Milk and Meat
SILENCE!
Time and time again, God's people have been taught always to be ready
to give an answer regarding our beliefs:
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and
fear. (I Peter 3:15)
But when I was
put on the spot, all I could come up with was a long, embarrassing silence!
This happened at Strathcona Provincial Park on northern Vancouver Island
where I was spending a few days helping out with the supervision of my
daughter's Grade 7 class on their school trip. I had just returned
to our breakfast table in the lodge cafeteria after a low-key (or so I
thought) visit to the kitchen to ask the chef whether or not there was
any ham in the tasty-looking omelettes. As I sat down, my daughter's
teacher – Mrs. Schreiber, a very pleasant, polite and knowledgeable lady – first asked me if our church kept the "Jewish" dietary laws. A
common question that is often asked of God's people. Nothing new.
I knew what to answer. All was well. But then came question number two:
"But you don't have any problem eating
meat and drinking milk together, as the Jews do?"
I knew that we did not have any doctrine or teaching against consuming
meat and milk products together, so out came an automatic "No." But
then I felt the need to expand on my answer. Without some brief explanation
from me, Mrs. Schreiber and the others at the table would be left with
the opinion that "John Plunkett's church" arbitrarily picks and chooses
which parts of the Bible it will obey and which parts it will not.
I searched my memory banks:
Why do we keep the one but not the other?
I didn't know.
Was there a real connection between the two?
I didn't know.
Was the milk-and-meat command part of the sacrificial law and therefore not
required today?
I didn't know.
What were the scriptures concerning this subject?
I didn't know!
The pregnant silence reigned for what seemed like an eternity until, mercifully,
one of the other dads at the table changed the subject with another of
his hunting or fishing stories.
What about you? Would you have been ready with an answer on this
subject? Does God expect His children to be ready with answers on
such seemingly minor topics? Is this, in fact, a minor topic?
If not, what importance does it hold?
Let us examine how and why the church teaching on this subject – of
whether or not to consume meat and milk products together – differs from
the Jewish teaching.
Origins
What were the origins of the Jewish teaching? This doctrine of not
eating meat and milk together is one of the main Jewish dietary laws.
But where did they get it? Did they get it from the Old Testament?
I looked it up in a couple of different textbooks on Judaism, and they
all agreed with the Jewish Encyclopedia, which says this in its article
on "Dietary laws":
Prohibition of Eating Milk and Meat Together:
The prohibition
of eating meat and milk, or foods derived from them, is first mentioned
in the Talmud (Hul. 8:1), but is traced back by the rabbis to the
Biblical commandment: "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk"
(Ex. 23:19). It applies, however, to the flesh of poultry
as well as to that of mammals. Foods derived from the meat of mammals
or poultry are known as fleishig; those derived from milk, such
as cheese, rennet and pastry made with milk, are known as milchig.
All other foods are neutral (minnig or parve), including
fish, eggs, and all vegetables and fruits; accordingly, they may be eaten
together with both milk and meat dishes. The latter, however, can
be eaten only six hours apart. Scrupulous individuals are careful
to have two sets of dishes, cooking vessels and table utensils, in order
to remove any possibility of the contact of the tiniest part of one of
the two kinds of food with the other.
Note that this doctrine was "first mentioned in the Talmud." But
what is the Talmud and what authority does it hold? Is it, like the
Bible, God's inspired word? No. It is not. The Talmud is an
"encyclopaedia" of
Jewish civil and religious law and it includes a set of man-made commentaries
and interpretations of Old Testament scriptures. These commentaries date
from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD – many, many years after God had given
His laws to Israel at Sinai.
The Jewish Encyclopedia says that it is the rabbis who trace their milk
and meat doctrine back to Exodus 23:19. But did the rabbis trace
it accurately? Let us take a look at this scripture:
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the
house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's
milk.
We know that the scriptures are clear with regard to clean and unclean
meats, but does this scripture actually say that meat and milk should not
be eaten together? No, it does not. Then what does it say?
It says that God's people should not seethe a kid in its mother's milk.
"Seethe" is an old English word for "boil" or "stew" and a kid, of course,
is a young goat.
Why would they do it?
But why would anyone ever consider cooking a young goat in its mother's
milk? Why did God bring this to the Israelites' attention?
Why would they even think of doing such a thing? And even if they
did, what would be wrong with it?
According to various Bible commentaries, the pagans of that era and
of that area had a fertility rite, which involved boiling a kid in its
mother's milk and sprinkling the broth as a magic charm on their gardens
and fields. This was done in the hope of increasing the yield of
their crops. Here is what the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge says
about Exodus 23:19:
The true sense of this passage seems to be that assigned by Dr. Cudworth,
from a MS. comment of a Karaïte Jew. "It was a custom with the
ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a
kid, and boil it in the dam's milk; and then in a magical way, to go about
and sprinkle all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards with
it, thinking by these means, that they should make them fruitful, and bring
forth more abundantly in the following year. Wherefore, God forbad his
people, at the time of their in-gathering, to use any such superstitious
or idolatrous rite."
God was warning His people against following this heathen custom. It actually
had nothing to do with the dietary laws.
Importance today?
Can any importance be attached to this seemingly outdated command?
Does it have any significance today? How many of God's people today
even keep goats?The late Herbert Armstrong taught that if a command is repeated in the
Holy Bible, then that command is doubly important. This command is actually
repeated twice – so we might consider it to be trebly important!
Let us take a look at the appropriate scriptures and their context.
Before we leave the 23rd chapter of Exodus, let us look at the context
of verse 19:
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou
shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread
seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib;
for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
and the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast
sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of
the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither
shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first
of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD
thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. (Exodus
23:14-19)
From verse 14 up to and including verse 19, God is giving instructions
concerning what to do and what not to do on His Feast days. The first
repetition of this command is in Exodus 34:26 and, again, the context is
dealing with the proper keeping of God's Feast days:
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou
shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month
Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that
openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether
ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt
redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his
neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And
none shall appear before me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but
on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou
shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits
of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD,
the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and
enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt
go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. Thou
shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the
sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house
of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's
milk. (Exodus 34:18-26)
The third and final occurrence of this command is in Deuteronomy 14:21,
and again the context is second tithe and the proper preparation for, and
observance of, God's Feasts:
Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give
it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou
mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD
thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth
forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in
the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy
corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and
of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.
And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry
it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall
choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand,
and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou
shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen,
or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul
desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt
rejoice, thou, and thine household, and the Levite that is within thy gates;
thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.
(Deuteronomy 14:21-27)
Through these commands, God was telling His Old Testament church to keep
His holy days in the ways He told them to, not in the ways that the Canaanites
and Egyptians commonly kept their days. We can apply the principles
of these commands to God's New Testament church today – not misinterpreting
them as the Jewish rabbis have done. God's people today should keep
His annual holy days as He commands us to, not by trying to duplicate the
methods and trappings of the world's old heathen observances: Christmas,
New Year, Valentine's Day, Lent, Easter and Halloween. We can also
apply the principle to God's weekly feast day, the Sabbath, by keeping
it in the way that God commands us to – not by trying to duplicate Satan's
counterfeit day of worship – Sunday.
Still in force?
If you were so inclined, would it be permissible for you to boil a kid
in its mother's milk? It isn't likely that you would want to, but
if you did, you would be "tempting" God (Deuteronomy 6:16; Malachi 3:15)
and breaking one of His laws – a law which is just as binding today as
are the laws regarding the holy days and tithing.
Finally, what about eating meat and milk products together? Is
it permissible? Yes. In fact, it always has been. Our Elder
Brother and Example, Jesus Christ, mixed the two in a meal prepared for
Him by Abraham and Sarah, hundreds of years before Moses:
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat
in the tent door in the heat of the day;... And he took 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)
Is it likely that Jesus Christ would have broken one of His own laws in
the presence of His human servants?
It is amazing what God will reveal to us if we try to dig a little deeper
into His Word. Let us get to know God's Word better and better by
studying it every day. Then if and when we're asked, we will be better
able to give effective answers regarding our beliefs.
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This page updated July 14, 2004