MILK
The product of female mammals for nourishment of their young, and used as a food by mankind in general. (Gen. 18:8; Judg. 4:19; 5:25) The Hebrew word rendered milk usually means “fresh milk,” and is generally distinguished from curds, cheese and butter. (Deut. 32:14; 2 Sam. 17:29; Job 10:10; Prov. 27:27)No distinction is made, however, between milk of cows, sheep and goats. (Ezek. 25:4; 1 Cor. 9:7) Sour or curdled milk was often mixed with honey and was regarded as a refreshing drink. David took “ten portions of milk” (“cheese,” Vg) to the “chief of the thousand” when taking food to his brothers in the army camp. These portions may have been in the form of fresh-milk cheese. Rotherham says “ten slices of soft cheese.”—1 Sam. 17:17, 18.
BOILING A KID IN ITS MOTHER’S MILK
Boiling “a kid in its mother’s milk” was a violation of the Mosaic law. (Deut. 14:21) Twice this prohibition is mentioned in connection with the festival of the firstfruits held around the beginning of June. (Ex. 23:19; 34:26) Many commentators therefore believe that the law was given because the Canaanites and other peoples observed an idolatrous ritual at this time of the year. A publication by a professor of Hebrew in the seventeenth century, Dr. Ralph Cudworth (who based his conclusions on an ancient Karaite commentary), is quoted as follows: “It was a custom of the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid and boil it in the milk of its dam; and then, in a magical way, to go about and besprinkle with it all their trees and fields, gardens and orchards; thinking by this means to make them fruitful, that they might bring forth more abundantly in the following year.” (Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. I, pp. 421, 422; M’Clintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia, Vol. VI, p. 257) It is also noteworthy that one of the ancient Ras Shamra texts refers to cooking a kid in milk in connection with certain pagan offerings, perhaps the firstfruits of the harvest.
IN PROPHECY
Regarding Immanuel it was foretold: “Due to the abundance of the producing milk, he will eat butter; because butter and honey are what everyone left remaining in the midst of the land will eat.” This circumstance was to result from the devastation of Judah by the Assyrians. On account of this devastation, formerly cultivated land would become choked with weeds. Therefore those left remaining in the land would have to subsist to a considerable degree on dairy products and wild honey. There being ample pasturage, the animals that had been preserved alive would produce an abundance of milk for the greatly reduced population.—Isa. 7:20-25; compare 37:30-33.
ILLUSTRATIVE USE
Often milk is referred to in a figurative or an illustrative way. (Gen. 49:12; Song of Sol. 5:12; Lam. 4:7) Resources of nations and people are called milk. (Isa. 60:16) The Promised Land is repeatedly described as “flowing with milk and honey,” denoting abundance, fruitfulness and prosperity due to Jehovah’s blessing. (Ex. 3:8; Deut. 6:3; Josh. 5:6; Jer. 11:5; Ezek. 20:6; Joel 3:18) The shepherd of the Song of Solomon spoke of his beloved Shulammite as having honey and milk under her tongue, evidently meaning that her tongue gave expression to pleasant words.—Song of Sol. 4:11.
Since milk promotes physical growth to maturity, elementary Christian doctrine is likened to “milk” for spiritual babes, which will strengthen them to grow to the point of being able to assimilate “solid food,” the deeper spiritual truths. (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-14) The apostle Peter, speaking to mature Christians, says: “As newborn infants, form a longing for the unadulterated milk belonging to the word.” For what purpose? That they might keep on growing, not merely to maturity, but “to salvation,” that is, making their calling and choosing sure for themselves. (1 Pet. 2:2; 2 Pet. 1:10) At Isaiah 55:1, God calls on spiritually thirsty ones to buy this growth-promoting spiritual “milk,” which, through his undeserved kindness, they can obtain “without money and without price.”