pearls. One man who bought a pink pearl necklace from me last Christmas
said he saw a huge pink pearl from a river clam. That's why he was so thrilled
to buy a pink pearl necklace for his wife!

109. These American pearls are a fascinating topic, watch for a future page about
them or sign up for my e-zine to stay informed.
Every sort of clam is capable of producing pearls. (I once found a small rice
pearl while eating oysters.)
In the flurry of the moment in Muscatine during the pearl button rush, the
value was on the shells themselves, not the pearls.
Yes, pearls were gathered, but the emphasis those days wasn't on looking for
pearls. Some pearls, however, found here in Muscatine are on display at the
Pearl Button Museum.

Time usually was not spent to carefully search every shell for pearls, before
throwing them in the "cooking pot."
So, the clams were "cooked" in gigantic outdoor cookers.
Once the shells were free of the unwanted meat, the concoction was...
Yes, you guessed it....FED TO THE SWINE!
...meat, brine, pearls and all!
I found this so interesting...a literal fulfillment of this warning from Jesus--
don't cast your pearls before swine.
I have read about one man from Eastern USA who found a beautiful large
pearl... only he found it "after" it had been "cooked"... ruining it's value.
I want to write more about natural pearls (sometimes called "orients") at a
future time.

Pink Pearls in Old Tower
Second Section--Spiritual Interpretation
Here are three commentaries on Matthew 7:6."

110. 1. Pastor Chuck has been the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa
since 1965, and has been influential in the Christian community for many
years.
v. 6 We need to be careful about what we share with people when we witness
to them, and use discernment as to whether they will scorn the precious things
of God or listen with an open mind. The Sermon on the Mount needs to be
taken in context The first section contains the Beatitudes. Matthew 5:3 -16
The Beatitudes place the emphasis on what we are as opposed to what we do.
Matthew 5:17 -48 deals with the relationship of Jesus Christ to the law
Matthew 6 deals with our relation ship with God, and Matthew 7 deals with
our relationship with man.
2. David Guzik is the director of Calvary Chapel Bible College, Germany.
Balancing love with discernment a. Dogs and swine in this context are those
who are hostile to the gospel; our love for others must not blind us to their
hardened rejection of the gospel b. Our pearls of the gospel may only confuse
unbelievers (who are blinded to the truth by the god of this age), 2
Corinthians 4:4 and open the gospel to their ridicule c. Of course, this is not a
prohibition against sharing the gospel, but a call to discernment, and an
invitation to look for prepared hearts
3. Geneva Study Bible Modern believers can read the Scriptures with help
from the theology of Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, and other Reformation leaders.
It was first printed in 1560.
7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your a pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you. a. The stiff-necked and stubborn enemies of the gospel are unworthy to
have it preached unto them. b. A pearl is known among the Greeks for its
oriental brightness: and a pearl was in ancient times greatly valued by the
Latins: for a pearl that Cleopatra owned was valued at two hundred and fifty
thousand crowns: and the word is now borrowed from that, to signify the
most precious heavenly doctrine.

111. Have you ever cast your pearl before "swine"? Don't worry...there's life after
casting pearls.

Third Section--Creative Interpretation
A comic strip named: Pearls Before Swine
At its heart, "Pearls Before Swine," the comic strip tale of two friends: a
megalomaniacal Rat who thinks he knows it all and a slow-witted Pig who
doesn't know any better. Together, this pair offers caustic commentary on
humanity's quest for the unattainable. The title of the strip comes from the
New Testament, and is taken from the phrase, "Don't cast your pearls before
swine." In this case, Rat believes that he is an endless source of wisdom, and
that it is wasted upon Pig, who is rather slow. In truth, neither of them is very
smart, but while Pig is content with his humble status in life, Rat is always on
a futile search for fame, riches and immortality.


Characters:
Rat: Arrogant, self-centered, fatalistic, philosophical and quick-tempered, Rat
is obsessed with fame, immortality and making a quick buck. Spends his time
with Pig because it makes him feel superior and, more importantly, no one
else will hang out with him.
Pig: Humble (in fact, painfully aware of his limitations), practical, kind and a
little slow in the head, Pig has few aspirations in life, other than to spend his
days watching TV and doing almost nothing productive. Apparently sees
something redeeming in Rat, as he is willing to endure Rat's endless barbs and
numerous schemes. Kicked out of the Society of Cultured Pigs because he was
caught eating a BLT.
Zebra: The humanitarian (or, more accurately, "zebratarian"). Focused
almost solely on devising ways to protect his fellow zebras on the plains from

112. their numerous, more able predators. Must endure repeated failures in this
endeavor, as the lions, tigers and crocodiles win out repeatedly. Not even his
placement of zebras in small Popemobiles can prevent their destruction.
Goat: The smart one. Would rather spend his time with his snout in a book
than talking to any of the other odd characters in this strip.
About the Author
Stephan Pastis was born in 1968 and raised in San Marino, California, a
suburb of Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California at
Berkeley in 1989 with a degree in political science. Although he had always
wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist, Pastis realized that the odds of
syndication were slim, so he entered UCLA Law School in 1990 and became
an attorney instead. He practiced law in the San Francisco Bay area from
1993 to 2002. While an attorney, he began submitting various comic strip
concepts to all of the syndicates, and, like virtually all beginning cartoonists,
got his fair share of rejection slips. Then, in 1997, he began drawing Pearls
Before Swine, which he submitted to the syndicates in mid-1999. In December,
1999, he signed a contract with United. Pearls Before Swine debuted in
newspapers in January, 2002, and Pastis left his law practice in August of that
year. Pearls Before Swine was nominated in each of its first two years as by
the National Cartoonists Society and won the award in 2004. Pastis lives with
his family in Northern California.

Conclusion to Pearls Before Swine
Yes, Jesus is a master of picture language and these three variations of pearls
before swine--Literal, Spiritual, and Creative--on one simple phrase prove the
complexities of His teachings and the effectiveness of His intriguing methods.
https://www.karipearls.com/pearls-before-swine.html

113. CASTING PEARLS BEFORE. SWINE
Matthew 7:1-6

In this study we are looking at verse 6 which says, "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 to pieces.” The Lord in this passage was teaching
about a common fault among Jewish people. They were harshly critical of
their fellpw Jews and overly inclined to find fault. The Jewish people as a
whole were a fault-finding society. It was in connection with discussing this
problem that he uttered these thought-provoking words in verse 6 about
giving holy meat to dogs and pearls to swine. In the first five verses the subject
is criticism, faultfinding and unrighteous judging of others. Present day
society is just as critical as were the Jews. Criticizing others is the most
popular sport in the world. In fact, it has replaced baseball as our national
pastime. When Jesus said, “Judge not,” he meant we should not be critical-
minded. He was not speaking of clear, open, violations of God's word. People
deserve to be criticized for deliberately transgressing the laws of God. He was
speaking of petty faults and weaknesses common to us all. We know this
because we are commanded to judge our fellow Christians who openly and
flagrantly transgress the doctrine of Christ. I Cor.5:12 says, “For what have
Ito do with judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are
inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore put away from
yourselves the evil person.” The man had committed a terrible immoral act,
and the church failed to judge him and bring him to justice. Christians are
commanded to judge one another when some practice forms of evil conduct
which cannot be tolerated in the church without injury to he church.. When
Jesus said, “Judge not,” He was not talking about evil forms of conduct and
flagrant violations of God&'s law.

When Jesus said, “Judge not, “the context makes it clear Jesus is talking
about petty criticism and pickyness that comes from an unlovely and
disgruntled disposition. Jesus said, “Stop being critical. If you don't stop,

114. people will criticize you in return. He simply means when you start looking
for other folk's faults, they are going to start looking for yours.” Critical-
minded people are going to get it back in full measure and running over. If
you don't want people to criticize you, don't criticize them. This thought of
Jesus can be restated by the proverbial statement, ‘People who live in glass
houses ought not to throw rocks.” I am inclined to think that the person who
thought up that expression was influenced by the words of Jesus in this
passage. Jesus also uggested another reason we should not be splitting hairs
and knit-picking is that we ourselves possibly have greater faults than the
persons we criticize. He illustrated this by saying a man with a large splinter
in his eye should not try to remove a speck out of someone else's eye, until he
removed the big piece of wood out of his own eye. All Christians have
weaknesses and faults, even the most devout Christians. Few Christians would
win the prize for being “Mr and Mrs. Congeniality.”

After these remarks Jesus then made this statement, ‘Do not give what is holy
to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample then under
their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.” This metaphor was taken from the
Law of Moses which says that meat offered in sacrifice to God was no longer
common but holy. The priests only could eat it and they would not think tmof
throwing holy meat to a dog which was an unholy animal, along with pigs. No
one would cast pearls before pigs for they would not appreciate such a gift but
trample them in the mud. Dogs and swine were both unclean to Jews and
symbolized uncircumcised Gentiles or worldly people of the worst character.
Holy things symbolize anything connected with the true religion of Christ,
doctrine or precept. Pearls represent the beauty, truths, and precious wealth
of the various parts of the gospel. While we are not to be critical towards our
brethren or the people of the world, yet we must recognize the great and
fundamental differences that exist between people in the world. There are
some people in this world who are not able to appreciate the beauty, holiness
and wealth of the religion of Christ. In the Christian context the dogs and
swine represent non-Christians who have fallen into the worst moral
conditions of life. The meaning seems to be that we are not to present the
gospel to people when we know they will despise and possibly abuse us.

115. Sometimes people are given over to such an impure, polluted, unreligious and
sensual life that they would not know the value of the gospel, would not
appreciate it, possibly trample it down and become violently angry with us.
People can become in such a degraded way of life that they become incapable
of comprehending and appreciating the kind of We we enjoy in Christ. There
are religions violently opposed to the Christian religion. Christians should not
become involved in heated controversies and violent arguments with such
people. There are some people that we cannot help, as sad it is. We should,
however, be cautious in forming that opinion of people we think will not
appreciate the holy things of the gospel. People in the world may be far more
ready to hear the gospel than we may imagine. Furthermore, we should not
meet violent opposers of the truth with harshness or anger, and we should not
violate the laws of social behavior Because others become violent and speak
boldly against the truth is really no reason for us to get angry. It is my
understanding of this passage that it primarily concerns giving the gospel to
worldly people in the world who could involve you in a violent and dangerous
situation. Jesus is simply saying, “Leave people like that alone.” It is not easy
to make that decision.
http://sanfernandochurchofchrist.com/SermonView.aspx?ID=897


What is the correct interpretation of Matthew 7:6?
6“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest
they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. ESV
Popular interpretations of this verse do not seem to fit well with its immediate
context. Is Jesus offering a temper to his command not to judge, by saying
there are some cases where judgement is necessary? It seems unlikely given
his emphasis throughout the sermon on loving one's neighbour to the
uttermost, and the immediately preceding verses (1-5) would seem to rule out
an attitude that would consider someone a 'dog' or 'pig'.

116. I am suggesting that he is teaching that the Law condemns an attitude that
would highlight one's perceived difference in moral standing with someone
else; that to 'give dogs what is holy' or 'cast pearls before pigs' is such an
action - as if I am setting the person up to fail, so I can say 'Did you see what
they did with what I gave them? That just shows that they truly are unclean
dogs/pigs!'
matthew jesus sermon-on-the-mount teaching
share
improve this question
Is this a question or an answer? – Dan Apr 13 '14 at 12:55
1
@JamesKrieg I agree w/Dan, are you asking a question or airing your
opinion: if it is the 1st, then delete the last paragraph, and modify the 2nd one
to clarify your question: otherwise it may get closed. – Tau Apr 13 '14 at 13:23

"What is the correct interpretation" questions are off topic on this site.. – Sola
Gratia Sep 14 '18 at 21:25

What is the correct interpretation of Matthew 7:6?
Beginning with Matthew chapter 5, Yeshua gives a lengthy discourse with a
good deal of revelation mixed with correction, much of which is aimed directly
at the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, etc.
Yeshua begins chapter 7 with an admonition against judging others. This
morphs into a plea to get your own life in order before looking into the
shortcomings of others; THEN comes verse six.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
(AV)

117. Dogs and pigs were at the very bottom rung of life in Jewish thinking; both
were despised in the extreme. I see the admonition not to give that which is
holy to dogs and swine as being a reference to the religious leaders of the day.
We are never to entrust holy (sacred) things to people whose sole intent is to
ridicule, find fault, and judge (Matthew 7:1-5). This is the standard operating
procedure for the religious leaders with regard to Yeshua's ministry. The
revelation(s) given from God are holy (sacred), and if an attempt is made to
share that with those who have deemed themselves unworthy (Acts 13:46) of
these sacred revelations, they will ill-treat that revelation and turn on that
man and find fault with him and his faith.
In addition, this is where I see the greatest need to always prepare the soil
prior to sowing any seed. One sows seed to reap a specific harvest; people
never sow random handfuls of mixed seed into any soil. The soil must be
prepared for the type of seed it is to receive. If a man is going to embrace any
pearls (revelations), his heart (soil) must first be prepared to receive it; else it
will be trodden under foot.

Would preparation of the soil being prepared, be acts of kindness, generosity,
fairness? I am considering that to mean just that ! Thanks for such a freedom
explanation of this Scripture.. – user6064 Oct 12 '14 at 2:23
add a comment

2

This may be an ABBA doublet:
Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest
they [the pigs] trample them underfoot and [the dogs] turn to attack you.
"Matthew"/Jesus was alluding to this passage of Torah:

118. ESV Exodus 22:29 You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your
harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you
shall give to me. Exodus 22:30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with
your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall
give it to me. Exodus 22:31 You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you
shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to
the dogs.
Brenton LXX Exodus 22:29 Thou shalt not keep back the first-fruits of thy
threshing floor and press. The first-born of thy sons thou shalt give to me.
Exodus 22:30 So shalt thou do with thy calf and thy sheep and thine ass; seven
days shall it be under the mother, and the eighth day thou shalt give it to me.
Exodus 22:31 And ye shall be holy men to me; and ye shall not eat flesh taken
of beasts, ye shall cast it to the dog.
In other words, what belongs to God should not be given to dogs. Therefore
do not despise your brother and "toss him to the dogs".
Wild dogs were the object of fear and loathing:
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5255-dog
But "God hath charms to soothe the savage beast":
Exo 11:7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either
man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between
Egypt and Israel.'
For his friendly conduct at the exodus of the Hebrews when he did not "move
his tongue against man or beast" (Ex. xi. 7), God compensated the dog by
telling the people that the meat forbidden to them should be cast unto him
(Mek., Mishpaṭim, 20, on Ex. xxii. 30).
Pearls (which mostly came from India) were extremely valuable:
Mat 13:45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine
pearls, Mat 13:46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all
that he had and bought it.

119. But wisdom is worth infinitely more:
Job 28:12 "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of
understanding? Job 28:13 Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in
the land of the living. Job 28:14 The deep says, 'It is not in me,' and the sea
says, 'It is not with me.' Job 28:15 It cannot be bought for gold, and silver
cannot be weighed as its price. Job 28:16 It cannot be valued in the gold of
Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Job 28:17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. Job 28:18 No mention shall be
made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls. Job 28:19 The
topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.
So to take the wisdom of God and to treat it like an unholy thing and cast it to
pigs, who cannot possibly appreciate it is a travesty. They will merely trample
it under their feet.
Dogs, crazed by the taste of holy flesh will return to eat you!
There seems to be an allusion to this passage in Galatians:
Gal 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself." Gal 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch
out that you are not consumed by one another.

I have always felt that what this passage meant was not to waste your wisdom
on fools, lest they turn and trample you under foot. I find this fits the
ignorance that surrounds people on a daily basis and punishes us for wasting
our gifts on those who do not have the capacity to understand.



Hi Michael, welcome to Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange, thanks for
contributing! Be sure to take our site tour to learn more about us. We're a
little different from other sites. – Steve Taylor May 24 '16 at 7:14

120. This is a good start to an answer, but doesn't really show its work, which is a
requirement on this site. Good answers will demonstrate how an
interpretation is arrived at and how this understanding is supported by the
text. If you hit 'edit' you have the option to expand your answer to handle
more of the original question. Thanks again – Steve Taylor May 24 '16 at 7:16
add a comment

1

If I understand what you've said correctly, then I think we both have a similar
interpretation.
Yeshua had just finished telling the disciples not to judge. When somebody
lives an immoral life or does things contrary to "my" morality, it's hard not to
judge them.
I think the problem comes from this idea that Christianity is "the most
obvious religion", and some Christians believe that anyone who doesn't
believe is stupid and wicked. This is understandable, because their god is
going to send the unbelievers to hell where they will tortured forever and ever.
It seems they've reasoned that since God is sending so many people to hell,
there must be some inherent gene all people have that makes them (deep down
inside) know that the bible is true.
What some Christians fail to realize is, quoting the bible to a non-believer is
like quoting the Quran to a Christian. It does absolutely nothing, if not offend
or make them angry.
"Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.
These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day." Isaiah 65:5
On of my favorite passages, that I find extremely relevant, is:

121. "He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a
wicked man getteth himself a blot.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love
thee." Proverbs 9:7
So I believe Yeshua is saying:
Don't throw the word of God at unbelievers. They don't understand, they
don't like it, and they don't care. If you do, they will hate you and ridicule
God.
Thank you.


I believe this is in the context of Jesus teaching on conflict resolution:
Dont judge/condemn the other person (7:1-2)
Recognize your own contribution to the conflict (7:3-4)
Confess your contribution (7:5a)
Address their contribution (7:5b)
If they are not willing to address their part or accept correction, don't say it
because they will just disregaurd what you have to say and attack you (7:6)
Instead, pray about it (7:7-11) and love them (7:12)


According to Church Father John Chrysostom (4th c.), the meaning of this
verse is that one should not preach holy things to those who, in his words,
"abide in incurable godliness", as they are likely to become all the more
insolent, as well as inadvertently profane them. He lays this interpretation out
in Homily XXIII of his Homilies on the Gospel According to Matthew:

122. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine.

Yet surely further on, it will be said, He commanded, What you have heard in
the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops [Matthew 10:27]. But this is in no
wise contrary to the former. For neither in that place did He simply command
to tell all men, but to whom it should be spoken, to them He bade speak with
freedom. And by dogs here He figuratively described them that are living in
incurable ungodliness, and affording no hope of change for the better; and by
swine, them that abide continually in an unchaste life, all of whom He has
pronounced unworthy of hearing such things. Paul also, it may be observed,
declared this when He said, *But a natural man receives not the things of the
Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him [1 Corinthians 2:14]. And in many
other places too He says that corruption of life is the cause of men's not
receiving the more perfect doctrines. Wherefore He commands not to open
the doors to them; for indeed they become more insolent after learning. For as
to the well-disposed and intelligent, things appear venerable when revealed, so
to the insensible, when they are unknown rather. Since then from their
nature, they are not able to learn them, let the thing be hidden, says He, that
at least for ignorance they may reverence them. For neither does the swine
know at all what a pearl is. Therefore since he knows not, neither let him see
it, lest he trample under foot what he knows not.
For nothing results, beyond greater mischief to them that are so disposed
when they hear; for both the holy things are profaned by them, not knowing
what they are; and they are the more lifted up and armed against us. For this
is meant by, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.

This verse is mainly speaking of preaching the Gospel.
Being a street preacher for many years, I have seen this play out.

123. At times people would come up and say "You are throwing pearls before
swine". My answer would be "Who am I to judge who of those walking by
were swine or not?"
The only way that I would be able to make any type of real judgement would
be after I have heard what came out of their mouth, or violent actions towards
me. I would then learn to be quiet to them and instead share with others.
Some I was warned about in my spirit.
I have had hookers come up wanting prayer, as well as many drunkards or
alcoholics, and I am confident that No Word of God returns void. (Isaiah
55:11)
I preach straight out of the Bible, using as little of my own words as possible,
because it is not me that is judging but the Word. And I believe in the Power
of the Word.
There have been people that others have told me not to waste my time on or to
cast pearls before them, but it has not been in my spirit to give up on them
and I have seen changes.
So my answer would be is to share, but also to listen to know when not to
speak. To be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves.
One man plants, another man waters, but God giveth the increase. Sometimes
you are just called to till the soil in an individual.
Here is my motto to that: Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for
thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they
both shall be alike good.
It is the Law of Love people, he is also using this verse to test your heart.
Many are using Matthew 7:6 as an excuse to not share with others, perhaps
because of fear.

124. When interpreting this verse lets first see the distinctions between literal or
metaphorical usage.
Looking at the literal Interpretation
Since the context of Matt 7 starts with the subject of judgment its easy to
throw away the literalness of literal pearls with literal pigs, from this we can
conclude that the same can apply with literal dogs.
Looking at the Metaphorical Interpretation
To find metaphorical expression lets look and see how Isuo used these
metaphors in the perspective of judgment. Since many of his teachings reflect
teachings given from King Dude and King Saloma lets look at the proverb(s).
As dogs seek vomit (Ref: Proverbs 26:11)
As pigs roll in mud (Ref: 2 Peter 2:22)
We can see that he's using these as classifications of those that do judge.
The Dog
The dog representing the type of judge that seeks out word vomit hoping for
chunks of error that promotes self-righteousness and self-pride.
The Pearl
First lets consider how the pearl gets made. Layer by layer the oyster works at
its pearl until it has made its size. Similarly in the concept of light layer by
layer features of realizations build until the big realizations held. Therefore
we can see that if the metaphorical pig receives this big realization, Isuo tells
us that the pig type of judge will consider it worthless trashing the realization
and focusing the attack back on the speaker as "personal attacks".

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edited Jul 1 '18 at 3:23

125. I don't agree when people say 'don't rebuke a wicked man'.
If you don't rebuke people who do bad things, they will keep on doing bad
things. They may get angry with you, but inside they will know you're right.
It's not easy to rebuke an evil person, but it might just be what's required to
make them think about what they did, how they lived their life, etc.
It's much better to rebuke than to just look on and let friends, family,
strangers continue being evil.


The History Addict's Commentary Series

Pearls Before Swine:
A Brief Exegetical Examination of Matthew 7:6


Translations

Matthew 7:6 Mh\ dw◊te to\ aígion toiàfl kusi´n mhde´ baølhte tou\fl
margari˜tafl uJmw◊n e∂mprosqen tw◊n coi˜rwn, mh/pote katapath/sousin
aujtou\fl eôn toiàfl posi´n aujtw◊n kai´ strafe˜ntefl rJh/xwsin uJma◊fl.

126. (My interpretation) Do not give the holy [objects] to the [male-temple]
prostitutes, and do not throw your pearls in front of the pigs, lest they then
trample on them with their feet, and turn and tear [attack] you.


(NIV) ≥Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If
you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to
pieces.

(KJV) Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.

(NAS) ≥Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before
swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to
pieces.

(ASV) Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls
before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn and
rend you.

(WEB) ≥Donπt give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls
before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and
tear you to pieces.

(NLT) "Don't give what is holy to unholy people. Don't give pearls to swine!
They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

127. (ESV) "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before
pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

(CEV) Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack
you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over
them.

(HCSB) Don't give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they
will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

(AMP) Do not give that which is holy (the sacred thing) to the dogs, and do
not throw your pearls before hogs, lest they trample upon them with their feet
and turn and tear you in pieces.

(YLT) Ye may not give that which is [holy] to the dogs, nor cast your pearls
before the swine, that they may not trample them among their feet, and
having turned -- may rend you.

(WNT) Do not ye give holy thing to hounds [Do not ye give holy things to
hounds], neither cast ye your margarites before swine, lest peradventure they
defoul them with their feet, and the hounds be turned, and tear you all to
pieces.

(Message) "Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to
God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you're
only being cute and inviting sacrilege.

128. Introduction

This brief passage on holiness forms the concluding part of the Sermon on the
Mount, following immediately from a discourse concerning judgementalism.
The earlier part of verse 7 is a series of strict warnings against using human
knowledge and observation in application towards others.
Now, having warned his audience against judging others, Matthew warns that
as there must not be too much severity (vv. 1-5), there must at the same time
not be too much laxity (v.6). He anticipates a problem in the readers
interpretation of his phrasings, and attempts to moderate and balance his
warnings, for moral symmetry. The principles advanced in 7:1-5 are not to be
abused. They do not eliminate the use of critical faculties when it comes to
sacred concerns. One should not always throw the cloak over a brotherπs
faults. One must not be meekly charitable against all reason.[1]
The construction of this saying seems to be chiastic. It is the swine that will
trample the pearls beneath their feet and the dogs that will turn and bite the
hand that fed them, even if it fed them with ≥holy≤ flesh.




Word studies

GreekWord

129. Lemma
Parse
Translation
Mh
mh/
PARTICLE neg
not, lest
dw◊te
dw◊te
VERB 2 plur 2aor act subj
to give

to\
oJ
ARTICLE neut sing acc
the, who, which
aígion
aígiofl
ADJECTIVE neut sing acc
holy

toiàfl

130. oJ
ARTICLE masc plur dat
the, who, which

kusi´n
ku/wn
NOUN masc plur dat
dog; (metaph) male prostitute

mhde´
mhde˜
CONJUNCTION coord disj
nor, and not

baølhte
baøllw
VERB 2 plur 2aor act subj
to throw, put
tou\fl
oJ
ARTICLE masc plur acc
the, who, which

131. margari˜tafl
margari˜thfl
NOUN masc plur acc
Pearl

uJmw◊n
su/
PRONOUN pers 2 plur gen
you, you (when pl)

e∂mprosqen
e∂mprosqen
INTERJECTION
(+gen) before, in front of

tw◊n
oJ
ARTICLE masc plur gen
the, who, which

coi˜rwn
coiàrofl

132. NOUN masc plur gen
pig

mh/pote
mh/pote
CONJUNCTION subord purpos
lest, perhaps

katapath/sousin
katapate˜w
VERB 3 plur fut act indic
to trample on, oppress

aujtou\fl
aujto/fl
PRONOUN pers 3 masc plur acc
he, she, it; self, same; they (when pl)

eôn
eôn
PREPOSITION
(+dat) in, with, by, to

133. toiàfl
oJ
ARTICLE masc plur dat
the, who, which

posi´n
pou/fl
NOUN masc plur dat
foot

aujtw◊n
aujto/fl
PRONOUN pers 3 masc plur gen
he, she, it; self, same; they (when pl)

kai´
kai˜
CONJUNCTION coord cop
and, also, even, and yet, but

strafe˜ntefl
stre˜fw
VERB 2aor pass part masc plur nom

134. to turn
rJh/xwsin
rJh/ssw
VERB 3 plur aor act subj
to break, tear, attack, burst out

uJma◊fl
su/
PRONOUN pers 2 plur acc
you, you (when pl)




kusi´n (Dogs)
Although the phrase ≥a dogπs life≤ epitomizes a life of ease devoid of
anxiety in contemporary Western society, a ≥dogπs life≤ in a biblical context
shocks the reader with visions of squalor, dismal poverty and the life of a
pariah at the bottom of the social scale.
Dogs are repeatedly depicted in terms of their disgusting and
inadequate diet. Typically they devour what is left over after humans are
finished eating, and that is usually described as mere crumbs[2]. One certainly
does not give them quality fare[3]. Consequently dogs are never satisfied and
are constantly on the lookout for nourishment. Since what they manage to
scavenge is inadequate, they may consume what is repulsive[4] or what is not
fit for human consumption[5].

135. Of all the domesticated animals there is a particular revulsion for the
dog, who alone is willing to eat humans corpses, a fact that is reprehensible to
every human and exploited uniquely by the book of Kings as a curse that
comes upon wicked dynasts[6]. A threatened psalmist mingles all these
elements when he describes his enemies as those ≥howling like dogs and
prowling about the city. They roam about for food, and growl if they do not
get their fill.[7]≤ The metaphor applies appropriately to Israelπs greedy
leaders: ≥They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough.[8]≤
It is not surprising that dogs are more than once juxtaposed with swine
in the Bible[9] for both are ritually unclean animals whose repulsive behavior
even for animals strikes humans as foolish or even bizarre.
After making the point that human existence is ≥full of evil,[10]≤
Qoheleth, the main speaker in the book, does state that it is better to be alive
than dead, though only barely: ≥even a live dog is better off than a dead
lion![11]≤
To identify oneself as a dog is therefore to draw attention to oneπs
miserable condition as an inconsequential creature[12] or to the miserable
treatment that one is receiving[13]. To refer to another human as a dog is to
insult the other as among the lowest in the social scale[14]. Jesus seems to
intentionally echo Jewish sentiments toward Gentiles when he rebuffs the
entreaty of the Syro-Phoenecian woman with the words, ≥it is not right to
take the childrenπs bread and toss it to their dogs.[15]≤ But accepting the
designationãand the priority of Jews and then Gentilesãshe responds in faith,
≥Yes, Lord, ä but even the dogs under the table eat the childrenπs
crumbs.[16]≤ Paul, on the other hand, spares no imagery when he warns the
Philippians against the Judaizers who are attempting to rob them of full
membership in the people of God: ≥Watch out for the dogs!≤[17]

margari˜tafl (Pearls)
Pearls are mentioned fewer than a dozen times in the Bible, where their status
as a prized jewel make them a touchstone of beauty, value and permanence.

136. Among the literal references, mother≠of≠pearl is one of the precious stones
that Ahasuerus displays during his seven-day extravaganza [18], and when
Paul wants a contrast to the feminine modesty that he commends, his images
of inappropriate external adornment are braided hair, gold, pearls and costly
attire [19]. Of similar import is the repulsive picture of the luxurious finery of
the whore of Babylon, who ≥was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked
with gold and jewels and pearls≤[20]. As a symbol of a worldwide mercantile
empire, the whore of Babylon is also portrayed as trafficking in pearls [21].
Because of their beauty and value, pearls become a recognized
standard of excellence when biblical authors wish to make a comparison.
Thus ≥the price of wisdom is above pearls≤[22], and the gospel itself is so
precious that it should not be offered to hostile people indiscriminately: ≥Do
not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and
turn to attack you≤[23]. Similarly, ≥the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and
sold all that he had and bought it≤[24].
The final appearance of the image in the Bible is truly resplendent.
Because the pearl combines hardness of texture with brilliance of reflected
light, it is a staple in ≥enameled imagery≤ that poets from time immemorial
have used to portray heaven. Thus pearls are prominent in the barrage of
jewel imagery in Johnπs vision of the new Jerusalem; in fact, each of the
twelve gates of the heavenly city is made from a single pearl, with the dazzling
effect reinforced by the street of the city, which is ≥pure gold, transparent as
glass≤[25].
Overall, the pearl is an ambivalent image in the Bible. Its beauty and
value are positive when it is associated with Godπs wisdom or heavenly
kingdom. But its beauty and value actually become reprehensible when people
use it to make an extravagant external impression.

coi˜rwn (Pigs)

137. The law of Moses considers pigs ≥unclean≤ and not to be eaten by the
people of Israel[26]. While this puts them in a category containing many other
creatures, in practice they were a prominent member of this category, since in
many other parts of the ancient world pigs were kept as domestic animals and
valued as food. Thus eating pork is instanced as a key example of unclean,
pagan practice in Isaiah 65:4 and 66:17, which attack Israelites who
participate in pagan cults. Especially in view of Isaiah 66:3, which refers to
the offering of pigsπ blood in sacrifice, it is likely that in these verses the
eating of pork pertains to a sacrificial rite, even though the eating of pork
offered in sacrifice was not common in ancient Near Eastern religion. For a
biblical writer, of course, the association of pigs with holiness, which these
apostate Israelites claim to gain from their pagan rites[27], is heavily ironic.
In the later biblical period, Jewish abstention from pork was a notable
distinctive that marked them out from Gentiles. In the persecution under
Antiochus Epiphanes, which aimed to eradicate the distinctives of Jewish
religion, loyal Jews treated abstention from pork as a test of their loyalty to
Godπs law. The Maccabean martyrs died for refusing to compromise on this
point[28]. Part of Antiochusπs desecration of the temple consisted of offering
pigs in sacrifice[29], since pigs, as unclean, were not among the animals used
for sacrifice according to the law of Moses.
Although the classification of pigs as ≥unclean≤ is a technical one that
does not refer to their physical dirtiness, in the ancient world pigs were
generally considered dirty animals. They were often allowed to roam loose
and scavenge in the streets, as dogs did. This increased the symbolic
association of uncleanness with pigs in the Jewish mind, and in a later period
both pigs and dogs became derogatory terms for Gentiles. An obvious
association of pigs with Gentiles appears in the NT, where when pigs appear
as domestic animals it is a clear indication that the story has entered Gentile
territory, as in the cases of Jesusπ encounter with the demoniac Legion[30]
and the prodigal sonπs degradation to swineherd[31].
≥Like a gold ring in a pigπs snout is a beautiful woman without good
sense.[32]≤ The point here is the incongruous contrast between the beautiful

138. ornament and the animal, which is probably considered dirty and perhaps
also ugly (though this would be the only evidence that pigs were thought ugly).
Some interpreters have seen here a prohibition on preaching the gospel
to Gentiles (symbolized as dogs and swine; cf. Mt 10:5), but it seems more
likely that simply unreceptive hearers are in view, people who treat what is
supremely valuable (like pearls) as worthless and contemptible. Such people
need not be Gentiles, but the saying may compare them with typical Gentiles,
regarded by Jews as contemptuous of the holy and precious things of Godπs
law.
In 2 Peter 2:22 two proverbs are applied to the case of Christians
converted from a pagan background who return to their immoral pagan way
of life. Once again the traditional association of dogs and pigs with Gentiles
may be in view, as well as the more general association of these animals with
dirt. The two proverbs give examples of the unpleasant habits of the two
animals. The first is quoted from Proverbs 26:11; the second[33] is preserved
elsewhere in the Story of Ahiqar. Pigs enjoy bathing in water, but not for the
sake of cleanliness, since they equally enjoy wallowing in mud. The pig in
question has been to the public baths and washed itself clean, but immediately
dirties itself again. The bathing may suggest baptism as the convertsπ
≥cleansing of past sins.[34]≤


Exegesis and application

Mh\ dw◊te to\ aígion toiàfl kusi´n. There is a use of the definite article
throughout the rest of the saying. Because dogs in the ancient world were
known primarily not as pets[35] but as wild creatures which roamed the
streets in packs scavenging for refuse one which to feed, ådogπ became the
word of reproach[36]. Compare the English åcurπ and recall that åCynicπ[37]
was used as a term of abuse. In Deut 23:18, ådogπ = a pagan, male
prostitute[38], and similar equations are made in other texts (e.g. Mt 15:26-7 =

139. Mk 7:27-8)≠although it would be going too far to assert that ådogπ was a
common appellation for the Gentiles. The question for us is, Are the ådogsπ of
Mt 7:6 Gentiles (as in 15:26-7), or do we have here a general term of
contempt[39]? Surely the latter, åDo not give that which is holy to dogsπ takes
up for a novel end a known rule in which to\ aígion means sacrificial meat or
leaven.[40] In Mt 7:6 this rule, by virtue of its new context, becomes a
comprehensive statement about the necessity to keep distinct the realms of the
clean and unclean.[41]
There are two very clear and direct meanings in this passage that should be
taken simultaneously; first, this phrase is a general warning to limit the
amo0unt of time and energy one spends on the hard-core disbelievers. The
gospel is directed to be presented to all, but there are separate admonishments
to ≥shake the dust off[42],≤ or walk away from those who are determined not
to listen. Secondly, there are certain teachings about God that are simply not
appropriate to present to outsiders. This is not to assume a Gnostic viewpoint,
in any way, but to underscore the very holy nature of His teachings, and to
avoid situations where a heretic or other nonbeliever might mock or abuse
that which is deeply sacred.

John Gill wrote:
Give not that which is holy to the dogs,.... Dogs were unclean creatures by the
law; the price of one might not be brought into the house of the Lord, for a
vow, Deuteronomy 23:18 yea, these creatures were not admitted into several
temples of the Heathens. Things profane and unclean, as flesh torn by beasts,
were ordered to be given to them, Exodus 22:31 but nothing that was holy was
to be given them, as holy flesh, or the holy oblations, or anything that was
consecrated to holy uses; to which is the allusion here. It is a common maxim
with the Jews, "Myblkl Nlykahl Myvdqh ta Nydwp Nyav, 'that they do not
redeem holy things, to give to the dogs to eat.'" Here the phrase is used in a
metaphorical sense; and is generally understood of not delivering or
communicating the holy word of God, and the truths of the Gospel,
comparable to pearls, or the ordinances of it, to persons notoriously vile and

140. sinful: to men, who being violent and furious persecutors, and impudent
blasphemers, are compared to "dogs"; or to such, who are scandalously vile,
impure in their lives and conversations, and are therefore compared to swine;
neither cast ye your pearls before swine. But since the subject Christ is upon is
reproof, it seems rather to be the design of these expressions, that men should
be cautious, and prudent, in rebuking and admonishing such persons for their
sins, in whom there is no appearance or hope of success; yea, where there is
danger of sustaining loss; lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
again and rend you: that is, despise the admonitions and reproofs given, and
hurt the persons who give them, either by words or deeds; see Proverbs 9:7.
The Jews have some sayings much like these, and will serve to illustrate them;
"Myryzxh ynpl Mynynph wkylvt la, "do not cast pearls before swine," nor
deliver wisdom to him, who knows not the excellency of it; for wisdom is
better than pearls, and he that does not seek after it, is worse than a swine."

mhde´ baølhte tou\fl margari˜tafl uJmw◊n e∂mprosqen tw◊n coi˜rwn The
second part of verse 6 is a good example of synonymous parallelism.[43] ≥Do
not throw≤ corresponds with ≥do not give,≤ ≥your pearls≤ corresponds with
≥that which is holy,≤ and ≥dogs≤ obviously corresponds with ≥pigs.≤ Both
of the latter are considered unclean, despised animals in classic Jewish
culture. The association of pigs with dogs occurs as well in 2 Peter 2:22. Some
interpreters have seen here a prohibition on preaching the gospel to Gentiles
(symbolized as dogs and swine), but it seems more likely that simply
unreceptive hearers are in view, people who treat what is supremely valuable
(like pearls) as worthless and contemptible. Such people need not be Gentiles,
but the saying may compare them with typical Gentiles, regarded by Jews as
contemptuous of the holy and precious things of Godπs law.
The law of Moses considers pigs ≥unclean≤ and not to be eaten by the people
of Israel[44]. While this puts them in a category containing many other
creatures, in practice they were a prominent member of this category, since in
many other parts of the ancient world pigs were kept as domestic animals and
valued as food. Thus eating pork is instanced as a key example of unclean,
pagan practice in Isaiah 65:4 and 66:17, which attack Israelites who

141. participate in pagan cults. Especially in view of Isaiah 66:3, which refers to
the offering of pigsπ blood in sacrifice, it is likely that in these verses the
eating of pork pertains to a sacrificial rite, even though the eating of pork
offered in sacrifice was not common in ancient Near Eastern religion. For a
biblical writer, of course, the association of pigs with holiness, which these
apostate Israelites claim to gain from their pagan rites (Is 65:5; 66:17), is
heavily ironic.
The ≥swine,≤ therefore, together with the ≥dogs≤, are those who have
completely abandoned themselves into a life of sin. These are the ones referred
to some many times in the gospel that are ≥hard-hearted≤ and ≥blind≤ to
the Truth of Christ.
In the later biblical period, Jewish abstention from pork was a notable
distinctive that marked them out from Gentiles. In the persecution under
Antiochus Epiphanes, which aimed to eradicate the distinctiveness of Jewish
religion, loyal Jews treated abstention from pork as a test of their loyalty to
Godπs law. The Maccabean martyrs died for refusing to compromise on this
point (2 Macc 6:18≠20; 7:1). Part of Antiochusπs desecration of the temple
consisted of offering pigs in sacrifice (1 Macc 1:47), since pigs, as unclean,
were not among the animals used for sacrifice according to the law of Moses.
Although the classification of pigs as ≥unclean≤ is a technical one that
does not refer to their physical dirtiness, in the ancient world pigs were
generally considered dirty animals. They were often allowed to roam loose
and scavenge in the streets, as dogs did. This increased the symbolic
association of uncleanness with pigs in the Jewish mind, and in a later period
both pigs and dogs became derogatory terms for Gentiles. An obvious
association of pigs with Gentiles appears in the NT, where when pigs appear
as domestic animals it is a clear indication that the story has entered Gentile
territory, as in the cases of Jesusπ encounter with the demoniac Legion (Mk
5:11≠14) and the prodigal sonπs degradation to swineherd[45].
≥Like a gold ring in a pigπs snout is a beautiful woman without good
sense.[46]≤ The point here is the incongruous contrast between the beautiful

142. ornament and the animal, which is probably considered dirty and perhaps
also ugly, though this would be the only evidence that pigs were thought ugly.

Augustine wrote:
But inasmuch as the word ≥guileless≤ may mislead some who are desirous of
obeying Godπs precepts, so that they may think it wrong, at times, to conceal
the truth, just as it is wrong at times to speak a falsehood, and inasmuch as in
this way,ãby disclosing things which the parties to whom they are disclosed
are unable to bear,ãthey may do more harm than if they were to conceal them
altogether and always, He very rightly adds: ≥Give not that which is holy to
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet, and turn again and rend you.≤ For the Lord Himself,
although He never told a lie, yet showed that He was concealing certain truths,
when He said, ≥I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now.≤ And the Apostle Paul, too, says: ≥And I, brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in
Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal.≤

Now, in this precept by which we are forbidden to give what is holy to the
dogs, and to cast our pearls before swine, we must carefully require what is
meant by holy, what by pearls, what by dogs, what by swine. A holy thing is
something which it is impious to violate and to corrupt; and the very attempt
and wish to commit that crime is held to be criminal, although that holy thing
should remain in its nature inviolable and incorruptible. By pearls, again, are
meant whatever spiritual things we ought to set a high value upon, both
because they lie hid in a secret place, are as it were brought up out of the deep,
and are found in wrappings of allegory, as it were in shells that have been
opened. We may therefore legitimately understand that one and the same
thing may be called both holy and a pearl: but it gets the name of holy for this
reason, that it ought not to be corrupted; of a pearl for this reason, that it
ought not to be despised. Every one, however, endeavours to corrupt what he

143. does not wish to remain uninjured: but he despises what he thinks worthless,
and reckons to be as it were beneath himself; and therefore whatever is
despised is said to be trampled on. And hence, inasmuch as dogs spring at a
thing in order to tear it in pieces, and do not allow what they are tearing in
pieces to remain in its original condition, ≥Give not,≤ says He, ≥that which is
holy unto the dogs:≤ for although it cannot be torn in pieces and corrupted,
and remains unharmed and inviolable, yet we must think of what is the wish
of those parties who bitterly and in a most unfriendly spirit resist, and, as far
as in them lies, endeavour, if it were possible, to destroy the truth. But swine,
although they do not, like dogs, fall upon an object with their teeth, yet by
recklessly trampling on it defile it: ≥Do not therefore cast your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.≤
We may therefore not unsuitably understand dogs as used to designate the
assailants of the truth, swine the despisers of it.[47]

mh/pote katapath/sousin aujtou\fl eôn toiàfl posi´n aujtw◊n kai´ strafe˜ntefl
rJh/xwsin uJma◊fl. This gives the overall reasoning for the two admonitions;
≥dogs≤ and ≥pigs≤ desecrate what is pure, clean and that which should be
given honor. The general sense of the saying is clear: objects of value, special
privileges, participation in sacred things should not be offered to those who
are incapable of appreciating them. Pearls are things of beauty and value to
many peopleãJesus himself in one of his parables compared the kingdom of
God to a ≥pearl of great value≤ (Mt 13:45≠46)ãbut pigs will despise them
because they cannot eat them. Holy fleshãthe flesh of sacrificial animalsãhas a
religious value over and above its nutritive value for worshipers who share in
a ≥peace offering,≤ but pariah dogs will make no difference between it and
scraps of offal for which they battle in the street; they will not feel specially
grateful to anyone who gives it to them.
But has the saying a more specific application? One could imagine its
being quoted by some more restrictive brethren in the Jerusalem church as an
argument against presenting the gospel to Gentiles, certainly against receiving
them into full Christian fellowship. At a slightly later date it was used as an
argument against admitting unbelievers to the Lordπs Supper; thus the

144. Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles), a manual of Syrian Christianity
dated around A.D. 100, says, ≥Let none eat or drink of your Eucharist except
those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord. It was concerning this
that the Lord said, åDo not give dogs what is holyπ≤ (9.5).
It would be anachronistic to read this interpretation back into the
ministry of Jesus. It is better to read the saying in the context given it by
Matthew (the only Gospel writer to report it). It comes immediately after the
injunction ≥Do not judge, or you too will be judged≤ (Mt 7:1), with two
amplifications of that injunction: you will be judged by the standard you
apply in the judgment of others (Mt 7:2), and you should not try to remove a
speck of sawdust from someone elseπs eye when you have a whole plank in
your own (Mt 7:3≠5). Then comes this saying, which is a further amplification
of the principle, or rather a corrective of it: you must not sit in judgment on
others and pass censorious sentences on them, but you ought to exercise
discrimination. Judgment is an ambiguous word. In Greek as in English, it
may mean sitting in judgment on people (or even condemning them), or it
may mean exercising a proper discrimination. In the former sense judgment is
deprecated; in the latter sense it is recommended. Jesus himself knew that it
was useless to impart his message to some people: he had no answer for Herod
Antipas when Herod ≥plied him with many questions≤ (Lk 23:9).

McGarvey and Pendleton wrote of this passage:
The connection here is not obvious. This saying, however, appears to be a
limitation of the law against judging. The Christian must not be censoriously
judicial, but he should be discriminatingly judicious. He must know dogs and
swine when he sees them, and must not treat them as priests and kings, the fit
objects for the bestowal of holy food and goodly ornaments. Dogs and swine
were unclean animals. The former were usually undomesticated and were
often fierce. In the East they are still the self-appointed scavengers of the
street. The latter were undomesticated among the Jews, and hence are spoken
of as wild and liable to attack man. Meats connected with the sacrificial
service of the altar were holy. Even unclean men were not permitted to eat of

145. them, much less unclean brutes. What was left after the priests and clean
persons had eaten was to be burned with fire (Leviticus 6:24-30; Leviticus
7:15-21). To give holy things to dogs was to profane them. We are here
forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work, or ordinance, in such a
manner as to degrade or profane it. Saloons ought not to be opened with
prayer, nor ought adulterous marriages to be performed by a man of God. To
give pearls to swine is to press the claims of the gospel upon those who despise
it until they persecute you for annoying them with it. When such men are
known, they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in refusing to
answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same in turning to the Gentiles
when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict and blaspheme.

One other way of viewing this passage is to consider the ≥uncleanest of the
unclean.≤ In 2 Peter 2:22 two proverbs are applied to the case of Christians
converted from a pagan background who return to their immoral pagan way
of life. Once again the traditional association of dogs and pigs with Gentiles
may be in view, as well as the more general association of these animals with
dirt. The two proverbs give examples of the unpleasant habits of the two
animals. The first is quoted from Proverbs 26:11; the second, ≥The sow is
washed only to wallow in the mud,≤ (NRSV) is preserved elsewhere in the
Story of Ahiqar. Pigs enjoy bathing in water, but not for the sake of
cleanliness, since they equally enjoy wallowing in mud. The pig in question
has been to the public baths and washed itself clean, but immediately dirties
itself again. The bathing may suggest baptism as the convertsπ ≥cleansing of
past sins.[48]≤

Augustine wrote:
But when He says, ≥they turn again and rend you,≤ He does not say, they
rend the pearls themselves. For by trampling on them, just when they turn in
order that they may hear something more, they yet rend him by whom the
pearls have just been cast before them which they have trampled on. For you
would not easily find out what pleasure the man could have who has trampled

146. pearls under foot, i.e. has despised divine things whose discovery is the result
of great labour. But in regard to him who teaches such parties, I do not see
how he would escape being rent in pieces through their anger and
wrathfulness. Moreover, both animals are unclean, the dog as well as the
swine. We must therefore be on our guard, lest anything should be opened up
to him who does not receive it: for it is better that he should seek for what is
hidden, than that he should either attack or slight at what is open. Neither, in
fact, is any other cause found why they do not receive those things which are
manifest and of importance, except hatred and contempt, the one of which
gets them the
name of dogs, the other that of swine. And all this impurity is generated by the
love of temporal things, i.e. by the love of this world, which we are
commanded to renounce, in order that we may be able to be pure. The man,
therefore, who desires to have a pure and single heart, ought not to appear to
himself blameworthy, if he conceals anything from him who is unable to
receive it. Nor is it to be supposed from this that it is allowable to lie: for it
does not follow that when truth is concealed, falsehood is uttered. Hence, steps
are to be taken first, that the hindrances which prevent his receiving it may be
removed; for certainly if pollution is the reason he does not receive it, he is to
be cleansed either by word or by deed, as far as we can possibly do it.
Then, further, when our Lord is found to have made certain statements
which many who were present did not accept, but either resisted or despised,
He is not to be thought to have given that which is holy to the dogs, or to have
cast pearls before swine: for He did not give such things to those who were not
able to receive them, but to those who were able, and were at the same time
present; whom it was not meet that He should neglect on account of the
impurity of others.[49]



Summary and conclusions

147. Given Jesusπ very open nature towards the Gentiles, it is questionable that
this specific phrase came directly from him, despite the quotation of
Matthew[50], but this is not completely out of the question. There was (and is)
a rabbinic notion that the words of Torah such not be transmitted to a
Gentile, based on the precept that Halakha, or Jewish religious laws and
customs, are irrelevant to them.

Holy and valuable things should be given only to those able to appreciate
them. No specific application is indicated, but we may remember that there is
a time to speak and a time to be silent.[51] Godπs truth must not be exposed
unnecessarily to abuse and mockery.
http://historyaddict.com/grk2pearls.html


CAST NOT YOUR PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached on Lord's Day Evening, November 7, 2004
at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you"
(Matthew 7:6).

It is natural for an inexperienced young Christian to try to bring everyone to
church. They hear the words of Christ,
"Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled"

148. (Luke 14:23).
And, so, they want to bring in everyone to hear the gospel.
Many of you come from a Roman Catholic background and culture. The
Catholics often over-emphasize works of charity. They extol the poverty of St.
Francis and Mother Teresa. This attitude is often picked up by young
Christians and carried to an extreme, by trying to bring in the most hardened
people, those who are least likely to become converted and join the local
church. Even those who are not from a Catholic background often seek out
the most vile and unresponsive people, and attempt to bring them into the
church. I know many good-hearted Christians who pour much of their energy
and work into attempting to win the most profligate people they meet. They
seem drawn to the least likely prospects for membership in the church.
Dr. Gill says concerning our text,
…that [we] should be cautious and prudent, in rebuking and admonishing
such persons for their sins, in whom there is no appearance or hope of
success; yea, where there is danger of sustaining loss; lest they trample them
under their feet, and turn again and rend you (John Gill, D.D., An Exposition
of the New Testament, The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989 reprint, volume I,
p. 68).
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you"
(Matthew 7:6).
I. First, what this means.
I think Dr. W. A. Criswell got at the heart of this text when he said, "Spiritual
mysteries should not be pressed upon those who are either unready or
unwilling to accept or appreciate their value" (W. A. Criswell, Ph.D., The
Criswell Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1979, note on Matthew 7:6).
A little later in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said,
"Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet" (Matthew 10:14).

149. "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise
as serpents, and harmless as doves"
(Matthew 10:16).
These verses show that Christians need heavenly wisdom in presenting the
gospel. Those who are hardened to the point of strongly rejecting the
messenger and the message are to be avoided. I think this is what Jesus meant
in our text.
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you"
(Matthew 7:6).
Dr. John R. Rice said, "Verse 6 certainly means that there are some people so
set in sin that we should not associate with them" (John R. Rice, D.D., The
Gospel According to Matthew, Sword of the Lord, 1980 reprint, p. 116). The
Bible says, "Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of
thy words" (Proverbs 23:9).
II. Second, how this is illustrated.
The Bible gives many examples to illustrate our text. For instance, Moses
repeatedly warned the Pharaoh of Egypt, but Pharaoh rejected his warnings
and said,
"Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more…" (Exodus
10:28).
"And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more"
(Exodus 10:29).
Pharaoh had his last chance to hear God's message. Moses would not "cast
[his] pearls before swine."
Then there is the example of Christ when He was arrested. They dragged Him
to the high priest. They brought in "witnesses" who made false accusations
against Him. Then the high priest said,

150. "Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But
Jesus held his peace" (Matthew 26:62-63).
Jesus kept quiet. He refused to "cast [His] pearls before swine."
Next, there is the example of Christ before Pontius Pilate, the Roman
governor of Judea. Christ was taken before Pilate by the Roman guards. But
when Pilate questioned Christ,
"He answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled
greatly" (Matthew 27:14).
Christ knew that Pilate was not interested in the truth. Our Lord would not
"cast [His] pearls before swine," so He did not answer Pilate when he
questioned Him.
Then there is the example of Herod. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.
"And when Herod saw Jesus… he questioned with him in many words; but he
answered him nothing" (Luke 23:8-9).
Herod had a superstitious desire to see Jesus perform a miracle. But he was
not really interested in knowing the truth. Jesus "answered him nothing"
(Luke 23:9). Again, our Lord did not "cast [His] pearls before swine."
The Apostle Paul and Barnabas followed Christ's example in the Book of
Acts.
"Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the
word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from
you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles"
(Acts 13:46).
All of these examples illustrate the principle Jesus laid down when He said,
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you"
(Matthew 7:6).

151. Matthew Henry said of this verse,
We must not go about to give instructions, counsels, and rebukes, much less
comforts, to hardened scorners, to whom it will certainly do no good, but who
will be exasperated and enraged at us. Throw a pearl to a swine, and he will
resent it, as if you threw a stone at him (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the
Whole Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, 1996 reprint, vol.5, page 72).
III. Third, who this applies to.
The Bible says,
"Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee" (Proverbs 9:8).
Dr. Gill says there is no use witnessing to "persons notoriously vile and sinful;
to men who being violent and furious persecutors, and impudent blasphemers,
are compared to dogs; or to such as are scandalously vile…and are therefore
compared to swine" (John Gill, ibid.). Such people will only hate you if you
witness to them.
There is a need for God to give us discernment in witnessing. Dr. J. Vernon
McGee said of this passage,
While I was a pastor in downtown Los Angeles for twenty-one years, I met
people from all walks of life. It took me thirty minutes to drive from my home
to the church, and during that time I would tell the Lord I was going to meet
some new people during the day and would ask Him to please tell me how I
should act with each one. Some people would need my help, but others might
try to put a knife in my back…When you meet new friends, do you ever ask
God to make it clear to you how to treat them? I have found out that it is a
good idea to do this (J. Vernon McGee, Th.D., Thru the Bible, Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1983, volume IV, p. 41).
That may seem a little complicated to a new Christian. You may ask, "Who
should I witness to? Who should I bring to church?" A good rule of thumb is
this - look for the kind of young people that you see coming into our church
and becoming Christians. The kind of young people you see coming into our
church and staying are the kind you should be witnessing to. This basic

152. guideline will help to keep you out of trouble with hardened people who will
not listen anyway, and will only become angry with you "and turn and rend
you" (Matthew 7:6), and turn and tear you to pieces in one way or another.
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you"
(Matthew 7:6).
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise
as serpents, and harmless as doves"
(Matthew 10:16).
And may God help you to do this, as you go out witnessing for Christ in this
city.
If you are here listening to me preach tonight, you are probably not the kind
of person Jesus described in our text as "dogs" and "swine." If you were, you
probably would never have come to church in the first place. So I say to you,
in the words of Christ,
"Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
That is the message of salvation. You must repent by turning from sin to Jesus
Christ. He died on the Cross to pay the penalty for your sin in the sight of
God. He rose physically from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of
God in Heaven. Come to Christ by faith and He will wash away your sins with
His Blood, and give you everlasting life. May God help you to do it! Amen.

(END OF SERMON)

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Matthew
10:12-16.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
"Go, Labour On; Spend and Be Spent" (by Horatius Bonar, 1808-1889).

153. https://www.rlhymersjr.com/Online_Sermons/2004/110704PM_PealsBeforeS
wine.html


"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
(Matthew 7:6).
What does this mean? In a parable (Matthew 13:45-46), Jesus Christ talked
about a man who sold all that he had, in order to purchase one pearl of great
value. The pearl was symbolic of Heaven, and his new found Christianity, and
all that represents. The "pearls" Jesus is talking about here obviously means
the same things - Heaven, Christianity, Faith, Salvation, Knowledge of God,
Gifts of the Holy Ghost.
"Dogs" or "Swine" would be the enemy, his workers, and the Godless, un-
saved, wicked evil people on the earth.
The word "rend" is defined as: "to separate into parts with force or
violence", "to harrow or distress (the heart) with painful feelings"...
With the "pearls", the "swine" and "rend" defined, what does it mean to
"cast not your pearls before swine"? I will make up my own parable(s) here
to explain this...
Parable 1. A Christian man who has progressed far into his faith, has had
some absolutely amazing experiences in the Holy Ghost. He has been given
knowledge that only a true Christian Saint would receive. One day he meets a
Godless, evil man who is blaspheming, swearing, and living in sin. He decides
to minister to this evil man. Instead of preaching the Gospel of Repentance,
the Christian man starts telling the evil man all about the special experiences
he has been granted in the presence of God. (Instead of keeping his "pearls"
safe, he has just cast them before swine.) The evil man instantly starts to
laugh, and mock on the Christian man, telling him off and renounces
everything he has told him. (The swine has just "trampled" on his pearls.)

154. The evil man now starts verbally, emotionally and spiritually attacking the
Christian man, because he hates him. (The "swine" has now decided to
"rend" the Christian man.)
Parable 2. A Christian woman falls in love and get’s hooked on an evil, wicked
godless man. (How could this happen? Sadly this is apparently happening all
the time.) This man harasses, challenges and subtly mocks on her faith and
this hurts her deeply. She knows deep down inside that God want’s her to
marry a good, Christian man, but unfortunately she can’t get past this one
evil man she is hooked on. She deceives herself into believing that she is in love
with the good man who is somewhere deep down inside of this evil man,
therefore puts down her moral belief that she needs to marry a Christian and
marries the man she is in love with instead. (She has just cast her "pearls"
before "swine".) She then spends the rest of her life trying to get him saved,
while he keeps mocking, laughing and rejecting her attempts. (The "swine"
has "trampled" her "pearls".) This hurts her deeply, and thus she lives in a
state of torment and spiritual danger, joined to a man who is un-saved, and
challenges her Christianity constantly. (The "swine" is now inflicting "rend"
on his wife.) http://www.onechristianministry.com/truth-329.html


Jesus' Lesson on Not Throwing Pearls Before Swine
Jesus / Yahshua taught us:
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do,
they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
(Matt 7:6 NIV.)
Pearls are symbolic of something sacred. We learn this from Jesus' parallel
that you should not give to dogs "what is sacred." Swine were unclean
animals to eat. Dogs were generally regarded as unclean by the people. In the
Bible, they are mentioned as used for hunting. Isaiah 56:11; Job 30:1. Jesus is
alluding to the common view of the people that dogs were unclean to touch.
Obviously, the people learned they carry diseases, etc. Dogs also had the

155. capacity to become ravenous, i.e., have distemper and tear a human to pieces.
There were no distemper shots in Jesus' day.
Hence, Jesus is warning us not to give sacred holy-type things / pearls to the
dogs and pigs, meaning to wicked persons of perverse minds who will not only
destroy your holy-type things and pearls, but also actually turn upon you and
attack you personally, "tearing you in pieces" -- destroying you.
What are the holy-type things and pearls? God's message.
So there are times that giving God's message to someone is counter-manded
by Christ's command.
For example, Jesus said if someone calls another Raca - Empty head -- a term
intended to antagonize, that person is in danger of "hell fire." (Matt 5:22.)
Now let's say you give someone God's message, and they won't listen, and
begin to insult you as a "dumb-a.." or other inflammatory words intended to
signify you are stupid.
What did Jesus say elsewhere about such a person -- referring to a brother
whose home you stayed in when you entered the town and initially found
someone "worthy" to stay with -- but who won't listen to you?
"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or
town and shake the dust off your feet." (Matt 10:14.)
This statement by Jesus parallels "do not cast your pearls before swine...."
You move on. Don't waste any more words or time on them. They physically
heard the message, but refused to engage reasonably and fairly on the
message. They closed their minds. If you persist in trying to "reach them,"
Jesus says you err. If you do, they will try to destroy God's message as well as
turn and "tear you to pieces."
What does destroying you mean?
Well, it can indeed mean killing you. But it more likely means that they will
lead you into dangerous sin such as hatred of a brother or sister in Christ. As

156. Proverbs 26:4 says, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also
become like him."
How would you become like him and fall into sin? Well, if the foolish arguer
antagonizes you enough calling you "empty-head," stupid, etc., it will
predictably lead to anger and hatred. What did Jesus say about hatred? Can
that hatred destroy you / tear you in pieces, dangerously leading you toward
damnation?
Jesus said in Matthew 5:22:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject
to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is
answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of
the fire of hell.
Apostle John likewise said: "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him."
(1 John 3:15.)
So if you get into a discussion with a fellow follower of Jesus, and the brother
or sister starts talking abusively or with innuendo, snide insults, etc., showing
his or her questions are not honestly seeking an answer, exit the conversation.
Your brother or sister knows better not to say "Raca." But if you further cast
the food before a dog or your pearls before a swine -- which now your brother
or sister in Christ has become, he or she has become like the wicked servant in
Jesus' parable in Luke 12.
There his master will come at a day and time he does not expect, and will cut
that wicked servant in pieces, and assign him to the same fate as the APISTOS
-- Greek meaning those who have no faith -- because the servant was
"abusing" fellow Christians. This is not a servant who never believed. Jesus
said he will take this wicked "servant" of the Lord and cast him into the same
fate as ones who had NO FAITH, implying this "servant of the Lord" was
indeed a believer. Yikes. His fate will be like those who never believed. (Luke
12:42-46.) Hence, pray for your professed brother or sister but do not waste

157. any more time talking to them unless they later show a willingness to at least
hear what you are saying -- to follow Christ alone.



NOTES:
Here is how I recently applied the above lesson in emails which I sent to a
brother opponent whose words showed strong antagonism -- using many
inflammatory statements:

Hi R,

I love you, dear brother in Christ. I must be concerned for a brother when he
begins using the word RACA (empty head) or synonymns because my Lord
tells me he is in danger of judgment. So when someone writes me that I am
incorrect and got something backwards, but adds “ass” such as “ass
backwards,” then I must conclude my brother is in danger of the judgment.
Or instead of saying I supposedly “misunderstood” something instead he says
I supposedly “completely misunderstood” something. There are many ways to
say RACA, as you know.
This topic matter then is not spiritually productive for my brother. My
brother may have truly beneficial truths to share, but he is filled with hatred
and antagonism, and I am somehow feeding it. I must follow Yahusha /
Yahshua’s command with even a brother who began “worthy” to “shake the
dust off” my feet, and move on.
I have had many opponents write, and I learn a lot from many. See how
carefully I studied your points on the name of Jesus. I seek to grow. But a
handful, use words that are needlessly antagonistic.

158. Once they begin changing their tune, I always exit the dialogue. This becomes
dangerous to me spiritually to continue, as Jesus also says if you hate a
brother or sister, then you are at risk of hell fire. Hence, for both our good, I
think we have shared enough, and we spiritually are commanded to move on.

I pray Yahweh richly bless you.

Be well,

Doug



R then responded that I was exiting because R was allegedly scoring good
points and I supposedly did not want to hear them. So I responded:

Hi R

I am glad you don’t think you have called me RACA or used synonyms.
However, I am concerned for your spirit that you do not sin. But if we
continue, I feel you may not sense what I sense – a strong antagonism is
building in you and may lead you to sin which in turn can lead me to sin in
response. Better to cut it off before it leads to a serious sin by either one of us.
When civility is lost in dialogue, Yahshua warns there is a “danger” of
judgment, and thus we need to flee from such relationships that cause it.

159. Also, I feel you are not writing to listen to anything I have to say. You never
take it at all seriously. You wish me to only listen to you. I have shown you
respect, and studied your emails, and responded carefully. But the responses I
get from you are not what I can respect. Sorry. So Yahshua gives me a stern
command, to shake the dust off my feet and move on – and that command
involved a person who initially appeared “worthy.”

So I wish you well, and I am glad we cut this off before you went too far, and I
became angry in return with you.

Blessings of Yahweh,

Doug


Then R's last email was a ranting email, yet claiming he had no animosity, etc.
Here is what I wrote in reply:

Hi R

Do you really read what you are saying:

You wrote: “I had to see what in the world you are saying to affect these
people.” –
Brother R..., Is that a sober mind?

160. You wrote: “From what I can see the biggest "fishbone" stuck in your throat”
–
Brother R, is that how you talk to a person you love?
You wrote: “STOP right here and THINK.” –
Brother R, capitals are used here like yelling. Do you need to do that?
The best example is you wrote: “because your ego is too big to admit you are
in error regarding Paul.”
So you don’t reason with me, but attack my character. Even when I told you
what I was concerned about was inflammatory words, there it is. I supposedly
don’t have common sense to hear you because I allegedly have a big ego.
If this last letter you sent me does not prove what I said, I don’t know what to
tell you.
To have a dialogue requires civility, respect, and loving concern. My
perception whether right or wrong is you evince venom, hatred, and hostility.
Thus, your words are there for you to examine your own heart. I cannot see
what is in there.
Yahshua does not tell me I have to know what is in your heart. He says I am
obeying him by shaking the dust off my feet of a relationship with someone
whom I at first respected as worthy but who later demonstrates that he “will
not listen.” In obedience to Messiah, I must move on.
I again wish you all the best.
Blessings of Yahweh,
Doug


Finally, Mr. R crossed all lines and rejected trying to be polite, and then
blatantly insults me. So I responded:

161. Hi R

I have no choice but to officially block you now. I do pray for my brother…
RACA has many forms. You even admit not wishing to be polite. You write:



“You almost sound like a temperamental 'girl' instead of a litigation lawyer.”

I am praying for you.

Blessings of Yah, and this is my final email,

Doug

MY FINAL COMMENT TO WEBSITE READERS.
When you have confrontations like this, you are to act civil and polite to one
another. This is true even in Court. Also, we are not Jesus where we can
exercise powers of condemnation and judgment. In the parable of the Wheat
and the Tares, Jesus says to leave that judgment to the angels. Exit the
conversation before you become hostile and condemnatory.
https://www.jesuswordsonly.com/books/commands-of-jesus/692-bible-lesson-
on-throwing-pearls-before-swine.html

162. H
ow do you know if somebody is a spiritual pig before whom you should not
cast any pearls?


Hi, welcome to today’s Little Lesson. This is another special Sydney, Australia
edition of Little Lessons and the dusk is falling here on Sydney behind me,
that’s what you’re looking at in the background there.
So if you’ve been listening to Little Lessons for any length of time, you know
that recently we’ve been working our way through the sermon on the Mount
and we’re currently in the seventh chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, kind of
getting closer to the end of the sermon on the Mount.
We come across these words of Jesus and he said, starting in Matthew chapter
seven and verse number six, “Do not give what is holy to dogs. Do not throw
your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn
and tear you to pieces.”
Oh my, that’s interesting. Obviously Jesus is not speaking there about literal
dogs and literal pigs, swine, but these are symbols for people and people who
are animal-like in their nature and specifically characterized by the fact that
they don’t value what’s very valuable because obviously, there’s no dog on
this planet that values spiritual things and eternal things.
So what Jesus is essentially saying here is that people who don’t value
spiritual and eternal things, they’re in the category of dogs and that is a sad
commentary on people.
In a typical rabbinic fashion, one point made with two examples, don’t cast
your pearls before the swine. Pigs, when you toss a pearl to a pig, never in the
history of humanity did a pig go, “Oh, oh, oh a pearl.” And try to somehow
daintily pick that pearl up and preserve it because it recognizes its value.

163. Pigs are completely ignorant of the value of pearls and you throw a pearl to a
pig and you might as well throw them a piece of corn or a piece of dirt or a
stone, they don’t care, they just step on it.
That is what Jesus compares to those who don’t value what God values. His
truth, His word, the gospel and again, it is a sad commentary on people when
God looks at them and says, “Really, you’re about as smart as a pig, you’re as
stupid as a dog.” But nevertheless, that’s what Jesus said. I didn’t say it, Jesus
said it, okay?
So how do you know? How do you know? Well, this might be being a little bit
too technical on this but this is what I’ve always thought and this is what I’ve
always practiced.
If you throw something that’s holy to a dog and if you don’t know if it’s a dog
or not, because we’re looking at human beings here now, you have to watch
and see what they’re going to do with that first little holy thing that you throw
to them. Pigs, the same way. You throw one pearl and you see what that pig
does with that first pearl.
Again, it could be too technical but Jesus … “Don’t cast your pearls before the
swine,” and so you could say well he’s not prohibiting one pearl because you
got to throw them one pearl to know … you got to identify the character of the
individual with whom you’re dealing.
Okay, so Jesus is saying, “It’s a waste of time and don’t waste your time on
trying to help people who don’t value the message that you’re bringing and
the truth that you’re bringing.”
Let’s face it as I’m saying this, we’re probably all thinking that, “Oh
goodness, there’s a lot of people who fall into that category.” This is not the
only time that Jesus expressed this spiritual principle.
He told his apostles, when he sent them out to go preach the gospel, he said,
“If they don’t receive you in a city, shake the dust off your feet and get to the
next city. Don’t waste your time on people who aren’t interested. Get moving
to the next city.” He said in one case, “Leave the dead to bury the dead.” So
don’t hang around the dead people trying to somehow resurrect them when

164. they don’t want to receive the truth, that’s the only hope for their
resurrection.
I think the church has made a huge mistake in this regard. We’ve plowed so
many resources, so much effort, into the same people, the same pigs, the same
dogs, while the whole world is waiting.
In any case, this is an over-simplification and an exaggeration but so many
millions, hundreds of millions and even we could even say billions of people
who haven’t had hardly any exposure. In some cases, they’ve had no exposure
to the truth so the resources of the church ought to be going primarily to give
those people a chance.
I think it was Oswald Smith who first said, “Why should anyone hear the
gospel twice until everyone’s heard it once?”
So something to think about on a worldwide level as well as on a personal
level. That doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t come back at a later time,
sometimes people who are unreceptive become receptive but those people
sometimes will come back to you when they become receptive, because they
remembered what you said. Maybe they realize, “Oh my goodness, that guy
gave me a pearl and that person could give me more pearls,” and so they’ll
come back to you.
https://www.davidservant.com/pearls-before-swine/


Pearls and Pigs!
June 16, 2016
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
— Matthew 7:6

165. Once I was on a farm where the farmer had a hog that was so huge, I could
hardly believe my eyes when I saw it! It just lay there on the ground, flicking
its ears and shaking its rolls of fat in an attempt to shoo away the flies. I was
simply amazed at the enormous size of that hog. I wondered, How can it even
stand up?
I asked the owner, “Does that pig do anything except lie here?”
The owner answered, “It hardly moves until it’s time to eat. But when it’s
dinnertime, that pig nearly jumps to its feet, snorting with joy and excitement
at the prospect of eating a meal!”
When I heard this, it made me think of what Jesus said about pigs in Matthew
7:6. He told us, “…Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
I always thought this was a strange verse, because pearls and pigs in the same
verse seem like such a bizarre mixture! But Jesus had a purpose for using this
example, so we need to take a look and see why He made this statement and
what it means for you and me.
First, Jesus said, “…neither cast ye.…” The word “cast” is from the Greek
word ballo, and it means to throw or to cast. But the Greek is so strong that it
could be translated, “…NEVER cast your pearls before swine….” In other
words, this word conveys a strong prohibition to never do something! As we
saw in yesterday’s Sparkling Gem, Jesus wasn’t giving a suggestion here; He
was giving an order that this particular action should never be taken!
The word “pearls” is the Greek word margarites. You may find it interesting
to know that this is where we get the names Margaret and Margarita. Since
Jesus uses the example of pearls in this verse, let’s talk about pearls for a
moment.
Pearls are not easily found. To obtain the richest and most beautiful pearls, a
diver must dive again and again and again and again. Then after lifting the
shells from the sea floor, he must force open the mouth of each shell and dig
through the tough meat of the muscle, poking and searching for the tiny white

166. pearl that was formed over a long period of time. These pearls are precious,
rare, valuable, and hard to obtain.
This is how you should view the things God has done in your life. You can’t
put a price on what you have learned through your life experiences as you’ve
walked with Him. Like precious pearls, those life lessons are inestimable in
their value because they cost you something. They weren’t the result of
shallow swimming. You had to go deep into God to obtain those spiritual
treasures.
Each time you open the door to those treasures and begin to share them with
someone else, you need to remember that you’re sharing your pearls with that
person. The counsel and advice you’re giving may be free to him, but it has
cost you everything! So if what you are sharing isn’t appreciated, stop giving
that person your pearls!
This is why Jesus said, “…neither cast ye your pearls before swine.…” And
remember, the Greek more accurately says, “never cast your pearls before
swine.…” But do you see the word “before”? It is the Greek word emprothen,
and it means to present something to someone else. An example would be if I
publicly honored a person by presenting him with a special gift. To show
honor, I would come to him dressed properly and thoughtfully; then I would
give that person a gift that cost me something in order to demonstrate the
great honor in which I held him.
By using this word, Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:6 that we shouldn’t waste our
time, energy, or money or put too much thought into honoring individuals
who don’t even care about what we are doing for them! There’s no reason to
get all dressed up, to put hours of contemplation into how to help them, or to
open our hearts and tell them deep truths and lessons that have cost us much
in life. Why would we ever want to do all that for people who don’t even care?
Jesus uses the example of “swine” or “pigs” to describe this category of people
who couldn’t care less about what you are trying to tell them. The word
“swine” is from the Greek word choipos, and it can be translated as pig, sow,
swine, or hog. Of course, pigs were very well known in Jesus’ day — and in
Jewish circles, they were considered to be the lowest, basest, and the most

167. unclean of filthy, stinking animals. For Jesus to refer to people as swine was a
very powerful and graphic depiction!
Pigs are consumers. They take, take, and take. They eat and then want more.
They never think to ask where the food came from, who paid for it, or what
process was required to produce it. They are just mindless, careless
consumers.
If you’ve ever been to a pigpen, you know that pigs do nothing but lie on their
sides and jump up just in time to eat. They never contribute anything to the
farm until they’re dead. Covered in their own mess, waddling around in their
own filth, pigs just wait to be fed again and again.
When the bell rings and it’s time for the pigs to eat, they fight and kick to see
who can get to the food first. Slopping up the food, slobbering all over
themselves, they “eat just like pigs.” Driven to have their need for food met,
pigs never stop to say thank you to the person who brought it to them. Not one
“thank you” is heard — not even one!
This is exactly like people who don’t appreciate the holy things that are freely
given to them from the depths of another person’s life. It’s sad to say, but
many believers live and act just like pigs because they are careless, mindless
consumers of other people’s time and energy. They never think about how a
person obtained his wisdom, what it cost for him to obtain it, or how many
years it took for him to come to his present place of growth in God. These
people who act like pigs just take and take and take. And after they have
drained that person of all his strength, they don’t even take the time to say
thank you for what they have consumed!
Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:6 convey this idea:
“Never invest too much time, energy, or money into people who don’t even
care about what you are doing for them! I’m commanding you not to share
your ‘pearls’ — those precious details, experiences, and parts of your life that
have cost you so much — with people who live and act like ungrateful pigs….”
As I noted earlier, when Denise and I first began in the ministry, we thought
our door and telephone had to be available to people twenty-four hours a day,

168. seven days a week. Because of this, people came to us all the time. Some of
them really needed help, but it didn’t take us too long to learn that some
people just wanted us — our time and our energy. They didn’t have any
intention of changing or doing anything we suggested. It was almost as if they
were sent on a mission designed to drain us dry of everything we had inside of
us.
Once these people were finished with us, they’d leave to find someone else. We
were just the ones they attached themselves to for that moment. As long as
they could get just a little more out of us, they stuck around. But when they
had drained us dry, they were off to find a new victim.
Do you see why Jesus used such a strong example? This is exactly what the
Lord was referring to when He said such people would “…trample them [our
pearls] under their feet.…” You see, Jesus wants us to value ourselves and
what we have to share so highly that we carefully choose the people with
whom we share our treasures.
What is absolutely amazing to me is that Jesus said this ungrateful group of
people will most likely “turn again and rend you” in the end. Pastors and
leaders from all over the world could tell you about people whom they have
tried to help, but who later turned and accused them of being unloving!
People like that take all they can from a person; then later they turn against
that same person!
It is extremely hard to understand how someone you have tried so hard to
help can act so ugly! Nevertheless, that is frequently the case. As soon as you
say, “Enough is enough!” and turn your attention elsewhere, this type of
person begins to accuse: “You are so unloving. You don’t love me the way you
used to love me. If you were a good Christian, you’d listen to me when I talk.
You just don’t care.”
You may assume that these people would know they are loved. The reason you
have endured so long in your efforts to help them is that you do love them. If
you didn’t love them, you would have let go of your relationship with them a
long time ago. Only love could have kept you going after they had
disappointed you time after time.

169. But if those individuals aren’t serious by now, they probably never will be
serious. So there comes a time when you have to stop behaving like a beggar.
You shouldn’t have to beg anyone to follow you. You need to think more
highly of yourself — and those whom you are trying to help need to think
more highly of you as well.
People must never take you and the pearls of your life for granted. If that
starts happening, stop giving to them until their attitude changes. If their
attitude never changes, let go of those unfruitful relationships and find
someone who will appreciate what you are trying to accomplish in his or her
life. You may be fearful to let go of those individuals at first because you’ve
put so much time and energy into them. But I assure you, there are other fish
in the sea. You are not locked into a few certain individuals. Lots of potential
leaders exist in the Body of Christ, just waiting for someone to tap into their
God-given abilities.
It’s time for you to quit acting like the world rises and falls on whether or not
one person gets with the program. Move on to someone who will contribute to
the program instead of being only a “taker” and a consumer of your time and
energy.
But what if you are the one who has been acting like a mindless consumer of
other people’s time, talents, gifts, and money? If that is the case, it’s time for
you to stop acting like a pig! If you’re really a child of God, the Holy Spirit
who dwells within you wants to teach you how to start living on a much higher
level!
https://renner.org/pearls-and-pigs/


Casting Pearls Before Swine
by David Padfield
Sometimes preachers, elders and other concerned Christians spend too much
time on those who do not appreciate the gospel. We are often hesitant to "give

170. up" on someone whom we believe to be a good prospect for the gospel.
However, when our Lord sent out the apostles on the limited commission He
said, "And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from
there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them" (Mark
6:11).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "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" (Matt. 7:6).
"The Christian must not be censoriously judicial, but he should be
discriminatingly judicious. He must know dogs and swine when he sees them,
and must not treat them as priests and kings, the fit objects for the bestowal of
holy food and goodly ornaments. Dogs and swine were unclean animals. The
former were usually undomesticated and were often fierce. In the East they
are still the self-appointed scavengers of the street. The latter were
undomesticated among the Jews, and hence are spoken of as wild and liable to
attack man. Meats connected with the sacrificial service of the altar were holy.
Even unclean men were not permitted to eat of them, much less unclean
brutes. What was left after the priests and clean persons had eaten was to be
burned with fire (Lev. vi. 24-30; vii. 15-21). To give holy things to dogs was to
profane them. We are here forbidden, then, to use any religious office, work
or ordinance, in such a manner as to degrade or profane it. Saloons ought not
to be opened with prayer, nor ought adulterous marriages to be performed by
a man of God. To give pearls to swine is to press the claims of the gospel upon
those who despise it until they persecute you for annoying them with it. When
such men are known they are to be avoided. Jesus acted on this principle in
refusing to answer the Pharisees, and the apostles did the same thing in
turning to the Gentiles when their Jewish hearers would begin to contradict
and blaspheme." (J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel, pp. 263, 264).
How can we tell when it is time to "give up" on someone and turn to other
fields? It should be after we have taught, prayed and exercised all
longsuffering—but remember that even the longsuffering of God has limits
(cf. 1 Pet. 3:20).

171. We need to realize that, despite our best efforts, many people will perish
"because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved"
(2 Thes. 2:10). Some people simply prefer their own way to the Lord's (Matt.
15:8-15). Other people will simply close their eyes to the truth (Matt. 13:15).
Some Christians will fall away and it will be impossible for us to "renew them
again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God,
and put Him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:6).
The kingdom of God is precious indeed—our Lord compared it to a treasure
hidden in a field and a pearl of great price (Matt. 13:44-46). The Jews in
Antioch of Pisidia rejected the gospel and judged themselves "unworthy of
everlasting life"—so Paul turned to the Gentiles (Acts 13:47). When people
ask for us to leave them alone we need to respect their wishes and move on. I
believe that we degrade the gospel when we take the very best that we have
and lay it at the feet of swine! https://www.padfield.com/1998/casting-pearls-
before-swine.html


Don't Cast Pearls Before Swine


One of the most controversial passages of scripture is found in Matthew 7:6
where Jesus says, "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 also believe it is one of the most disobeyed scriptures in the Bible.
Especially in the day and age we live in where everyone screams
"Intolerance!" at Christians who do not accept and embrace everyone just as
they are. God help anyone who decrees what the Bible says! We are told at
every turn, "You can't judge me!" "Judge not!" (Another grossly
misunderstood verse of scripture which I addressed HERE. The Bible is clear
that we are in fact to judge. Take for example this passage (Matthew 7:6).
How would you know who the dog is or the pigs are if you don't judge? Go

172. ahead, spend some time on that one and it will come to you... this whole judge
not thing is wrongly interpreted.

Anyway... on to today's topic. I believe that one of the things that is hindering
the progress of the church is that we are not paying attention to Jesus' words.
His directive could not be more clear. Don't give what we hold and cherish to
those who will not embrace it. I don't believe that Jesus' intent was that we
pick and choose who we give the Gospel message to. Rather, what he is saying
is, "watch what they do with it." There is a difference. When you or I
continue to give our attention, energy and resources to someone who does not
appreciate it and is only using us, then we are casting our pearls before swine.
We need to get a handle on this within our own minds because the devil is
really good at keeping us tied up, worn out and busted because we give to the
"dogs and pigs" who do not appreciate what we have to give rather than to
seek out those who will actually pay attention to exactly what we are giving
them and embrace it, rather than use it (and us).
This passage takes place in Jesus' sermon on the Mount and what Jesus is
telling them and us is that we should not put what is valuable in front of those
who will not recognize or flat out reject the value and will only use the gift and
the giver until their need is diminished, at which point they will turn on the
giver and destroy them. What Jesus is clearly painting a picture of here is the
person who runs to the church, the pastor or the Christian person every time
they are in crisis or in need and beg for our help. They will appear so sincere
and contrite and swear that this time they mean it and this time things are
going to be different, but they know full well they are only using manipulation
tactics to get their bellies full once again. Once they get what they want; their
pain or crisis is alleviated... they are right back to their old tactics.
Let me illustrate. I have two dogs that I dearly love. They are beautiful and
they are loving and fun. But they are dogs. Tell them to sit... they sit. Tell
them to beg... they beg. Tell them to shake and they will shake. But they are
not doing it because they want to sit, beg or shake. They are doing it because
there is a treat coming when they do the right thing. Cute and loving... lots of

173. fun... but dogs. If we are not watching, they will tear something up. They will
dig in the trash. They don't recognize boundaries and they will go where they
are not supposed to go, and make messes. And they do not recognize value at
all. Just ask my son who made the mistake of laying his $100 bluetooth ear
piece down on the coffee table. In the time that it took for him to walk to the
kitchen to get a cup of coffee and come back to the living room, his dog had
gotten up on that table, snatched the bluetooth and chewed it up. It's value
was meaningless to him. He just wanted it for his enjoyment. This exactly
what Jesus was conveying. A person who is "a swine" does not recognize
value will come to you looking for something to eat. You could give them
pearls... something of great value which is far more than enough to meet their
immediate needs, but be enough to get them through life and they will not see
the value. Rather they will "eat it up" and use it without recognizing the
value. Pigs do not appreciate fine jewelry! Just as a pig or a dog will eat
anything dropped in front of it without seeing the value of it, a person of the
character which Jesus is talking about is a consumer... a taker... and they are
not looking for answers to life, they are just wanting something to make them
feel better right this moment. They will take everything you give them and use
it... but never appreciate just what you are giving them. And when they have
gotten all they can get from you, they will turn on you. They tell me that if you
are in a pig pen, you never turn your back on a pig, because if you do, they
will charge you, knock you down and the pigs will literally eat you. I
guarantee you every pastor can relate to that!
Jesus could not have painted a better picture of the way some people are.
"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."
Child of God... give ear and pay attention. Do NOT think you are being
"godly" by being taken advantage of. Jesus was trying to tell us that what we
have in the Gospel is of great value, and we are not to waste it. If someone is a
dog or a pig... move on. Isn't that exactly what Jesus told the disciples? He
told them that if they went to a place and gave them the Gospel and the people
rejected it, to leave and shake the dust from their sandals. It is time we start
heeding the words of Jesus. The devil has been having a hay day by sending

174. dogs and pigs to us to distract us and take what could be given to someone
who will embrace it and appreciate it.
Time to move on!

Posted by Darrell at Tuesday, September 30, 2014


2 comments:

Larry Knight said...
How do you balance "Cast not your pearls before swine" with Matthew 5:40-
48 "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your
cloak as well. (41) And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
(42) Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you
do not turn away......" Yes, there are people who will take advantage of us.
But sometimes it's not clear who is genuine and who is just being
manipulative.
Tue Sep 30, 06:03:00 PM

Darrell said...
Good question Larry. I think we may be on the same page, but different
paragraph, so to speak. First and foremost my intention was for the most part
talking more in line with the gospel than I am with material things, although I
think that too can be applied. I am referring to people who want to "run to
God" when they are in crisis, and want everyone to "help them" as they get
their life on track. But as soon as the crisis is over, the leave the church (as
they have done time after time) and live a life that does not reflect Christ. As
we both know, being Born Again means more than being sorry for your sin.

175. There is a need for repentance. These who have not and have no intention of
repenting is who I am referring to. Repentance is not setting your sins on the
back burner until things cool off and then picking them back up. That's the
sort of manipulation I'm referring to.

I do want to say though, that while I always will error on the side of being
generous and allowing myself to be taken advantage of financially, I don't
believe for one minute that God's intention is for us to simply allow people to
walk all over us and squander the resources that we are entrusted with as his
stewards. I know when to say "no". Often times people will say, "that's not
love!" I argue that true love knows when to stand firm and make someone to
take responsibility for themselves.
https://thedawghowse.blogspot.com/2014/09/dont-cast-pearls-before-
swine.html


Neither Cast Ye Your Pearls Before Swine

Gilbert Beebe (1800 - 1881)


"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
Matthew 7:6
This text is found in the closing part of what is familiarly termed, "Christ's
Sermon on the Mount," in which he taught them privately, and gave them
lessons of instruction, which are the greatest importance to the saints in all
subsequent ages. These instructions should often be examined and re-
examined by the children of God, as they are given for their special benefit,

176. and contain admonitions and precepts of the most vital importance. From the
rich cluster of golden maxims and rules laid down for the observance of the
disciples of the Redeemer in this sermon, we are requested to give our views
on the text written at the head of this article, to which we will call the especial
attention of the readers.
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs." The things which were holy
under the ceremonial law were the things which were especially consecrated,
or sanctified (set apart) for holy purposes, as were the tabernacle, the ark, the
altar and the consecrated things of the inner temple of the Lord in Jerusalem,
The tribes themselves, being solemnly set apart from all the families of
mankind, were ceremonially holy, and forbidden to intermingle with the other
nations of the earth, and as a consecrated and holy people they were to live on
consecrated and holy food; they were forbidden to eat that which was
common or unclean. Of all the beasts of the field, none but those which
divided the hoof and chewed the cud were set apart by the special enactment
of the Lord as the consecrated or holy sustenance of the consecrated tribes of
the Lord, and these consecrated things must not be polluted by contact with
other things which were not set apart; no mixture with anything else was
allowed. All this was undoubtedly to signify to us that God's chosen and
redeemed people, who are born of God, receive from him spiritual and
immortal life, which must be fed and sustained on spiritual and immortal
food. This lesson is taught us in all the types and shadows going before. For
instance, when God had created man out of the dust of the ground, He
provided that the food necessary for man's subsistence should grow out of the
same dust of the ground. His nature and composition being of the earth,
earthy, his subsistence must, to be adapted to the support of his earthly
nature, be also earthy; and when man had transgressed the law of God and
fallen under the curse, the earth out of which he was to subsist was also cursed
for his sake, that it might be still adapted to his nature as a fallen, sinful
earthy man. So in the figure, we are taught that in the spiritual creation in
Christ Jesus, they who are born of the Spirit of God must be sustained on
spiritual things-, as their spiritual life is in God, so is all their spiritual food
and sustenance. The productions of the earth cannot feed and sustain the
inward man, nor can all the joys of the Spirit, which do feed and sustain the

177. new man, prevent the old man, the earthy nature, from requiring its earthly
nourishment. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that flesh is of the
earth, earthy, and cannot be sustained without that food which is produced
from the earth, and he that is born of God, although he might possess all the
produce of the earth, would starve if he were not fed on that bread which
cometh down from heaven. Except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of
Jesus, we have no spiritual life in us, for spiritual life can live on nothing else.
Those who are thus born of God are a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a peculiar people," etc., chosen, consecrated and set apart,
"sanctified by God the Father," "elect according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit," etc., cleansed and washed,
purged and justified, they shall be called the holy people, and as a holy,
consecrated people, they are made partakers of the divine nature, and
qualified to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, who is the
true bread which came down from heaven.
Then the things which are holy are appropriated exclusively to a holy people,
a people whom God has cleansed, and which, we are forbidden, to call
common. This sanctified people are called sheep, lambs and doves, and by
many other figurative names, but they are never called dogs or swine. A dog is
a very different kind of animal from a sheep or lamb; he neither divides the
hoof, nor does he chew the cud, he is therefore unclean. His disposition is also
very unlike that of the sheep or lamb; he is ferocious, quarrelsome, vicious,
and, like the wolf, it is his nature to worry, scatter and kill the sheep. His food,
or that on which the dog subsists, is not that which would feed the sheep and
lambs, nor can the sheep and lambs subsist on what the dog can feed upon.
The dog would starve in the richest pasture field, where the sheep would
fatten, and the sheep starve if fed only on what dogs delight to feed upon. Dogs
are dangerous animals, and we are admonished to beware of them. Some of
them are said to be dumb dogs that cannot bark; sleepy dogs, lying down,
loving slumber, and greedy dogs that can never have enough. In Revelation
22:15, they are classified with sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters,
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
The admonition of the Lord in our text then clearly means that his disciples
shall not give, nor minister the gospel, or its provisions, its promises, its

178. comforts, its ordinances, or any of its commands, to any who are thus
designated dogs, or who are in nature, disposition, practice or appetite as
unlike the regenerated and spiritual people of God as dogs are unlike and
inimical to the sheep and lambs. The gospel is food to the saints, because it is
Christ; the preaching of the gospel is preaching Christ, and it is food to the
spiritual, and hence the ministers of the gospel are commissioned to feed the
sheep and feed the lambs; to feed the flock of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood, but charged to give not that which is holy (and the gospel
and all its ordinances are holy) to dogs. Dogs have no use for holy things, they
can do them no good, for they are not adapted to their nature or suited to
their appetites; besides, it is a desecration of holy things to give them to dogs
or to swine. It is true, that the Gospel is to be preached to every creature, to
all nations, and in all the world, for a witness to all nations, but only those who
have ears to hear can hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The ministers
of Christ have nothing but the Gospel to preach, and that they must preach
wherever God is pleased to open a door for them to preach, and its effect will
be to discriminate between the living and the dead. All who have been pricked
in the heart by the life-giving power of the Spirit will gladly receive the Word,
as did the quickened on the day of Pentecost, while all others will mock and
reject the testimony. But what we understand as being intended by this
admonition, is that we are forbidden to attempt to Christianize unregenerated
men, by teaching them the letter of the Word, and applying to them the
ordinances of the Gospel as a means of salvation, by Catechisms, Bible classes,
Sunday Schools, etc...as though we could so improve their carnal minds as to
make them acceptable to God, without being born of the Spirit.
According to our understanding of the subject, every effort to apply the things
of the Spirit of God to unregenerated men, is to give that which is holy to
dogs. Theological institutions for giving ministerial qualifications to graceless
youths for preaching, and to unrenewed children and adults for church
membership, and for evangelizing the world by humanly devised plans and
schemes, is an attempt to give that which is holy to the dogs, and is clearly a
transgression of the authority of our Lord, and an open violation of the words
of our text: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your
pearls before swine." It is not in the nature of swine to appreciate the value or

179. beauty of pearls any more than it is the nature of dogs to relish the rich
pasture on which the sheep feed. The children of God are in possession of
jewels of inestimable value, which none but the children of God can
appreciate or enjoy. Their spiritual privileges, their Christian love and
fellowship, their gifts and graces, their experimental joys and peculiar
exercises, their knowledge of divine things, are all pearls of great value to
them, but their excellency cannot be known or appreciated by those who know
not God. There is a fitness and utility in exhibiting these pearls among those of
like precious faith, but those who have never possessed them would rudely
trample on them if cast before them, as swine would trample upon the most
costly and precious jewels.
Christians are greatly edified and comforted by speaking often to each other
of all the way in which the Lord has led them; they can talk freely one to
another of their joys and sorrows their conflicts and victories, but should they
make these things the theme of their conversation in the streets and market
places, or in the synagogues of Satan, they would be treated roughly; infidels,
Arminians, will-worshipers, like swine, would trample them under their feet,
and turn and rend the child of grace. The psalmist said, "Come and hear, all
ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." They
who fear the Lord can understand the language, they know too well the value
of such precious pearls to despise or trample on them. But those who have
only religion of the world neither divide the hoof nor chew the cud and like
swine , serve only their swinish appetites, their god is their belly and their
glory is their shame. The swine seem to have but one desire, and that is the
gratification of their ravenous appetite-, cast before them the most costly and
splendid gems, or pearls, and as they cannot eat them, they have no other use
for them, and they would as soon trample on them as on the most common
earth, and they will turn again and rend you, determined to obtain something
that they can eat; so when the Christian attempts to display the glorious
things of the kingdom of Christ to unbelievers, they will sometimes be
surprised to find that those with whom they labor cannot appreciate those
experimental things of which they speak. Expostulate with them, and
demonstrate what you say by the most clear and positive Scripture authority,
and they will disregard your testimony and your Scripture, and trample both

180. under their feet, and then assail you again with as much vigor and determined
violence as though you had not exhibited to them your pearls.
Sheep, swine and dogs are not suitable companions for each other, they
cannot live in good communion together, nor should unnatural amalgamation
be attempted, but let the sheep be associated with sheep, and let them "beware
of dogs," and avoid the society of swine, and they will be more pleasantly and
comfortably situated. The great and good Shepherd has told his flock, Ye "are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world." He has chosen them out of
the world, and called them to be a separate people. Let us then heed the
admonition of our Lord, and give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast our pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
again and rend us.
The Preceding Classic is from the November 1, 1862 edition of the publication
"Signs of the Times" founded and published for over 45 years by Elder
Gilbert Beebe. http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/castswine.html


Pearls Before Swine: Jesus the Riddler and What He Might Have Meant
Published August 1, 2017 by Rachel Bible, Gospel of Matthew, Kingdom
Perspectives 2 comments

181. The Greeks and Romans didn’t use paragraphs.
So when my Bible lumps Matthew 7:6 in with the discussion on judgment
right before it, I take it on faith that they’ve got the flow right. In this case,
though, I’m not sure they do.
It’s curious either way that Jesus would follow up a long teaching on learning
not to judge one another with a harsh-sounding injunction against “casting
your pearls before swine and giving what is holy to the dogs.”
To be exact, he said:
Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before swine, or they will
trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)
Clean and Unclean
Before we explore the deeper meaning of this statement, it’s good to
acknowledge a few foundational points that were obvious to Jesus’ audience.
The Jewish people had a well developed doctrine of holiness, expressed in the
terms “clean” and “unclean.” It was given to them in Leviticus 19 and other
places, in a series of “Holiness Code” laws that drew sharp distinctions
between clean things and unclean things, holy things and unholy things. These
things are never to be mixed.
Even in the law itself, it’s fairly clear that these laws are largely symbolic in
nature. For example, the Jewish people were forbidden from eating a number
of “unclean” animals, even though all animals were given to the human race
as a whole for food in Genesis 9:3.
These dietary distinctions, which we call the kosher laws, were given for the
express purpose of setting the Jewish people apart from the nations around
them.

182. Mankind has always fellowshipped and found community around food: by
declaring much of the pagans’ diet off-limits, God declared pagan-Jewish
fellowship off-limits as well. This is the symbolic significance of Peter’s vision
in Acts 10, where God himself lowers a sheet full of “unclean animals” from
heaven and instructs Peter to eat them. When Peter protests, God answers,
“Do not call unclean what I have made clean.”
While most Christians have (rightly, I think) understood this as meaning the
kosher laws are not incumbent on believers, the bigger point is that the
Gentiles, those who have been separated from the people of God, are no
longer to be thus separated. The way has been made for the two to become
one, as was the ultimate plan from the beginning.
But to reiterate: Jesus’ hearers had a strong sense of clean and unclean that
stood at the core of their identity as a holy people, separated for God.
Dogs and pigs, which Jesus mentions here, were both unclean animals. In fact,
it was common to refer to Gentile PEOPLE as “dogs.” Pigs are probably the
most infamous of non-kosher meats.
To turn over “that which is holy” to something unclean, something outside of
the covenant and a symbol of separation from God, would be unthinkable.
The image is that of feeding a dog consecrated meat from God’s altar, or
tossing pearls—a precious substance identified with holiness and the kingdom
of God in various places throughout Scripture, Old Testament and New—into
a pig pen.
To do so wouldn’t just be foolish, it would be a heinous insult to God—a
desecration. It would make a mockery of their own set-apart identity as God’s
people.
An Awkward Juxtaposition
There are scholars who posit that the Sermon on the Mount is not a sermon,
with a proper flow; that it is a collection of sayings given by Jesus at different
times and places and compiled by Matthew. But many scholars (and me)

183. disagree. Jesus’ teachings DO follow on one another and create a master
teaching on living by faith and walking by the Spirit.
So why the startling juxtaposition, here, of “do not judge” followed by what
appears to be a harshly judgmental statement?
After all, many have taken Jesus’ words to mean PEOPLE. View certain
people as swine or dogs, and don’t share holy things with them.
But if we’ve taken Jesus seriously for the previous five verses, we would need
to be very cautious before making that kind of value judgment against
someone.
His own life also warns us against it, because he had a habit of associating
with, eating with, healing, and helping people others considered “unclean,”
including Gentiles, Samaritans, prostitutes, demoniacs, tax collectors
(considered thieves and traitors, Jewish people who essentially capitalized on
the misfortunes of their own people by selling them out to the Romans), and
lepers.
So MAYBE …
This Isn’t About People at All
Maybe the imagery of swine and dogs isn’t about what we share with other
people, but about how we ourselves use the holy things in our lives. The way
we treat the gifts God gives us: our own chosenness, our own relationship to
God, our right to approach him in prayer, the revelations and truths we’ve
been entrusted with.
Maybe it’s about how we view and treat God’s goodness to us.
In this sense, choosing to judge someone else, when we ourselves are in
desperate need of grace and understanding, is a “tossing your pearls before
swine.” It so misses the value of the pearl, God’s mercy and forgiveness
extended to us, that it uses it in a wrong way.
Who would ever choose to throw pearls to swine?
Only someone who doesn’t understand the value of the pearl.

184. Or maybe …
The People Are the Pearls
The people ARE the pearls. Maybe when Pharisees threw the prostitutes in
their culture “to the dogs,” Jesus said they were throwing away something
holy.
Jesus came to redeem, literally to buy back, his people. He redeemed them
from sin, renewed their covenant with him, and made them holy once more.
He drew pearls out of the mud, rescued them from swine, and polished them
back to beauty again.
Maybe that is what he is saying here. Maybe his talk of swine and dogs is
ironic, meant to call the attention of his audience to how judgmental and
condemning they had been heretofore and how they were in fact reversing the
truth: what they called clean was unclean, and what they called unclean could
be made clean again.
When we miss the truth in such a soul-bending way, our mishandling of one
another will certainly “turn again and rend us.”
Or maybe …
It’s About Caring for the Pigs
The spiritual writer Dallas Willard wrote of this passage that it calls us to be
careful in the way we “minister” to others: that even when we know we have
all the right answers, if others are not ready for them, the right answers can
do more harm than good. Pigs that try to eat pearls will be hurt by them.
They can’t be digested or made use of. The result is hurt both to the minister
and to the one ministered to.
There is undoubtedly truth to this. Jesus exercised caution in what he said to
whom, and when he said it. The deepest parts of his message he shared with
no one but his closest disciples, and he told them to tell no one else until the
time was right—after his death and resurrection.

185. So maybe that IS what he was saying. The reality is, not everyone is receptive.
Not everyone will honor what should be honored. Some will take it, trample it,
and do great harm to us and to our message. We are not to judge one another,
but that doesn’t mean we are blind to plain facts.
When Mary was told she would bear the Son of God by the Spirit of God, she
“pondered these things in her heart.” She was wise: she protected the pearl
God gave her. She did not expose it to mockery or herself to unnecessary
danger.
In the church we can feel a certain amount of pressure to share everything,
especially if it comes from God: we are after all people of the Great
Commission. But Jesus here gives us permission to keep some things close, to
keep them holy, personal, secret, treasured in our hearts where they
transform us but do not invite the attacks of others.
So maybe that is what Jesus was saying.
Maybe.
The truth is, I don’t know.
And this leads me to my favorite interpretation of them all …
Why God Hides Things
God hides things. This is a fact, and it’s stated all throughout Scripture. He
doesn’t hide things maliciously or to our harm—it’s more like he has built
riddles into the universe.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to investigate
a matter. (Proverbs 25:2)
When Jesus is hardest to understand, I often ask myself if he’s riddling. And
sometimes, I believe he is. Like here. I think the gist of this passage may be
something quite different: that it’s Jesus saying, “This is why God hides
things.”

186. Don’t expect pearls to be lying around in the mud. Don’t expect holy things to
be scattered in the gravel, out in the open, where they will be trampled,
scorned, misunderstood, misheard.
If you want to go deeper with God, if you want to understand and walk in
greater things, you have to put in more effort than just strolling around
checking out the ditches. God’s most precious treasures are not lying on the
sidewalk like a misplaced ten-dollar bill.
So the correct paragraphing, maybe, isn’t, “Don’t judge … don’t cast your
pearls before swine.” It’s “Don’t cast your pearls before swine …. Seek.”
The first part may be a riddle, a proverb, a statement of the way things
obviously are that’s meant to make us ask what treasures might exist for us if
we go seeking.
“Seek,” Jesus says in the very next verse, “and keep on seeking. Ask, and keep
on asking. Knock, and keep on knocking.”
There is more here, more treasure, more beautiful and sacred and precious
things, than you can dream of.
So lift yourself out of the pig pen and come looking.
Living with the Maybes
My friend Mercy Hope once compared two different approaches to truth: a
“checklist approach” and a “journaling approach.”
We are both fans of the journaling approach, not because we don’t think you
can learn anything with certainty (you can, and absolute truth is a real thing),
but because there’s always MORE. Because we never really understand when
we think we do.
So taking an approach to learning and receiving from God that is always
digging another layer, always asking another question, and always being
willing to question assumptions, revisit conclusions, and sometimes be wrong
is a powerful way of life.
I don’t know what Jesus means in Matthew 7:6.

187. I’ve found digging to be fruitful: in this post, I’ve outlined multiple possible
explanations, and they all challenge me. They are all true on some level. And
yet, maybe none of them are really what Jesus was getting at. Maybe that’s
something I’ve yet to learn.
I am committed to asking, seeking, knocking, and constantly looking for the
holy and the true. I believe it is there to be found and that God rewards the
seeker.
That means being often unsure, and living in a lot of maybes.
And that’s okay. It turns out, it’s a good way to live.
https://rachelstarrthomson.com/2017/08/01/pearls-swine-jesus-riddler-might-
meant/


Do Not Cast Your Pearls Before Swine
How to Know When to Walk Away (second in series, “Problem Solved!”)
Posted on January 13, 2013 by SERMONS FROM SILVERSIDE: Silverside
Church Delaware



I.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every cause we decided to invest ourselves and our
resources in turned to be worth our investment? Wouldn’t it be nice if every
relationship in which we decided to invest our emotions and time turned out
to be healthy and a productive? Wouldn’t it be nice? We all know things
don’t always work out that way, and there are times when we have to walk
away from situations and people for our good and its or ours?

188. There are plenty of people who, once they commit to a cause or a relationship
will not walk away even when they discover what they committed to is
crumbling or has become unhealthy or dangerous for them. Sometimes
staying turns things around; sometimes if we stay we go down with the sinking
ship often with diminished finances and/or diminished emotional and not
atypically physical health.
Some thirteen years ago, a gentleman by the name of Charlie Wiswall was
chair of the pastor search committee for this congregation. He arranged a
meeting with me. I was pastor the University Church in Baltimore. The
church here had gone through some tough times, and its future appeared to
some to be uncertain. Charlie, a very gently persuasive gent, told me that if
the church extended a call, I could come in confidence because a core group in
the church had gotten together and made a pact as it were to be certain at all
costs that the church would live on no matter what.
Well, Charlie has since then passed into the next realm, but the church is still
here; and we have had some very strong stretches of healthful movement
forward since the invitation was extended, and I said yes. June 1 will mark
the thirteenth year of my arrival here, and I for one am more than delighted
that Charlie and the group whom he never identified to me stayed, saying that
they refused to leave no matter what.
There are churches all over this country–well, all over the Western world–for
whom no critical mass remained in the face of hard times, and those
congregations no longer exit. Their buildings are now restaurants, museums,
or inns.
There are some causes not worth staying with, though, and part of being a
mature person is knowing when to stay and when to go. Then we have to be
willing to act on what you know is right. Donald Trump said somewhere,
“Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough. Sometimes you
have to give up the fight and walk away, and move on to something that’s
more productive.”

189. II.
Jesus was certainly convinced of the importance of his message, and one of the
tasks, therefore, with which he challenged his closest followers was to go into
areas, perhaps areas Jesus did not have time to get to himself, and share the
message they had learned from Jesus. There came times, early on in these
preaching mission assignments, after which some of the disciples were coming
back from their trips and presenting Jesus with a real life problem, something
that we could have expected if we considered the situational context. And the
situation with this: the disciples were perplexed because some of the places
where Jesus sent them brought them into contact with people wouldn’t even
give them a hearing. It was one thing to hear their message, ponder it, and
then say, “Well, I don’t understand it,” or, “It doesn’t seem to fit me,” or
something of that nature. It was something else, though, to come upon people
who said flat out, “I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I don’t care
what you have to say. Please leave me alone.”
In response to this, Jesus offers a surprisingly blunt directive; it was no
canned response. “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear
you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against
them” (Mark 6:11 NRSV). I’m thinking of something else Jesus said once
upon a time, not in this context–though it fits nicely here I think. He might
also have said to the rebuffed missionaries, I guess we could call them, “Don’t
cast your pearls before swine.” Perhaps we initially hear that as more harsh
than Jesus meant it; although he could be harsh at times. For a Jew to refer
to any person as a pig was more than an entry-level insult. Pigs in Jewish
experience were filthy animals, among the vilest of creatures. Calling
someone a pig would be just about the worst insult possible. So the people
who would not even give the disciples a hearing were, to use Jesus’ metaphor,
implied that they were on the same level as swine.
On a more surface level and the level at which Jesus’ advice could most
readily be understood, he simply tells them it’s ok not to waste their time on
hopeless cases. Said another way: don’t give the best you have to people who
won’t appreciate it; don’t take your time trying to help people who don’t want
to be helped, something of that nature.

190. Frequently we are confronted with the need to make a decision about what we
can most appropriately, most productively and healthfully invest our time and
talents and energies and knowledge and skills in. Is a given cause worth the
best we have to offer? Is a relationship in which we’ve invested worth more of
the same? When we begin to see that it’s not working, do we stay and try to
salvage it, fix it, or do take the advice of Kenny Rogers when he’s singing
“The Gambler”?
You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.
If you just woke up, those are not the words of Jesus but a reasonable
paraphrase if you’re at a casino.
Sometimes walking away isn’t a particularly emotional experience. It’s a
matter of logic; it doesn’t make sense to keep trying where what you have to
offer isn’t working. At other times it is just the opposite and is deeply
emotional, and even though it isn’t working by anybody’s standard, your
heart still gets ripped apart when you have to walk away.
I’m thinking of a few battered women I have known in my pastoral years who
deeply loved their husbands, but their husbands periodically went on drunken
sprees and came home and beat the wives who loved them. In some cases these
women were members of fundamentalist Christian churches, and we’re aware
that this goes on as well in fundamentalist Muslim groups, where the spiritual
leader–pastor or Imam–tells her that she can’t leave because of a standard set
in Holy Writ. There been some instances across the world when so called
spiritual leaders have sent battered women back to their husbands because
holy writ teaches that wives must be submissive to their husbands. They go
back after having been told it is God’s will for a wife to be submissive to her
husband no matter what, and some of those women are beaten so badly that
they die. Needless to say, that was very bad advice they received from their
spiritual leader.

191. I began reading over the holiday break an autobiography by one of my great
spiritual mentors and teachers, Dr. E. Glenn Hinson, who is one of the most
kind and gentle people I’ve ever known–not to mention his astounding
brilliance evidenced in part by two earned doctoral degrees, the final one from
Oxford. Who could imagine his early years were spent in a home where seeing
his father beat his mother was the order of the day. Again it was a case of a
father who was fine until he got drunk, which for Glenn’s father the car
salesman was just about every time he lost a sale. Though a diminutive
person, Mrs. Hinson tried to fight back, always unsuccessfully, but eventually
she did part ways from this man and lived to tell about it.
I’m not sure the emotional wounds received during the kind of abuse I’ve just
described ever completely heal. When is the right time to leave a situation of
domestic violence? Answer: the first and only time someone ever becomes
physically violent with you. One strike, and she or he is out. That is
unacceptable every time, and, sadly for those of us who want to give
practically everybody a fresh start, an abuser is likely to strike again; it’s
probably not a one-time thing.

III.
Sometimes it’s easy to know when to walk away, or run away. If we want to
remain safe, we have to run; there isn’t any brooding over the decision. The
old fight or flight urge takes over.
There’s a story recorded in the Gospel of John about which you probably
have heard very little. Several of Jesus’ detractors were trying yet again to
engage him in a debate about his true identity, specifically his identity in
relationship to God. He, in this case as John told the story, went into
extraordinary detail.
They interpret his response to their inquiries as blasphemous, and they, the
detractors, decide that day and will take the law into their own hands and do
Jesus in. The writer tells us that they attempted to seize Jesus—the
implication being that it wasn’t the first time they’d tried—but that he

192. escaped; the image is that he slipped through their fingers. Jesus was nimble
and quick, and he got away that time unscathed.
Plenty of people walked away from Jesus too. Not everyone who heard his
message was enamored with him or it. Here’s a little snippet from the tenth
chapter of our oldest Gospel, the Gospel of Mark:
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and
asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said
to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know
the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud;
Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all
these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack
one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was
shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
I don’t know the source of this quote, but I find real wisdom in it:
Sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to
do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our
worth and value, but because we finally realize our own.
Here’s another quote connected to our topic for today that I like a lot, and I
know who said it, Faaris Naz:
Sometimes you have to walk away from what you want to find what you
deserve.
One more for now; this one is from Tony McCollum:
When people walk away from you, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to
anyone who leaves you, and it doesn’t mean they are bad people. It just means
that their part in your story is over.
When we think of walking away, we may more readily think about walking
away from empty or dying or dangerous relationships, bad jobs, or
complicated situations so negatively complicated that they can’t be fixed or

193. redeemed. At any given time in our world, there are people deciding whether
to stay or walk away from the religious tradition in which they have been
reared. In some contexts, to walk away from your family’s religion of choice
is to be disinherited or disowned by the parents who’d told you all your life
how much they loved you. In some cultures to leave the religion of a family or
a community means that someone offended by your decision may gun you
down in the streets because of a matter of conscience, and there is no penalty
to them for rubbing you out.
I cannot answer questions today about all of the signs to which one should pay
attention when deciding to leave a dying marriage or a useless friendship or a
town or a bad job. But I think I can in the time allotted point out the signs
someone should pay attention to when deciding to walk away from the
religion to which they have long been connected.
In our country we know that the largest growing group connected to any or
all religions has the name “the nones,” because they have decided that no
religious option available to them can enrich them and suit their needs. Let
me be quick to say that if all someone is looking for in a religion or a religious
connection is materialistic rewards, those are there, but they are the ones that
should most readily be walked away from because religion isn’t about
learning how to appease the deity or deities so that you become rich and
famous. A religion that expects nothing from you isn’t a legitimate religion; it
may be an offshoot of a legitimate religion, but never anything more than that.
1) Walk away from a religion that diminishes you as a human being.
2) Walk away from a religion that uses any type of coercion for any reason.
3) Walk away from a religion that presumes to know the thinking of God,
particularly as it relates to divine judgment in the here and/or hereafter.
4) Walk away from a religion where you are encouraged to let others,
especially the higher-ups, do your thinking for you.
5) Walk away from a religion that urges you to vilify those who do not affirm
its own tenets.

194. 6) Walk away from a religion that is really nothing more than a set of rules
making prayer, mindfulness, or meditation pointless.
7) Walk away from a religion that claims only to help you find your rewards
and asks nothing of you in terms of sharing with and caring for the people in
this world who are in pain.
Amen.


How to Make Sure That You Do Not Cast Your Pearls Before Swine - What
Does That Mean Anyway?
By Matthew Robert Payne | Submitted On April 17, 2010


1






1

195. We are told by Jesus not to cast our pearls before swine as he says they may
trample on what we have given them and then turn and try and rip us to
pieces. If someone had not told me what it means I might have been forever
clueless, yet thankfully a writer told me what it was and this short article is
going to tell you. I will tell you who the pigs are and I will tell you what your
pearls are and I will tell you how not to cast them before the pigs. Are you
ready?
In the book of Peter it talks about people that have been saved and then
return to the things of the world and get in a worse condition then when they
were first saved. These are talking about carnal Christians that are serving
the flesh and all the lusts of the world and not serving God.
Peter says these people that are not sold out to God and who are serving the
world and still professing to be Christians are actually like pigs that have been
washed and then gone back to the mire. This passage gives us some insight
into who the pigs are in Jesus parable.
To give you further insight into who pigs are let me say this. If you are having
supernatural experiences like meeting Jesus and angels in visions and getting
divine revelation, pigs are most often people that are not walking in those
realms with you.
What do I mean?
Exactly that!
You see if you are sitting reading on the internet like this and Jesus turns up
and sits down and waves to you, and you have a conversation with Him, who
can you share that with without them telling you that you are mad?
Think about it.
Sure there are books about supernatural things happening and people eating
them up, but if you tell your friends that you have gone to heaven and met
Jesus and the saints and talked to them... will they attack you and say you
have lost your mind?
The experience is the PEARL and the people that mock you are the PIGS.

196. Jesus says that it is okay to have pigs in your life. He says just not to share
your pearls with them or they will trample your pearls ( say what you say is
garbage) and they will turn and attack you ( say that you are out of your
mind)
Its okay to have your friends and its okay that they are not experiencing the
richness of your relationship with Jesus, just don't share the really deep and
precious stuff with them or they will make you feel bad about what you have
told them.
If you are reading the Bible and you get revelation in the Bible of a deep truth.
That is a pearl. The first thought if you are anything like me is that you want
to share it with every Christian that you know. And you may make that
mistake and have people hurt you and say you are mad and that the scripture
does not mean what you are saying it does. That's' okay, from now on you
know the deep revelations in scripture are pearls and you have to chose not to
share them with people that will not appreciate them.
I hope this has made the whole issue clearer for you.
Matthew Robert Payne is the author of four Christian books as of July 2013
which can be found on Amazon or read for free at
http://www.matthewrobertpayneministries.net.
https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Matthew_Robert_Payne/43219



Pearls Before Swine
by Earl W Haskins © 2015

When will you learn there are those who will spurn
Everything righteous you do

197. And with hardness of heart, their work is to part
The bond I’ve created with you

They see you as meek, then perceive it as weak
Unaware of your strength within
To argue with them and the time that you spend
Won’t turn them away from their sin

But I share the news, there are some I will choose
Just pray to be spiritually wise
Yet don’t be dismayed, when despite that you prayed
What I offer so many despise

Regardless their plight, they want only to fight
To spar with believers they meet
So I tell you once more to turn from their door
While shaking the dust from your feet