Milk /Dairy Products
Milk was used for food. Types of milk used were from camels, cows, and sheep. Goat milk was the most frequently used milk. Milk was served to the Lord by Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Milk was used to describe the Promised Land, “a land flowing with milk and honey.”Milk had dietary restriction on Israel. Milk was given as gifts. Milk is used symbolic and is associated with a person’s appearance that make them attractive and desirable. Milk stands for that portion of the Word of God that is easier to digest which is the basic teachings we get from Jesus Christ.
Milk was commonly drunk by the family, it also became a symbol associated with hospitality in Israel and the Promised Land. Milk was offered to those with distinction and as a gift.
Then the LORD appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre he served Him butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. (Genesis 18:1-8).
Milk was given as gifts. It was among the cattle gift that Jacob offered to Esau (Genesis 32:15).
Proverbs give an account of what lambs and goats are used for. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. You shall have goats’ milk enough for your food, for the food of your household, and for the maintenance for your maidens. (Proverbs 27:26-27).
Cows, camels, sheep, and goats that lived among the children of Israel brought milk into their way of life. The LORD God lead Jacob might eat the increase of the fields; butter of cows, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. (Deuteronomy 32:14);
Milk was kept in skins. Jael, the wife of Heber, gave Sisera, the conquering general under king Jabin of Hazor and slain by Jael milk. Sisera was thirsty and asked Jael for water and she gave him a bottle of milk. (Judges 4:19; Judges 5:25).
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. Because of the abundance of milk he will eat curds. (Isaiah 7:21-22).
The word of the LORD came to Ezekiel and prophesy against the Ammonites. They will be delivered to the men of the east for a possession. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk. (Ezekiel 25:4).
Song of Solomon mentions drinking wine with milk. (Song of Solomon 5:1).
Every one that thirst, come to the waters, and he that hats no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1).
Milk is used symbolic and is associated with a person’s appearance that make them attractive and desirable. Song of Solomon speaks of the lips of “my” spouse, as honey and milk are under your tongue (Song of Solomon. 4:11). His teeth will be white with milk. (Genesis 49:12). Noticed for their cleanliness and tranquility the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, his eyes are washed in milk (Song of Solomon 5:12).
Milk is also used to indicate butter was produced by churning or pressing, the milk inside a goatskin or cloth container, and just as blood was produced by churning or pressing the nose, so the angry I produced by churning or pressing forcing of wrath produces strife. (Proverbs 30:33).
Another symbol for milk is blessing and abundance in the Promised Land. The prophet Joel predict a day when the hills shall flow with milk. (Joel 3:18). The prophet Isaiah proclaims that the LORD is the Savior and Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. Hiss people will “drink the milk of nations”(Isaiah 60:16). The princes of the thriving city of Jerusalem are described as brighter than snow and as whiter than milk. (Lamentations 4:7).
The Word of the LORD God will nourish the soul as the body is nourishes by the milk that is drank. As newborn babes, desire the sincere or pure milk of the word that they may grow thereby: (1 Peter 2:2). Milk stand for that portion of God’s Word that is easier to digest, the basic teachings. The New Testament encourages the people of the LORD God to start with milk not solid food as babes in Christ we were not able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 3:2). The first principles of the oracles of God; and have become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (Hebrews 5:12ñ13).
Milk was used to describe the Promised Land, As the Israelites spent years wandering in the wilderness. The LORD God promised to come down to deliver His people out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and large land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:8, 17)
It shall be when the LORD shall bring His people into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore unto their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey, that they shall keep this service in the month of Abib. (Exodus 13:5). The LORD sent an angel before His people and drove out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for He would not go up in the midst of them; for they are a stiff-necked people: lest the LORD God consume them in the way. (Exodus 33:3).
They did come into the land which flowed with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. (Numbers 13:27). The LORD God had brought them into this place, and had given them this land, a land that flows with milk and honey. The brought the first fruits of the land which the LORD God had given them and worshipped before the LORD God. They were instructed they shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD God had given unto them. (Deuteronomy 26:9-15). The people were commanded to obey His voice, and do them, according to all which the LORD God commanded them so shall they be my people, and I will be your God: That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. (Jeremiah 11:5). The LORD God gave them a land flowing with milk and honey; And they came in, and possessed it; but they did not obey the voice, neither walked in the law of the LORD God; they have done nothing of all that the LORD God commanded them to do: therefore they have caused all this evil to come upon them. (Jeremiah 32:22-23). The Lord GOD; said In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God; In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied (that is sought out) for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: The LORD God then said for them to cast away their abominations of his eyes, and not defile themselves with the idols of Egypt I am the LORD your God. But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 20:5-8).
Milk had its dietary restriction on Israel They were permitted to eat young goats, and they were allowed to drink milk, but they were not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother. The first of the first fruits of the land shall be brought into the house of the LORD God. You shall not seethe, that is boil, a kid in his mother’s milk. (Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26). You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it unto the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or thou may sell it unto an alien that is a foreign: for you are an holy people unto the LORD God. You shall not seethe that is boil a kid in his mother’s milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21).
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MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Milk /Dairy Products:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2362,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Milk /Dairy Products:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2362,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Milk /Dairy Products:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2362, (accessed).
