Milk

(to drink)

From mother’s milk to goat’s milk, dairy products were fundamental to the Israelites’ well-being. The people of the past drank milk as we do to obtain the calcium, proteins, and vitamins that their bodies demanded. The milk of cows, sheep, and goats was available to meet these nutritional needs in Bible times (Deut. 32:14), but it was the goat that was best suited to the task. The cow offered good quality milk in significant quantity, but cows did not do as well on the steep hillsides of the central mountains or the wilderness pastures that were of poorer quality. Both sheep and goats could handle steep terrain, and they produced milk when pastures were less than lush, but goats generated milk at twice the rate of sheep. In addition, the milk goats produced was superior in nutritional quality to the milk produced by the sheep.[144] Thus when the Bible speaks of milk and dairy products derived from it, most often it refers to goat’s milk.

Without refrigeration, fresh milk soon spoiled, so it was processed into a variety of dairy products, most of which involved the churn. The churn of Bible times was typically a goat skin that had been sewn closed and was suspended so it could be swung. After the milk soured, it was agitated in the churn in order to produce products like yogurt, butter, and cheese that had a much longer shelf life than raw milk.[145]

Goats surpass sheep in both the quantity and the quality of the milk they produce.

When the biblical authors formally mention milk, it is most often in a phrase used to characterize the Promised Land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev. 20:24; Num. 13:27; 14:8; 16:13–14; Deut. 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20; Josh. 5:6; Jer. 11:5; 32:22; Ezek. 20:6; 20:15). This description calls attention to two commodities of the Promised Land—bees’ honey and goats’ milk—that capture the pastoral nature of this land when contrasted to agricultural Egypt.[146] The Israelites would find the Promised Land to be very different from Egypt and extraordinarily different from the dry wilderness they inhabited prior to entering the Promised Land. This expression appears most often in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as the Lord whetted the appetite of his people for what was to come. But Deuteronomy in particular links the obedience of the Israelites to their covenant obligations; the land will flow with milk and honey only when God’s people live the unique life God called for them to live. We see how quickly this perspective was lost as the rebellious Israelites complained that Moses had led them out of a land flowing with milk and honey—Egypt —and had not led them into a new land flowing with milk and honey as promised (Num. 16:13–14).

Another curious reference to milk is found in Exodus 23:19: “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk” (see also Exod. 34:26; Deut. 14:21). Based on an ancient text from Ugarit archives, many have reported that this was a Canaanite religious ritual that the Israelites were not to replicate, though this perspective has been challenged.[147] What we can say for sure at the moment is that God commanded the Israelites to distinguish themselves from the other cultures around them by not using milk in their diet in this way.

The biblical authors also mention milk being offered to arriving guests. For example, Abraham brought out food, including curds and milk, when three visitors arrived in his camp compound (Gen. 18:2, 8). This offer of hospitality plays a more significant role in the narrative that describes the death of the Canaanite general, Sisera. Exhausted after fleeing from the battle his army had lost to the Israelites, Sisera sought refuge in the company of a perceived ally and within the tent of Jael. Her intentions were to execute him, but as part of the ruse that put him at ease, she met his request for a drink of water with a bowl filled with milk (Judg. 4:18–19; 5:25).

Because milk was such an important element of the ancient diet, the biblical authors employ the consumption of milk as a metaphor for abundant physical blessings. Isaiah pictures the future glory of Zion by telling God’s people, “You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts” (Isa. 60:16). Joel similarly images abundance with milk in these encouraging words: “In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk” (Joel 3:18).

In the New Testament, the consumption of milk is linked to engagement with God’s Word. Given the life-giving quality of this amazing liquid, milk became an apt symbol for the message that fundamentally changes our spiritual health. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Pet. 2:2–3). In two other locations, however, milk is used as a metaphor for the most basic elements of theology that Christians learn at the beginning of their faith experience. Easily digestible milk is the place to start, but mature people move on to eat solid food. “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (Heb. 5:12–13; see also 1 Cor. 3:2).

The southern portions of the Promised Land favor pastoralism over agriculture. This may be the land of milk (from goats) indicated in the phrase “the land of milk and honey.”