If I remember correctly,it says in the Bible that Jesus cast out demons from a man, and cast them into a herd?

Question

of pigs,which then threw themselves into the sea.
But why did the Jews keep pigs when their religion expressly forbids them to eat their meat?

Answer 1

It's in Luke 8. Jews were forbidden to eat pork. However, Jesus was in a different area...................hold on, I'm gonna look it up.

EDIT: Okay they WERE Jews - from Gadara - they didn't cross over the Jordan with Joshua..............and apparantly they didn't care about some of the laws either.

Good point. They were eating forbidden meat.............and the preferred the meat to Jesus! They begged him to leave! And he did, but he left the formerly demonic man there to witness for him (even though the man wanted to follow Jesus)

God is always faithful to have a witness - because the Bible says the man told Everyone what God had done for him.

Answer 2

As some have stated, we don't know whether these folks were Jewish or not, or if they were, how diligently they followed the Law of Moses. The realities were as follows: a demon-possessed man was healed, the pigs went away in a panic, the people thought more of the pigs than the miracle, and Jesus honored their request by leaving. I doubt He ever went back there.

Another thing to consider: there were a lot of Romans and other non-Jewish people around the area, and their diet was distinct from the Jewish diet. Besides, there is a record of Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificing a sow on the Temple's altar. Where would he have found the sow, as I doubt it would have stayed very fresh for very long!, except from somewhere in the local area.

Answer 3

Very good point.
The pigs were not eaten by the devout Jews in Judea, but this incident happened around the lake of Galilee, and it should be remembered the land was occupied by Romans.

Secondly, also many were eating pork who combined their Jewish beliefs with the prevalent Greek beliefs of the day.This was how Hanukkah came about which was the split literally between pro-Greek and Semitic Hebrew groups, when a pig was sacrificed on the Holy altar in 2nd Century BC.
Of-course as mentioned by Josephus, The large Greek city in Galilee of Sepphoris near Nazareth also would have had inhabitants who would have eaten pork.

Answer 4

If I recall correctly (and as a Pagan, don't be sure I do) didn't the man who had the demons cast out own the pigs? So they were his pigs.

But also, I think the bible also mentioned he wasn't Jewish. And neither were the pigs.

On a similar note, I don't eat dogs, but I still have one as a pet...

Answer 5

Looking at an ancient map , Jesus was pretty far from Jerusalem, He was in Gergesenes..I assume they were not Jewish ..And even so , it doesn't state that there was someone herding them as a shepherd would do so maybe they were just wild pigs /swine..
It also does not say anyone was eating them either..
Good question tho' ...Hope this helps....

Answer 6

lol-I can't think of any reason to keep pigs unless it's for food. Candle-making, maybe?
I read (it's been a while so I don't remember which book; 'Biblical Religion: The Great Lie'-?) that in order to have a cliff large enough to throw themselves over, they would have had to go around 3,000 miles. There were other geographical discrepancies but I remember that one in particular (for whatever reason).
Edit: BTW, in reference to the 'dog as pets/don't eat dogs' responses-I doubt you keep a 'herd' of dogs as pets, either.

Answer 7

either the answers above are true or the bible authors wanted to make pigs look even worse to the new gentiles that were being "converted by doctrine". Its all a culturally relativistic metaphor.

Answer 8

Are you absolutely sure the people keeping the pigs were Jewish?

Answer 9

Jesus did that in a region that was populated by non-Jews.

Answer 10

I don't believe it was the Jews that raised them but the foreigners that lived with them.