Trampling Pearls – Matthew 7:6

I was working at Mahaffey Message Relay and struggling a bit because I hadn’t witnessed to a co-worker and we were the only ones there this day. So I made a stab at a spiritual conversation and he immediately erupted into a harangue about not telling him any Christian stuff. Needless to say, the rest of the shift was quiet.

I don’t know if I was exactly casting my pearls before swine but he was doing what Jesus told us could happen, trampling what is precious underfoot.

“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. (Matthew 7:6 ESV)

Once again, the ESV Study Bible note on this passage is helpful:

In the ancient world, dogs lived in squalor and scavenged the streets for food (Ps. 59:14–15). Jews considered them unclean and used the term to describe those apart from, or enemies of, Israel’s covenant community (cf. 1 Sam. 17:43; Ps. 22:16; Prov. 26:11). Pigs were rejected by Jews, probably because they too were scavenging animals, and they were unclean according to OT law. Pearls symbolize the great value of the message of the kingdom of heaven (cf. Matt. 13:45–46). Believers are to be merciful, forgiving, and slow to judge (7:1–5), yet they should wisely discern the true character of people and not indefinitely continue proclaiming the gospel to those who adamantly reject it, so that they can move on and proclaim the gospel to others (cf. 10:14; also Acts 13:46; 18:6; Titus 3:10–11).

Jesus expects us to proclaim the message of the kingdom but to do so wisely, knowing that not everyone is ready to hear it.  When we get resistance we need the wisdom of the Lord Jesus to know when to push through and when to retreat.  Though the “dogs” might look friendly they can at any moment get vicious.  We need to sense by the Holy Spirit’s guidance just how far to go in interaction about a message that is calling the rebel to account.

Paul was making his way through what is modern day Turkey, then called Asia, trying to preach the gospel, but the Spirit was preventing him and his team from preaching in city after city (Acts 16:6-10). But the Spirit eventually led them to Greece to preach the gospel there.

Jesus didn’t initially share the gospel with the Syrophoenecian woman (Matthew 15:21-28) but when she showed that she was receptive, not a trampler of pearls, he engaged. He was led by the Spirit as we must be.

Commentators McGarvey and Pendleton have rightly said, “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.”