The Balancing Act

“Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”  Matthew 7:6 NASB

Before pigs – It surely seems as if Yeshua is instructing us to avoid sharing what is holy with the undeserving.  “Keep it to yourselves,” he seems to say.  That would mean maintaining exclusivity with those “in the faith,” and keeping the outsiders outside.  But this interpretation has some unsettling consequences.  How will any outsider ever discover a genuine relationship with the Father if His followers maintain distance?  What do we do with God’s instructions to Jeremiah about the people going into captivity?  And what about the “good neighbor” parables?  Perhaps Yeshua’s comment needs some context.  Not everyone who encounters a follower of the One God of Israel is ready, or willing, to hear the message, or even witness the actions.  Yeshua himself said that everyone who does follow him is drawn by the Father, so in some sense God’s handiwork is needed before anyone even begins to listen.

On the other hand, we need some kind of balance between open-arms invitations and iron-clad barriers.  Seeking this balance can lead to some awkward instructions.  Rabbi Shraga Freedman attempts to handle this tension in a rather unique way.  He argues that God’s honor is at stake in the way our actions are perceived by the unbelieving public (and, at times, even by other believers).  His concern is just the opposite of the apparent opposition in Yeshua’s statement.  If we erect barriers with our religious zeal, won’t we cause the outsider to dishonor God because he feels rejected, abused, or misunderstood?  Freedman counters this possibility by writing that we should avoid “any action that might evoke disapproval of others.”[1]  Why?  Because  “any action that is performed in public and that others consider to be wrong constitutes a chillul Hashem.”[2]

But this cannot be correct.  Of course, we want to avoid offense, even to those outside the faith, but how could you apply such a rule to situations in Nazi Germany, for example?  The Torah is filled with prophets who “offended” the masses and the establishment because they insisted on declaring God’s judgments.  Virtually every hero and heroine in the Bible stood for God in ways that offended others.  It may be that trivial issues require some degree of tolerance.  We should be welcoming.  We should withhold judgment.  But where is the line that divides godly behavior from pagan consensus? Certainly there is little point in trying to convince those who consistently reject God’s wisdom, but that can’t mean branding those of different opinions as irredeemable heretics (in the Christian sense of the term).  On the other hand, offense created because of adherence to God’s ways must be an acceptable avenue.  We do not live according to the opinions of the crowd.

The Torah is not like the Boy Scout’s Handbook.  It does not provide a “one size fits all” ethic.  Each of us has to work out God’s purposes in our own encounters with others, and none is exempt or preferred.  The balancing act is always with us.  That’s what it means to be human.

Topical Index: balance, offense, chillul, pigs, Matthew 7:6

[1] Rabbi Shraga Freedman, Living Kiddush Hashem: Sanctifying Hashem in everything we do (ArtScroll, 2014), p. 164.

[2] Ibid., p. 166.