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A misunderstanding of Scripture verses has resulted in different dietary doctrines among Messianics, Jews, and Christians concerning meat and dairy consumption. This article will properly analyze and interpret the associated Scripture verses involved and will discuss the differing beliefs.
EXODUS 23:19, 34:26; DEUTERONOMY 14:21 (TLV):
Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCT KASHRUT KOSHER RULES
Traditional mainstream Judaism teaches that consuming meat and dairy products together is prohibited based on God’s command, repeated 3-times in Scripture, to not cook a calf in its mother’s milk. Rabbinical Judaism does not allow the mixing or the eating of meat and dairy products together. During the human digestive process, consumed food literally seethes or boils inside the stomach where food is saturated in digestive acid and is chemically broken down. Traditional rabbinical Judaism concludes that eating meat and milk-derived dairy products together is prohibited, based on the belief that digesting meat and dairy products together amounts to boiling or seething meat and dairy. Meat is not to be eaten or cooked with milk, butter, cheese, or any other dairy product. Meat and dairy products are not to be consumed together within a time period spanning two to four hours (the time it normally takes food to pass from the stomach).
Rabbinical Judaism’s Talmud kosher kashrut laws require households to make provisions ensuring that meat does not come into contact with milk and dairy products. A kosher kashrut-compliant household will have at least two sets of utensils, sinks, refrigerators, pots, pans, and dishes: one set for meat and one set for dairy products. These are Rabbinical Judaism’s traditional commands that replace the commandment of God.
These misguided sets of kashrut rules, which include separate meat and dairy sinks for the washing of utensils, pots, pitchers, and cups are the traditional law of the elders spoken of by the Pharisees and scribes. Yeshua (Jesus) addressed the traditional kashrut commandments of men teachings when He referenced the washing of pitchers and cups in Mark 7:7-8.
MARK 7:7-8 (NKJV):
“And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, AS THE WASHING OF POTS AND CUPS, AND MANY OTHER SUCH THINGS YOU DO.”
Rabbinical Judaism’s doctrine of prohibiting the cooking and eating of meat and milk-derived dairy products together is an incorrect interpretation of God’s command against “boiling a kid in its mother’s milk,” failing to cross-reference and acknowledge the Scripture verse (Genesis 18:7-8) that shows that meat and dairy products may be served and consumed together.
GENESIS 18:7-8 (NKJV):
And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hurried to prepare it. AND HE TOOK CURDS AND MILK AND THE CALF, which he had prepared, and put it before them and he stood by them under the tree AS THEY ATE.
Due to a misinterpretation and failure to make a precept upon precept comparison of Scripture, the erroneous teaching prohibiting the consumption of meat and dairy products together has remained a erroneous teaching and tradition. Rabbinical Judaism’s kosher kashrut rules forbidding the eating of meat and milk-derived dairy products together is a false doctrine.
MEAT WITH MILK
Scripture confirms that meat and dairy products may be consumed together as Abraham served YHWH (the Lord) and his other guests meat and dairy together for a meal and they did eat (Genesis 18:7-8). It should be presumed that the calf served was a mature calf, having been weaned off from feeding from its mother’s milk.
YHWH (the Lord) did not admonish Abraham for serving meat and dairy together. It is not possible that YHWH (the Lord) would eat meat and dairy together if this was a violation of God’s dietary laws. If it were unlawful to eat meat and dairy together, Abraham, as well as YHWH (the Lord) and the men with Him, would be guilty of sin by violating a dietary law. Since YHWH (the Lord) did eat what Abraham served and did not rebuke Abraham for serving meat and dairy together, we can conclude that meat and dairy consumed together is permissible.
Cattle are not mothers of lambs. If one was to eat lamb and drink a glass of milk from a cow, the milk consumed did not come from the lamb’s mother. Therefore, the rabbinical command and doctrine of not eating ALL meat and ALL dairy products together, from ALL mammal species, far exceeds the specific command to not eat a young mammal with its OWN MOTHER’S MILK.
PROPER INTERPRETATION
Genesis 18:7-8 is scriptural confirmation that meat and milk-based dairy products may be consumed together. What then is the meaning and correct interpretation of what God commanded when He said, “Do not boil a kid it its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21)?
The Scripture verses regarding not cooking a calf in its mother’s milk should be interpreted and understood in the following way:
EXODUS 23:19, 34:26; DEUTERONOMY 14:21 (TLV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
Do not boil [COOK] a kid [YOUNG MAMMAL] in [THAT IS STILL NURSING ON] its mother’s milk.
NURSING MAMMALS
The command not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk literally means not to cook a young mammal (THAT HAS MILK INSIDE IT) from its mother. Milk is ‘in’ a young mammal that is nursing milk from its mother. All mammals nurse their newborn young, and while young mammals are still feeding on their mother’s milk, we are commanded not to cook and thereby consume them. The command equates to: Do not cook young mammals while their mother’s milk is in them. Cattle nurse their calves during their first 6 to 8 months. It is prohibited to cook a calf while it is in (nursing on) its mother’s milk.
This would prohibit the eating of veal, where young cattle are slaughtered while they are still nursing on their mother’s milk. If you cook and consume veal, you are cooking and eating a calf that literally still has its mother’s milk digesting and providing nourishment inside it. Mammals should first be weaned off their mother’s milk before they are slaughtered for meat and consumed.
GOD’S SIMILAR SIMILAR MERCY COMMANDS TOWARDS ANIMALS
LEVITICUS 22:28 (NKJV):
Whether it is a cow or ewe, do not kill both her and her young on the same day.
DEUTERONOMY 22:6-7 (NKJV):
If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
PROVERBS 12:10, 27:23 (NKJV):
A righteous man regards the life of his animal, …
Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.
The command against cooking young mammals while they are nursing on their mother’s milk is a command demonstrating God’s mercy towards animals, similar to Leviticus 22:28 and Deuteronomy 22:6-7. God commands us to not slaughter (and therefore eat) mammals and their offspring on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). Additionally, God prohibits us slaughtering a birds together with their chicks or eggs, commanding us to let the mother go free and live. This command of mercy, to let the mother bird go free and live and keep the chicks or eggs, comes with a promise of wellness and longevity.
If a promise of wellness and prolonged days comes to those who obey God’s mercy commands concerning animals, the alternative will be the case if those commands are ignored and violated. If a person slaughters and consumes a hen together with her eggs, or cooks and then eats a calf that is still feeding on its mother’s milk (veal), and continually does this throughout his or her life, then a curse of sickness and a shortened lifespan may ensue. If sickness and shortened days could result from continually eating veal, then veal should be considered unclean. The command against boiling a kid in its mother’s milk is a specific command against cooking and eating and young mammals still nursing and being nourished on their mother’s milk, and is not a command against consuming matured animal meat and dairy products together. The doctrine prohibiting the cooking and eating of all meat and dairy products together is a false doctrinal teaching of Rabbinical Judaism.
