Exodus 22:31

Hebrew Bible

28 “You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. 29 “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons. 30 You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day. 31You will be holy people to me; you must not eat any meat torn by animals in the field. You must throw it to the dogs.

Matthew 7:6

New Testament

4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

 Notes and References

"... m. Baba Qamma 7:7 says that chickens are not raised in Jerusalem on ac­count of 'the Holy Things'. This is followed by a reference to pigs and dogs, supporting Qumran's association of chickens and dogs with im­purity: 'They do not rear pigs anywhere. A person should not rear a dog, unless it is kept tied up by a chain.' This concern seems to be echoed in a saying that Matthew attributes to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: 'Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls be­ fore swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you' (Matthew 7:6) ... These passages seem to reflect a concern similar to that voiced by the author of 4QMMT, that dogs will eat sacred food or sacrificial offerings ... Ugaritic and Hittite texts express a similar view that dogs should not have access to sacrificial offerings. Furthermore, in the Hittite texts dogs and pigs are considered unclean, defiling temple and sacrificial offerings through their presence: 'Maintain great respect for the sacrificial loaves (and) libation vessel(s) of the gods.... If a pig or dog does somehow force its way to the utensils of wood or clay that you have, and the kitchen worker does not throw it out, but gives it to the gods to eat from an unclean (vessel), to that one will the gods give excrement and urine to eat and drink.' Jesus' statement about not giving what is holy to dogs is echoed in Exodus, where God enjoins the Israelites to be holy by avoiding unclean meat (specifically 'meat torn by animals'), which should be thrown to the dogs ..."

Magness, Jodi Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus (pp. 51-52) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011

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