Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 7

MATTHEW CHAPTER 7

Judge not, etc. This command refers to rash, censorious, and unjust judgment. See Romans 2:1. Luke 6:37 explains it in the sense of condemning.

Christ does not condemn judging as a magistrate, for that, when it is according to justice, is lawful and necessary. Nor does he condemn our forming an opinion of the conduct of others, for it is impossible not to form an opinion of conduct that we know to be evil.

But what he refers to is a habit of forming a judgment hastily, harshly, and without an allowance for every palliating circumstance, and of expressing such an opinion harshly and unnecessarily when formed. It rather refers to private judgment than judicial, and perhaps primarily to the habits of the scribes and Pharisees.

With what judgment, etc. This was a proverb among the Jews. It expressed a truth, and Christ did not hesitate to adopt it as conveying His own sentiments. It refers no less to the way in which people will judge us, than to the rule by which God will judge us. See 2 Samuel 22:27; Mark 4:24; James 2:13.

Mete. Measure. You will be judged by the same rule which you apply to others.

And why beholdest thou the mote, etc. A mote signifies any light substance, as dry chaff, or fine spires of grass or grain. It probably most usually signified the small spiculae or beard on a head of barley or wheat. It is thus placed in opposition to the word beam.

Beam. This word here signifies a large piece of squared timber. The one is an exceedingly small object, the other a large one. The meaning is that we are much more quick and acute to judge small offences in others, than much larger offences in ourselves. Even a very small object that would hinder another's vision, we would discern much more quickly than a much larger one in our own sight. This was also a proverb in frequent use among the Jews, and the same sentiment was common among the Greeks, and deserves to be expressed in every language.

Thou hypocrite, first cast out, etc. Christ directs us to the proper way of forming an opinion of others, and of reproving and correcting them. By first amending our own faults, or casting the beam out of our eye, we can consistently advance to correct the faults of others. There will then be no hypocrisy in our conduct.

We will also see clearly to do it. The beam, the thing that obscured our sight, will be removed; and we will more clearly discern the small object that obscures the sight of our brother. The sentiment is, that the quickest way to judge the imperfections of others is to be free from greater ones ourselves. This qualifies us for judging, makes us candid and consistent, and enables us to see things as they are, and to make proper allowances for frailty and imperfection.

Give not that which is holy, etc. By some, the word holy has been supposed to mean flesh offered in sacrifice, made holy, or separated to a sacred use. But it probably means here anything connected with religion—admonition, precept, or doctrine. Pearls are precious stones found in shellfish, chiefly in India, in the waters that surround Ceylon. They are used to denote anything peculiarly precious (Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12–16; Matthew 13:46).

In this place, "pearls" are used to denote the doctrines of the gospel. Dogs signify men who spurn, oppose, and abuse that doctrine; men of particular sourness and malignant temper, who meet it like growling and quarrelsome curs (2 Peter 2:22; Revelation 22:15).

Swine denote those who would trample the precepts under their feet; men of impurity of life—corrupt, polluted, profane, obscene, and sensual—who would not recognize the value of the gospel and would tread it down as swine would pearls (2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 11:22).

The meaning of this proverb, then, is: do not offer your doctrine to those violent and abusive men who would growl and curse you, nor to those especially debased and profligate individuals who would not perceive its value, would trample it down, and abuse you. This verse provides a beautiful example of introverted parallelism.

The usual mode of poetry among the Hebrews, and a common mode of expression in proverbs and aphorisms, was parallelism, where one member of a sentence corresponded to another or expressed substantially the same meaning with some addition or modification. (See my Introduction to Isaiah.)

Sometimes this parallelism was alternate, and sometimes it was introverted, where the first and fourth lines would correspond, and the second and third. This is the case here: the dogs would rend, and not the swine; the swine would trample the pearls under their feet, and not the dogs. It may be expressed thus:

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
Neither cast you your pearls before swine,
Lest they trample them under their feet,
And turn again [that is, the dogs] and rend you.

Neither cast you your (Proverbs 9:7–8; Proverbs 23:9).