Matthew 7:6 “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.”
How weird is this? Jesus has been giving wonderful teachings about the kingdom and telling pointed stories on local characters at the same time. Then all of a sudden, he starts talking about dogs and pigs and pearls. What’s going on here?
According to the Talmud, dogs were considered unclean. Since dogs generally ran in packs and were very dangerous, they were not only unclean but also feared. Pigs were considered even more unclean than dogs. There are no positive references to pigs in the Old Testament and the Gadarenes who owned the herd of 2000 swine into which the demons went when they left the demon- possessed man were probably being grown for sale to Gentiles who had no religious scruples against pork.
In the last part of Matthew 6, Jesus urged his followers to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. After that, Jesus warned against criticizing, judging or condemning. It would seem that it is impossible to seek the kingdom of God and judge one’s brother at the same time. Now Jesus begins to advise as to how we are to seek the kingdom of God, and it is in this context that he warns us to be careful of people who might behave like either dogs or pigs.
“You must not give holy things to dogs.” Here dogs might represent those who have no interest in anything having to do with the kingdom of God. There are things you can share with friends who do not serve God, but there are many times when you will find yourself on one side of an impossible gulf with your friend on the other side. Unless and until your friend gives up his right to himself and begins to serve God, sharing holy things will be useless.
What about pearls before swine? Pearls in the ancient world were considered rare and valuable. In other places, Jesus refers to the Gospel as a pearl of great price. One commentator mentioned that to pigs, pearls might look like kernels of corn, in other words, like food. If you were to throw a handful of pearls into a pig pen, the pigs would try to chew on them and then would just trample on them. If you were stupid enough to stand inside the pig pen when you threw the pearls, the pigs would then turn on you and tear you into pieces with their teeth. How easily can a pig shred something? VERY EASILY! When I was growing up on the farm in Illinois, I once watched my grandfather working with a mother pig who had just had babies. When Grandpa did something the mother pig didn’t like, she just jerked her head along his leg and shredded his pant leg into fringe from his knee downwards! Fortunately, she missed Grandpa’s leg, but he vaulted over the gate to the pen in a big hurry! So some people might respond even more vehemently to the Gospel than those who merely fail to understand.
With this teaching about pearls before swine and not giving holy things to dogs, Jesus is preparing his listeners for his further teachings. It is as if what Jesus has already said was preliminary and now he is going to go even deeper into the mysteries of the Kingdom.
What does this teaching mean for us? We should seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, but we should also be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when it comes to sharing about the Kingdom. If we make a mistake, our listeners may react like a pack of dogs or a herd of pigs. At the same time, we need to be sure that we have ears to hear and hearts to receive.
PRAYER: Father God, help us to seek Your Kingdom and Your Righteousness. But help us to know when to share and when to remain silent. In the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen.
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