Swine

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

חזיכּ? ,  Leviticus 11:7;  Deuteronomy 14:8;  Psalms 80:13;  Proverbs 11:22;  Isaiah 65:4;  Isaiah 66:3;  Isaiah 66:17; χοιρος ,  Matthew 7:6;  Matthew 8:30;  Mark 5:14;  Luke 8:33;  Luke 15:15; the plural of hog, an animal well known. In impurity and grossness of manners, this creature stands almost unrivalled among the order of quadrupeds; and the meanness of his appearance corresponds to the grossness of his manners. He has a most indiscriminate, voracious, and insatiable appetite. The Prophet  Isaiah 65:4 , charges his degenerate people with eating swine's flesh, and having broth of abominable things in their vessels,  Isaiah 66:3 . Conduct so contrary to their solemn engagements, so hateful in the sight of the Holy One, though long endured, was not always to pass with impunity. "They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens, behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord,"  Isaiah 66:17 . Such a sacrifice was an abomination to the Lord, because the eating of the blood was prohibited, and because the sacrifice consisted of swine's flesh. To these precepts and threatenings, which were often enforced by severe judgments, may be traced the habitual and unconquerable aversion of the latter Jews to the use of swine's flesh; an aversion which the most alluring promises and the most cruel sufferings have been found alike insufficient to subdue.

In such detestation was the hog held by the Jews, that they would not so much as pronounce its name, but called it "the strange thing;" and we read in the history of the Maccabees, that Eleazer, a principal scribe, being compelled by Antiochus Epiphanes to open his mouth and receive swine's flesh, spit it forth, and went of his own accord to the torment, choosing rather to suffer death than to break the law of God, and give offence to his nation, 2Ma_6:18; 2Ma_7:1 . It is observed that when Adrian rebuilt Jerusalem, he set up the image of a hog, in bas-relief, upon the gates of the city, to drive the Jews away from it, and to express the greater contempt for that miserable people. It was avarice, a contempt of the law of Moses, and a design to supply the neighbouring idolaters with victims, that caused whole herds of swine to be fed on the borders of Galilee. Whence the reason is plain of Christ's permitting the devils to throw the swine headlong into the lake of Genesareth,  Matthew 8:32 . We read, in  Matthew 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." There is a similar maxim in the Talmudical writings: "Do not cast pearls before swine;" to which is added, by way of explanation, "Do not offer wisdom to one who knows not the value of it, but profanes its glory."

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Swine ( chazîr ). Domesticated swine were probably kept in the East in the earliest historic times, when they appear to have been regarded as sacred. In a cave associated with the earliest place of sacrifice at ancient Gezer, in use certainly before b.c. 2000, large quantities of pigs’ bones were found. It was the sacrosanct character of swine that lay at the root of the prohibition in   Leviticus 11:7 and   Deuteronomy 14:8; and the eating of swine’s flesh and offering of swine’s blood (  Isaiah 65:4;   Isaiah 66:3;   Isaiah 66:17 ) are clearly regarded as a sign of lapse into paganism. The heathen frequently tried to compel the Jews to eat swine’s flesh ( e.g. 2Ma 6:18; 2Ma 7:1 ) and thus renounce their religion. The contempt felt for swine is shown by the proverbs quoted in   Proverbs 11:22 ,   Matthew 7:6 , and   2 Peter 2:22 . In the Talmudic writings the pig appears as the emblem of uncleanness, and those who keep swine are regarded with aversion. The same ideas colour the parable of the Prodigal Son (  Luke 15:15 ), where he is depicted as reaching the lowest depth of infamy in being sent to feed swine, and actually being reduced to covet their food; and also the narrative of the demoniacs, where the Gentile inhabitants of Gerasa lose their great herd of swine (  Matthew 8:30 ,   Mark 5:13 ,   Luke 8:32 ).

In modern Palestine very much the same feeling survives. Chanzîr ‘pig’ is a common but very opprobrious appellation. Swine’s flesh is loathed by Jews and Moslems; the latter, who otherwise eat the same food as Christians, are always very suspicious that any unknown food may be contaminated with it. Pigs are not common in Palestine; they are kept by German colonists and in a few places by native Christians. In Rameh in Galilee, for example, considerable herds are kept and pastured in the surrounding fields. Horses, unfamiliar with their smell are much perturbed on approaching the village, and it is said that the cattle will not touch the water of the stream below where the swine are accustomed to resort.

E. W. G. Masterman.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Swine. (Hebrew, chazir ). The flesh of swine was forbidden as food by the Levitical law,  Leviticus 11:7;  Deuteronomy 14:8, the abhorrence which the Jews, as a nation, had of it may be inferred from  Isaiah 65:4, and  2 Maccabees 6:18-19. No other reason for the command to abstain from swine's flesh is given in the law of Moses, beyond the general one, which forbade any of the mammalia as food, which did not literally fulfill the terms of the definition of a clean animal," namely, that it was to be a cloven-footed ruminant.

It is, however, probable that dietetical considerations may have influenced Moses in his prohibition of swine's flesh: it is generally believed that its use in hot countries is liable to induce cutaneous disorders; hence, in a people liable to leprosy, the necessity for the observance of a strict rule. Although the Jews did not breed swine during the greater period of their existence as a nation, there can be little doubt that the heathen nations of Palestine used the flesh as food.

At the time of our Lord's ministry, it would appear that the Jews occasionally violated the law of Moses with regard to swine's flesh. Whether "the herd of swine" into which the devils were allowed to enter,  Matthew 8:32;  Mark 5:13, were the property of the Jewish, or of the Gentile inhabitants of Gadara, does not appear from the sacred narrative. The wild boar of the wood,  Psalms 80:13, is the common Sus scrofa , which is frequently met with in the woody parts of Palestine, especially in Mount Tabor.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A well-known animal, forbidden as food to the Hebrews, who held its flesh in such destination that they would not so much as pronounce its name,  Leviticus 11:7   Deuteronomy 14:8 . The eating of swine's flesh was among the most odious of the idolatrous abominations charged upon some of the Jews,  Isaiah 65:4   66:3,17 . The herd of swine destroyed by evil spirits in the Sea of Gennesaret,  Matthew 8:32 , are supposed to have been kept by Jews for sale to the Gentiles around them, in defiance of the law. The beautiful and affecting parable of the prodigal son shows that the tending of swine was considered to be an employment of the most despicable character; it was the last resource of that depraved and unhappy being who had squandered his patrimony in riotous living,  Luke 15:14-16 . The irreclaimably filthy habits of this animal illustrate the insufficiency of reformation without regeneration,  2 Peter 2:22; as its treading in the mire any precious thing which it cannot eat, illustrates the treatment which some profligates the treatment which some profligates give to the gospel,  Matthew 7:6 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

One of the animals classed among the unclean, and which is supposed to have been held in abhorrence as food by the Jews. The prophet Isaiah, however, charges them with eating swine's flesh; and their apostasy was such that he says when they offered an oblation, it was as if they had offered swine's blood: their heartless profession was abhorrent to God.  Isaiah 65:4;  Isaiah 66:3,17 . It is not recorded whether the Gadarenes were Jews or Gentiles, who lost their swine by the demons' possession of them.  Matthew 8:32;  Mark 5:13 . The swine are typical of the most defiled and degraded, to whom apostates are compared, and before whom holy things should not be cast.  Matthew 7:6;  2 Peter 2:22 . The prodigal had reached the lowest point of degradation when he would fain have satisfied his hunger with the swine's food.  Luke 15:16 .

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Χοῖρος (Strong'S #5519 — Noun Masculine — choiros — khoy-'ros )

"a swine," is used in the plural, in the Synoptic Gospels only,  Matthew 7:6;  8:30-32;  Mark 5:11-13,16;  Luke 8:32,33;  Luke 15:15,16 . It does not occur in the OT.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Swine. The flesh of the hog was strictly forbidden to the Hebrews.  Leviticus 11:7;  Deuteronomy 14:8. It seems to have been offered in idol-worship, and the worshipper no doubt feasted on the sacrifice.  Isaiah 65:4;  Isaiah 66:3;  Isaiah 66:17. Wild hogs are now common on the Syrian hills; perhaps they were equally common in ancient times.  Psalms 80:13. And certainly in our Lord's days the breeding of swine was common.  Matthew 7:6;  Matthew 8:30-34;  Luke 15:15-16;  2 Peter 2:22.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 66:3 (b) This type describes the terrible depravity of a man wherein he lives in his filthy sins, and yet offers a sacrifice to GOD as though he were a godly man.

 Matthew 7:6 (b) The ungodly person who wallows in his wickedness is described by this filthy animal. We are not to present the precious truths of GOD, and His sweet promises to such a vile person. He would not understand, nor appreciate, those messages in which the Christians delight.

 Luke 15:15 (b) This wandering boy was mingling with the people of the world who lived in sin, lust and rebellion. Unsaved people are looked upon by GOD as being in their sins, unrighteous, unholy and stained with evil and wickedness. The Christian has no business seeking to find his satisfaction among them.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:7 Isaiah 65:4 66:3,17 Luke 15:15,16 Luke 8:32,33 Matthew 7:6  Proverbs 11:22 Psalm 80:13

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Leviticus 11:7 Deuteronomy 14:8 Proverbs 11:22 Matthew 7:6 2 Peter 2:22 Mark 5:11-17Animals

King James Dictionary

SWINE, n. sing. and plu. A hog, a quadruped of the genus Sus, which furnishes man with a large portion of his most nourishing food. The fat or lard of this animal enters into various dishes in cookery. The swine is a heavy, stupid animal, and delights to wallow in the mire.

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Any animal of the hog kind, especially one of the domestical species. Swine secrete a large amount of subcutaneous fat, which, when extracted, is known as lard. The male is specifically called boar, the female, sow, and the young, pig. See Hog.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

SWINE. —See Animals in vol. i. p. 64b.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( חֲזַיר , Chazir; Sept. Υς , Ὕειος , Σῦς ; New Test. Χοῖρος ). Allusion will be found in the Bible to these animals, both in their domestic and in their wild state. See Tristram, Nat. Hist. Of The Bible, p. 145; Wood, Bible Animals, p. 292.

1. The flesh of swine was forbidden as food by the Levitical law ( Leviticus 11:7;  Deuteronomy 14:8). The abhorrence which the Jews as a nation had of it may be inferred from  Isaiah 65:4, where some of the idolatrous people are represented as "eating swine's flesh," and as having the "broth of abominable things in their vessels;" see also 66:3, 17, and  2 Maccabees 6:18-19, in which passage we read that Eleazar, an aged scribe, when compelled by Antiochus to receive in his mouth swine's flesh, "spit it forth, choosing rather to die gloriously than to live stained with such an abomination." The use of swine's flesh was forbidden to the Egyptian priests, to whom, says Sir G. Wilkinson (Anc. Egypt. 1, 322), "above all meats it was particularly obnoxious" (see Herodotus, 2, 47; Elian, De Nat. Anim. 10:16; Josephus, Apion, 2, 14), though it was occasionally eaten by the people. The Arabians also were disallowed the use of swine's flesh (see Pliny, H. N. 8:52; Koran, 2, 175), as were also the Phoenicians, Ethiopians, and other nations of the East.

No other reason for the command to abstain from swine's flesh is given in the law of Moses beyond the general one which forbade any of the mammalians food which did not literally fulfill the terms of the definition of a "clean animal," viz. that it was to be a cloven-footed ruminant. The pig, therefore, though it divides the hoof, but does no

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

swı̄n ( חזיר , ḥăzı̄r  ; compare Arabic khinzir  ; ὗς , hús , Septuagint and New Testament; compare Greek σῦς , sús , and Latin sus  ; adjective ὕειος , húeios , as a substantive, the Septuagint; χοῖρος , choı́ros , Septuagint and New Testament): In both ancient and modern times domestic swine have been little kept in Palestine, but wild swine are well known as inhabitants of the thickets of the Ḥûleh , the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and some of the mountains. The species is Sus scrofa , the wild pig of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

In the Old Testament the swine is mentioned in  Leviticus 11:7 and   Deuteronomy 14:8 as an unclean animal: "And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you." In   Isaiah 65:4 and   Isaiah 66:3 ,  Isaiah 66:17 the eating of swine's flesh and the offering of oblations of swine's blood are referred to as abominations. Septuagint also refers to swine in three passages where these animals are not mentioned in the Hebrew and EV. In   2 Samuel 17:8 where English Versions of the Bible has "as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field," Septuagint adds (translation) "and as a savage boar in the plain." In   1 Kings 21:19 Septuagint   1 Kings 20:19 ), where English Versions of the Bible has "in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth," Septuagint has "where the swine and the dogs licked"; similarly in  1 Kings 22:38 . In 1 Macc 1:47 there is reference to a decree of Antiochus ordering the sacrifice of swine. In 2 Macc 6 and 7 there are accounts of the torture and death of Eleazar, an aged scribe, and of a mother and her seven sons for refusing to taste swine's flesh. Swine, the property of Gentiles, are mentioned in the account of the Gadarene demoniac ( Matthew 8:30 ,  Matthew 8:31 ,  Matthew 8:32;  Mark 5:11 ,  Mark 5:12 ,  Mark 5:13 ,  Mark 5:14 ,  Mark 5:16;  Luke 8:32 ,  Luke 8:33 ), and in the parable of the Prodigal Son ( Luke 15:15 ,  Luke 15:16 ).

Figurative : We find the following figurative references to swine:

"The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,

And the wild beasts of the field feed on it" (i.e. on the "vine out of Egypt") ( Psalm 80:13 );

"As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,

So is a fair woman that is without discretion" ( Proverbs 11:22 );

"The Carmonians (the King James Version Carmanians, perhaps of Kirman or Carmania, in Southwestern Persia) raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood" (2 Esdras 15:30);

"The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire" ( 2 Peter 2:22; compare  Proverbs 26:11 ).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Egyptian pictures, the parable of the Prodigal Son, and Christ's miraculous cure of the demoniac, when He permitted swine to be possessed and destroyed by rushing over a precipice into the Sea of Galilee, furnish ample proofs that during the dominion of the Romans the domesticated breeds of these animals were reared in great numbers among the Jews, notwithstanding the strong prohibition in the law of Moses. Commentators ascribe this abundance of swine to the numerous Pagan sacrifices of these animals in the temples: but we do not deem this to be a sufficiently correct view of the case, since hogs of every denomination were less used for that purpose than oxen, goats, and sheep. May it not be conjectured that in those days of a greatly condensed population the poor found in swine's flesh, and still more in the fat and lard, melted for culinary purposes, as it still is in every part of Pagan Africa, a most desirable aliment, still more acceptable than the salt fish imported from Sidon, to season their usual vegetable diet?