Cheese Dairy
There are three times in Scripture when cheese is mentioned. Milk is passed through a cloth, and the curd, after being salted, is molded into disks about the size of the hand and dried in the sun. There is also a cheese made out of sweet milk which would be like our cottage cheese. Turning milk into cheese, especially in the desert climates, helped to preserve the milk because there was no refrigeration.
Jesse, the father of David, told his son to take some supplies to his brothers of an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves. David was instructed to carry ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how his brothers fare, and take their pledge. King Saul, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. This is when David fought and killed against the Philistine champion of Gath, Goliath by name. (1 Samuel 17:17-19, 23).
Cheese made out of the milk from cows or oxen was given to David. When David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. (2 Samuel 17:27-29).
Job talking to the LORD and reminds Him He has poured Job out as milk, and curdled him like cheese. The LORD has clothed Job with skin and flesh, and has fenced Job with bones and sinews. The LORD has granted Job life and favor, and the LORD visited Job and preserved his spirit. (Job 10:10-12).
Cheese making was common in ancient Israel. The Valley of Jerusalem apparently was the center of the cheese making industry. Jewish tradition prohibited the eating of cheese made by a Gentile because it may have been made from the milk of an animal offered to idols. Modern orthodox Jews still require rigid controls over cheese making. (Youngblood, Bruce, Harrison. 1995).
Pliny the Elder believed that cheese is best for the stomach when not salted. This is called new cheese. Old cheese is salted and has a binding effect on the bowels. Fresh cheese, applied with honey, destroys the marks of bruises. Goats’ milk cheese when pounded and applied to the part affected, is a cure for carbuncle of the generative organs. (Pliny the Elder. 1855. Pg. 5322).
References:
Pliny the Elder. (1855). The Natural History, ed. John Bostock. Medford, MA: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.
Youngblood, Ronald F., Bruce F. F., and Harrison, R. K. (1995). Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Cheese Dairy:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2360 ,>.
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Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Cheese Dairy:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2360 ,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Cheese Dairy:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2360, (accessed).
