KID/MILK

From a message of 17Jul1994 from a Curious Questioner--
>CQ> Subj: TRINITY

>CQ> The commandment, "Thou shalt not seethe [boil] the kid in the mother's milk" is found in three places in two books of the Torah [Pentateuch].

Correction: The thrice-repeated commandment says: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." (Ex.23:19b; Ex.34:26p; Deut.14:21p) Notice that it is not "the" (particular) but "a" (any) kid; and it is not just any mother's milk, but his own mother's milk. And it says "kid", not lamb, nor calf, nor any other creature. The word "kid" in the Bible is used only of a goat of the first year. (The "milk" is obviously goat-milk, not cow, sheep or whale milk. :)

>CQ> The Rabbinic decision was that God chose to place a dietary restriction in the midst of ceremonial religious laws.

Dietary? The commandment says nothing about eating or not eating. The commandment is concerned with preparation of a sacrifice, and the context is the -THREE- feasts when all the males of Israel must appear "before" the LORD. The blood was not to be offered with leaven; and neither was the fat of the sacrifices to remain until the morning; and a kid could not be seethed in his mother's milk.

The mother of the kid GIVES of her milk to nourish his LIFE! To DROWN and/or cook a child in his own life-giving milk is an abomination.

>CQ> There is a proscription of having meat for four hours after the consumption of milk. Three hours must pass after having meat.

That has nothing to do with the commandment regarding a kid and his mother's milk. The Lord not only allows partaking of flesh and milk in the same meal, but himself with his two angels ate of the flesh of a calf that Abraham set before them, and drank of the milk. (There was no need to tenderize his flesh by seething him in milk, since he was already "tender and good"; therefore the calf was "dressed".)

Remember that, although the word "seethe" may mean boiling; Seethe also means: to soak in a liquid, in order to soften, clean, or EXTRACT the essence. "The meat of a male goat must be eaten when the animal is very young indeed, not older than 4 months." (--Joy of Cooking, p.471) (And even then, the flesh is tougher than mutton. :)

(Please see next message. Thanks. :)

(2) KID/MILK

Cont. from a message of 17Jul1994 from a Curious Questioner--
>CQ> Subj: TRINITY

>CQ> The Canaanites would seethe a kid its mothers milk at the end of the harvest. The would then poor out the milk on the four corners of their fields as a oblation to their gods of the harvest.

The Canaanite ritual is referred to in the Ras Shamra tablets: "Over the fire seven times the sacrificers cook a kid in milk". (--Canaanite Myths and Legends) The essence from the kid soaks out into the milk/broth, which was then sprinkled on part of their fields in superstitious hope that it would make the field more fertile.

>CQ> However, Deteronomy's inclusion of this injunction IS within dietary injunctions.

The eating of a kid of the goats is covered under the earlier command which says in part: "These are the beasts which ye shall eat... the goat... and the wild goat..." (Deut.14:4p,5p)

The mention of seething a kid was after the completion of the listing of ceremonially clean and unclean creatures; and immediately before a commandment regarding "field" fertility: "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year." (Deut.14:22) Rather than follow the superstition of sprinkling kid-essence-milk for fertility, Israelites were to be faithful unto the LORD in tithing the INCREASE of the field seed.

(Opposite order. Canaanites did something to try to persuade their mythical "gods" to make their fields fertile; but Israelites were to do something because the LORD had ALREADY made the field fertile! :)

>CQ> For me the clencher comes with 20th century dietetics. It turns out that mixing dairy products with red meat IS bad for the body. Docters recomend separating the ingestion of milk and meat by at least three or four hours.

On the contrary, it is a widely known dietary fact that meat protein causes loss of body calcium and milk supplies calcium. Most doctors recommend that meat eaters should also drink milk, to avoid calcium deficiency problems such as osteoporosis. Additionally, "The combination of very lean red meat (6.5oz/day) and skim milk (1qt/day) is highly effective in rapidly reducing cholesterol levels." People that suffer from "Lactose Intolerance" are advised, among other things: "NEVER drink milk alone." ("Milk does a body good!" :)

Grace be to them that love the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. --Richard