Swine

Swine in the Topics

(Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev 11:7; Isa 65:4; Isa 66:3, Isa 66:17; Luke 15:15, Luke 15:16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, Luke 8:33). Spoken of figuratively in Matt 7:6 (see Prov 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Ps 80:13).

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.