BIBLE IN TEN

Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. Matthew 8:30

“And it is, far from them, a sounder of many pigs feeding” (CG).

In the previous verse, the demon-possessed men called out to Jesus, acknowledging Him as the Son of God and asking if He had come before the set torment time. Matthew now continues with, “And it is, far from them.”

Here is a new word, makran. It signifies a distance, meaning something far away. Paul uses it in Ephesians 2 when speaking of Gentiles once being far off from God but who are now brought near to Him through Christ.

Returning to the words of Matthew, he next says what was far off, a sounder.” This is another new word, agelé. It signifies a drove, as in a herd or flock. The appropriate name for a herd of pigs in English is a sounder. Matthew specifically tells us it is pigs with the next words. It is a herd “of many pigs feeding.”

A third new word is introduced, boskó. The word signifies to pasture. By extension, it includes foddering, grazing (when used reflexively), feeding, keeping, etc. The number of them, according to Mark’s narrative, was about two thousand swine.

As for there being swine there, nothing is said of who owned them. The dietary restrictions of the law forbade the Jews from eating pigs, but nothing is said about owning them. Jews owned horses and donkeys, animals that could not be eaten. People single out the pig as if it couldn’t be touched, something completely false.

If Jews owned them, they could hire foreigners to take care of processing them for selling to the Romans. Or these pigs could have been owned by Gentiles. It is unreasonable to somehow equate the fact that there are lots of pigs to some type of violation of the law. If that were the case, then owning horses would be exactly the same type of violation.

Life application: To this day, the pig is singled out as almost an unspeakable animal by many, even by Christians. The thought of touching one sends terror shivers down the backs of people as if they will get some type of supercharged penalty at the judgment for doing so.

So ridiculous is this that having pictures of them is offensive to some. Muslims have this same attitude. But many Jews or legalistic Christians, who wouldn’t think of having a pig around, own dogs. The Bible is replete with Jews riding horses and donkeys. In fact, the greatest Jew of all is said to have ridden a donkey –

“Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

15 ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey’s colt.’” John 12:14,15

How can it be that people don’t understand what God is telling us in Scripture? This is so much the case that even normal Christian commentators make wholly erroneous statements about events like this one recorded in Matthew.

Meyer’s NT Commentary says, “Seeing the Jews were forbidden (Lightfoot) to keep swine, as being unclean animals, the herd must either have been the property of Gentile owners, or been the subject of Jewish trade.”

Benson says, “a herd of many swine — Which it was not lawful for the Jews to keep much less to eat.”

Bengel says, “The owners of the swine were either heathens dwelling among the Jews, or Jews greedy of gain.”

There is no hint of such accusations in Scripture. Again, if keeping pigs was against the precepts of the law, it would be true with the horse, mule, and donkey as well.

Saying that the Jews who would do this were “greedy of gain” is preposterous. Rather, it would demonstrate their business acumen, just as if they were raising and selling donkeys.

Be careful about what you believe in commentaries. Once you have learned and accepted something, it is much harder to unlearn or admit you were wrong.

God was giving Israel information about what He would do in Christ when He gave the dietary restrictions to Israel. Now, with the law annulled in Christ, it is unthinkable that professing Christians continue to impose upon themselves precepts that they were never bound to in the first place.

Lord God, help us to carefully consider Your word, keeping it in context and not mishandling the precepts You have laid forth in it for us to learn by. Thank You for this word. It tells us about Jesus and what He has done to free us from bondage. Praise You, O God, for Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.