We often have this picture of the Prodigal Son eating pig’s food with dirty animals in a pen. But actually that is NOT what the Bible says. The Bible doesn’t say he ate food with the pigs; what the Bible says is actually that it was even worse than that.

In a desperate attempt to survive, the son offered his services to one of the citizens who commissioned him to feed his pigs (Luke 15:13-15). This would be another shock for Jesus’ audience. Jews did not eat pork because pigs were declared unclean according to the Law (Deuteronomy 14:8).

In the case of the prodigal son, everyone would have known that once the younger son used up his portion of the inheritance, there was nothing left that he could receive after his father’s death. Under the Law of Moses, Jews were forbidden to eat pigs or even touch any dead ones (Lev. 5:2; 11:7-8).