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Hebrew Word of the Day

חֶמְאָח

Meaning: butter

Translit: chem•ah

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Butter was another favored food product in the Bible. Historically, butter production and consumption has always been associated with affluence and with times of civil and social stability. Napoleon was the first to request its production when his war effort caused a decrease in butter production. It was the same situation during WWI and WWII.

Back to the Bible, we learn that King David was honored and served with butter and other lavish foods:

“And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, The people are hungry, and tired, and thirsty, in the wilderness”

II Samuel 17:29

Isaiah gives an amazing testimony about the Lord himself who shall give the House of David (Israel) a sign: the birth of Immanu-El. Do you have any idea what he would eat so that he would know how to refuse evil and choose the good?

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El. Butter and honey shall he eat, when he shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good”

Isaiah 7:15

Butter is treated just the same as milk in regard to the kosher laws.

The kosher paradox − eating meat with milk. Biblical Kosher vs. Rabbinical Kosher
It is a strict dietary prohibition among Jews to avoid eating milk and meat. These two foods together are considered a violation of the Kosher laws. In fact, there isn’t even one place where such a demand is made. The Rabbis based this kosher law solely on the phrase that appears 3 times in the Bible:

You shall not boil a kid [young goat] in its mother’s milk

Exodus 23:19, bracket content added

It is quite bewildering why God could not be less vague and more specific about milk and meat than this strange request which remain a defiled Canaanite custom of this practice. The subject is more confusing when we learn that God himself, along with two angels consumed this ‘non-kosher combo’:

And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they ate

Genesis 18:8

No wonder why some contest and see the milk with meat prohibition as a wrong, rabbinical law. When reading the verse above one may reflect: “if good enough for them − good enough for me.”

Butter was another favored food product in the Bible. Historically, butter production and consumption has always been associated with affluence and with times of civil and social stability. Napoleon was the first to request its production when his war effort caused a decrease in butter production. It was the same situation during WWI and WWII.

Back to the Bible, we learn that King David was honored and served with butter and other lavish foods:

“And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of cows, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, The people are hungry, and tired, and thirsty, in the wilderness”

II Samuel 17:29

Isaiah gives an amazing testimony about the Lord himself who shall give the House of David (Israel) a sign: the birth of Immanu-El. Do you have any idea what he would eat so that he would know how to refuse evil and choose the good?

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, the young woman is with child, and she will bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-El. Butter and honey shall he eat, when he shall know how to refuse the evil, and choose the good”

Isaiah 7:15

Butter is treated just the same as milk in regard to the kosher laws.

The kosher paradox − eating meat with milk. Biblical Kosher vs. Rabbinical Kosher
It is a strict dietary prohibition among Jews to avoid eating milk and meat. These two foods together are considered a violation of the Kosher laws. In fact, there isn’t even one place where such a demand is made. The Rabbis based this kosher law solely on the phrase that appears 3 times in the Bible:

You shall not boil a kid [young goat] in its mother’s milk

Exodus 23:19, bracket content added

It is quite bewildering why God could not be less vague and more specific about milk and meat than this strange request which remain a defiled Canaanite custom of this practice. The subject is more confusing when we learn that God himself, along with two angels consumed this ‘non-kosher combo’:

And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they ate

Genesis 18:8

No wonder why some contest and see the milk with meat prohibition as a wrong, rabbinical law. When reading the verse above one may reflect: “if good enough for them − good enough for me.”