In Ex 23:19, Ex 34:26, and Deut 14:21-22, the Bible gives the command “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Some interpret this literally, suggesting that we can’t eat dairy and meat at the same time. But is there more to it than that?

One theory is that it is related to ancient pagan practices done by the Canaanites. Another option is that this is an ancient idiom that lost its meaning over time. There are three places in the Bible where this sentence is mentioned, all in the same context of tithes and offerings that surround it.

A very popular view on this passage is that this was an ancient Canaanite tradition, and it was forbidden because it was a pagan practice used for worshiping the Canaanite gods. In the early 20th century, a Ugaritic tablet dated to the 14th century BCE, known as “KTU 1.23,” was discovered. Archaeologists refer to its contents as “The Birth of the Graceful and Beautiful Gods” or “Birth of the Gods.” The tablet was written in Ugaritic script and describes the sexual relations between the god Il and his two wives, as well as some connected ancient pagan fertility customs practiced by the people of that time. Line 14 of this tablet, which is partially illegible, is believed to say “Cook a kid in milk, a [?] in curds.” This sounds a lot like what is written in the scriptures mentioned above. It seems plausible that this was an ancient Canaanite practice that the Israelites were prohibited from doing. Some argue, however, that because the text is damaged, an interpretation that only connects with the Bible is biased. Opponents of that view have proposed alternative renderings that share no resemblance to the biblical text. It is believed that this was a harvest season ritual, which is why all the scriptures referencing it are about harvest. But there is another view that focuses more on the harvest aspect of the scriptures.

The other view is that it is an idiom that meant they were to bring the best tithes and offerings to God rather than leftovers.

Both verses in Exodus say the same thing: “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” [NLT] (Ex 23:19, Ex 34:26)

Deut 14:21-22 [NLT] “ 21 You must not eat anything that has died a natural death. You may give it to a foreigner living in your town, or you may sell it to a stranger. But do not eat it yourselves, for you are set apart as holy to the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. 22 You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.

In the Exodus passages, it appears directly after a mention of first fruit offerings. Meanwhile, the Deuteronomy passage appears before the command to give the yearly tithe. None of the passages containing this phrase prohibit eating, so this passage is not about the consumption of food like kosher food laws in Leviticus 11.

God commands Israel to bring pleasing sacrifices, as the best and the first of their harvest. However, in their hard-heartedness and lack of trust, some would take some of last year’s leftover yield from the bottom of the barrel and mix it in with the new wheat. The idea is that the mother’s milk represents a previous generation, and the newborn young goat is the first fruit of the current year. This figure of speech could mean do not combine the old with the new, or one generation of crops with the next. This is similar to Jesus’ idiom of not pouring new wine into old wineskins, which refers to blending the old and new covenants (Matt 9:17, Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37). This makes more sense in the context of sacrifice, as verses about tithes and offerings surround all three verses.

Of course, both views may be true. That would mean this was an idiom to remind them to worship God correctly, and the idiom itself is based on an idolatrous worship ritual done by their pagan peers. Either way, most Bible scholars and commentators agree it’s not a prohibition on meat and dairy.

Resources:
Canaanite practice based on archeological evidence

A critical look at the KTU 1.23 tablet

Idiom about Tithes and Offerings view