Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MILK

Liquid nourishment, especially important for sustenance of newborns (cf. 2 Macc. 7:27). Milk is a basic human need (Sir. 39:26), and farmers regularly raised sheep and goats for dairy products. In the OT the goat was the primary producer of milk (Prov. 27:27). The Promised Land is called the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3:8), referring both to the agricultural bounty of the land of Canaan and to the fact that God would nourish the Israelites there.

One cultic prohibition forbids the cooking of a kid in its mother’s milk (Exod. 34:26). This puzzling regulation has provided the exegetical basis for the Jewish practice of not cooking or eating meat and milk products together.

Milk is used as a simile for whiteness (Gen. 49:12) and as a metaphor for romantic love (Cant. 4:11). Milk may refer to material wealth (Isa. 60:16) or didactic nourishment (55:1). Spiritual milk is highly desirable (1 Pet. 2:2). Referring metaphorically to communication of basic teachings and insights, “milk” is suitable food for young believers, while mature believers should eat solid food (1 Cor. 3:2).

See Dairy Products.

Stephen Alan Reed