Memory Monday — It Started With A Pig

From memory:

Matthew 7:1-5
"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.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 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.

Here is verse 6 that I will have to add on for next week. I just didn't get the whole thing memorized.
"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."

As I said two weeks ago, I picked this passage when I was piddling around in my Bible concordance and saw a verse listed under pig. My initial thought was that it was the primary verse associated with a Bible study I purchased a while back to do with my girls called "Beauty and the Pig; A Study of Godly Beauty," because while looking at the verse it did talk about throwing your pearls to the pigs.

Two things here...I never remember associating this particular verse with this particular passage about not judging others. Ever. And although this verse is listed, along with many other pig and swine verses, in the Bible study, it was not the primary verse. Just for the record, the primary verse was Proverbs 11:22. The NIV reads, "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." A little poetic, but even I get that.

So I also did some extra study these last two weeks on the Matthew passage and pigs, in the Biblical sense. There's not a lot to say about the pig, or swine, except that it is considered the picture of uncleanliness. Filthy might be a better word. Dogs in this passage were much the same since they were not domesticated as house pets and were usually scavenging, wild animals that would turn on you if you got between them and something they wanted.

This part of Jesus' sermon was focusing on the scribes and Pharisees and the human standards they had set. A little later on in the chapter it even goes on to warn about false prophets (v15). Jesus was not saying that we were not to oppose or correct wrong, as long as we are looking at it based on Biblical doctrine. Otherwise how would we be able to determine the dogs and the swine? John MacArthur said it much better than I could ever dream of saying it:

"There will be times when the gospel we present is absolutely rejected and ridiculed and we make the judgment to turn away and speak no more, deciding that we should "shake off the dust of [our] feet" (Matt. 10:14) and begin ministering somewhere else. There will be times when those to whom we witness will resist the gospel and blaspheme God, and we may speak words of judgment...When people not only reject the gospel, but insist on mocking and reviling it, we are not to waste God's holy Word and the precious pearls of His truth in a futile and frustrating attempt to win them. We are to leave them to the Lord, trusting that somehow His Spirit can pentrate their hearts..."

I will finish memorizing this Matthew passage for next week. I have high hopes to memorize a few other verses also. If I do, I'll share them and their meaning, and if not, they'll be for the next week.

Joanne hosts Memory Monday over at her place, The Simple Wife. Go check it out.