The Swine

Under the Law of Moses swine were unclean because, though they divide the hoof, they do not chew the cud, and so they became a byword for what was impure and degrading. That is what makes the prodigal son's fall so vivid: a Jewish young man reduced to feeding swine and longing to eat their husks. Jesus warned against casting 'pearls before swine,' and in the country of the Gadarenes he sent a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of about two thousand swine. Peter recalled the proverb of 'the sow that was washed' returning to the mire.

0:00

Strongest connections in Scripture

Luke 15

Key Passages

Feeding the Swine

Luke 15:13-17

Reduced to feeding pigs and envying their food, the prodigal son finally 'came to himself' and turned toward home.

A¹³nd not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

¹⁴ And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. ¹⁷ And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!