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's look at a few other verses on dogs-
Php 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
We are not being told to beware of CANINES, but of men who are likened unto dogs- evil workers. Dogs as a creature beneath a human being, a lower creature.
Rev 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Dogs-sorcerers-whoremongers-murderers-idolaters, all of which are HUMAN being references, not canine. A human creature that acts more like an animal than a human.
2Pe 2:22 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.
A dog's behavior is far below that of a human being's behavior. A dog will eat it's own vomit, but a human would not. A freshly cleaned pig would just as soon be dirty- not having the intelligence to desire cleanliness over dirtiness.
We read these references and we have to use them to help us understand--
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.
What do dogs do to people? Not all dogs, but wild dogs and sadly some tame dogs who go feral for one reason or another. They attack people. You can train a dog to attack people. I've seen shows on television that have trained attack dogs go after people dressed up in protective gear and those dogs can be vicious. It's not unheard of for dogs to kill people. More recently Pit Bulls and Rottweilers have received a reputation for being attack dogs brutally attacking and yes, sometimes killing people. Wild dogs that run in packs are very ferocious, and when you hear of them attacking and rending a person into pieces you know exactly how to visualize it. Dogs as our pets don't seem to be dangerous at all, but underneath all their docile ways there is an animal that can bite and do so to inflict great harm, even death.
This verse here is talking about people. People who act like untamed, uncontrolled animals who are letting their base nature take over and not at all encouraging their spiritual connections with God. These people have actually severed themselves from God, choosing to deny Him, choosing to debase Him, choosing to let their flesh nature have full control and we know who is really in control when we choose not to accept God as our Lord and Savior. Satan will take control and when he is in control men begin to act like animals in many, many ways.
We are not to give that which is holy unto dogs- lest they turn again and rend us.
Dogs- those who are completely unreceptive to our Lord and His word, His message of the Kingdom, are not going to listen. How do we tell when someone is unreceptive? I'm sure most of you reading this have had an opportunity to want to share the good news of salvation with others and have faced opposition. Maybe you haven't been ridiculed, or bodily harmed, but even having someone tell you they don't want to hear it is opposition. When opposition is encountered we are NOT to ever force ourselves, our message on others, not ever! Jesus never, not once forced His message on anyone at all whatsoever. Time and time again He riled up a crowd full of opposition and He left, He didn't fight them, he didn't force His will on any. Why people sometimes think they need to try and force their message on people is something I cannot fathom. Forcing ANYONE to listen under any sort of duress is wrong on many levels. The history of Christianity is filled with crusades and campaigns, tortures and inquisitions all in the name of God as people fought against non-Christians wanting them to become Christians as they are Christians. Jesus would be the LAST to approve of any sort of torture in His name! Jesus would be the LAST to advocate any sort of forced message. The choice that needs to be made needs to be made freely without any coercion whatsoever. So when we face *dogs* we cannot force the holy message of the Kingdom of Heaven upon them. Yes, it's awful to imagine people as *dogs*. We don't want to think of family members and friends as *dogs*. Calling someone a dog is very derogatory. No one likes to be called or thought of as a dog. When we call someone a dog we aren't calling them a fluffy, friendly pet. We are calling them a dog in a term that is most offensive.
This isn't about calling anyone a dog though, this is about how we are to react to dogs. Even as I write I don't like to think about people as dogs, it goes against everything I was raised to believe and that is to NOT believe the worst of people, not to judge them. Remember that bit about not judging? Well, we HAVE to be able to judge situations and this is one of those situations.
We are not to give that which is holy unto dogs- lest they turn again and rend us.
We are not to cast our pearls before swine- lest they trample us underfoot.
Wild swine, like wild dogs are both very dangerous and can inflict great harm upon human beings, even death- this is something that is undisputable.
Neither dogs nor swine are worthy of the message of the kingdom, especially when the dogs and swine CHOOSE to be dogs and swine. Unlike the animals- dogs and swine, people who are dogs and swine were at least at one time able to choose between right and wrong. I word it that way because sometimes when we make the choice to be blind we can no longer see. Not everyone is given chance after chance because they've hardened their hearts, they refuse to see, in their heart of hearts they reject salvation from God. It seems impossible to me, but people reject salvation, they do.
Can we really judge who is a dog or a pig? We have to be able to judge when NOT to give that which is holy to them. We have to be able to judge when NOT to cast our pearls before swine. You see the danger is… being HURT by them if we don't listen to our Savior. These are our Savior's words! We can be HURT by these people. We're not invincible. Our spiritual lives can be in danger as well and Jesus wants to protect our spiritual lives more than anything, right? Our bodies can be forfeit for Christ but our spiritual life is never forfeit, never. Our Savior wants to protect our spiritual lives and He is teaching us to do this. We put ourselves in DANGER when we choose to try and give the message of the kingdom of heaven to those who do not want to hear it. Those who are not receptive to the gospel of Christ are likely to turn around and try to destroy our belief in our Savior. They will! Don't for one moment think that the *dogs* and the *swine* won't try, they will trample and rend us every opportunity they get because they are being controlled by Satan.
This isn't an idle half-hearted message given to us by Christ, it's much, much more and we need to take it to heart.
By the grace of our Savior we will be able to tell the dogs and the swine from those who genuinely need and want to hear His word. While we cannot judge any person's eternal life ever, we have to be able to judge actions and by judging actions we can judge responses. When we judge responses we need to pray that the Holy Spirit guides us to discern when we are to speak and when we are not to speak, keeping us protected by His love, His grace, His mercy, His righteousness.
Amen.
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