Milk
Summary
A primary food in the ancient Near East, used literally and figuratively throughout Scripture.
☩Literal Usage
Milk was a staple food in Israel's pastoral economy. Abraham offered his heavenly visitors 'butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed' (Genesis 18:8). Jael gave Sisera milk when he requested water (Judges 4:19; 5:25). Milk came primarily from goats (Proverbs 27:27), though also from cows and sheep.
☩Symbol of Blessing
God promised Israel 'a land flowing with milk and honey' (Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5)—a phrase repeated over twenty times. This idiom represents abundant agricultural blessing. Milk flows from healthy flocks; honey from thriving bees. Together they symbolize the prosperity of a well-watered, fruitful land.
☩Dietary Laws
The command 'Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk' appears three times (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21). This prohibition likely opposed a Canaanite religious practice and forms the basis for the Jewish separation of meat and dairy products.
☩Spiritual Nourishment
Peter exhorts believers to 'desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby' (1 Peter 2:2). However, the writer of Hebrews criticizes those who still need milk instead of solid food: 'Every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe' (Hebrews 5:13). Paul similarly distinguishes between feeding milk and meat to believers (1 Corinthians 3:2).
