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.”

MILL

A simple apparatus generally consisting of two circular stones (one placed atop the other), between which various edible threshed grains are ground into flour. It was possible to pound grain with a pestle in a mortar, rub it on a stone slab with a stone, or grind it with a hand mill, the method employed in most ancient Palestinian homes. Such devices were used from early patriarchal times, for Abraham’s wife Sarah made round cakes from “fine flour.” (Gen. 18:6) In the wilderness, the Israelites ground the divinely provided manna “in hand mills or pounded it in a mortar.”—Num. 11:7, 8.

Bread was generally baked every day and usually each family possessed its own hand mill. The grinding of grain into flour was ordinarily a daily activity of the women in the household. (Matt. 24:41; Job 31:10; Ex. 11:5; Isa. 47:1, 2) They rose early in the morning to prepare the flour needed for the day’s bread. The sound of hand mills is referred to in the Bible as a symbol of normal peaceful conditions. Conversely, abandonment and desolation were indicated when “the sound of the hand mill” was absent.—Jer. 25:10, 11; Rev. 18:21, 22; compare Ecclesiastes 12:3, 4.

Like its modern counterpart in the Middle East, the common hand mill of ancient times consisted of two round stones, the upper grindstone made to fit and revolve on the lower one. (Deut. 24:6; Job 41:24) Today, the heavy lower (or nether) stone is usually made of basalt and is often about eighteen inches (c. 45.7 centimeters) in diameter and two to four inches (c. 5 to 10.2 centimeters) thick. A peg fitted into the center of the lower stone serves as a pivot for the upper stone. The grinding surface of the stationary lower stone is convex, allowing the pulverized grain to drift out to the mill’s perimeter. The concave lower surface of the upper millstone (the rider) matches the top of the lower stone. A funnel-like hole in the center of the upper stone accommodates the peg and also serves as a place to put the grain into the mill. Toward the outer edge of the upper stone there is a hole into which a wooden stick is inserted, this serving as a handle for the upper grindstone.

Two women generally operated this kind of hand mill. (Luke 17:35) They sat facing each other, each placing one hand on the handle to turn the upper stone. With her free hand, one woman fed unground grain in small amounts into the filler hole of the upper stone, while the other gathered the flour as it emerged from the rim of the mill and fell to the tray or the cloth spread beneath the mill.

Since bread was usually baked daily and grain was ground into flour frequently, God’s law given to Israel mercifully forbade the seizing of a person’s hand