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Cheese

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

The Hebrew words imply curds, or curdled milk (1 Sam. 17:18¹⁸And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. (1 Samuel 17:18); Job 10:10¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? (Job 10:10); 2 Sam. 17:29²⁹And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. (2 Samuel 17:29)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

Curdled milk, which in some instances is dried and is solid enough to be cut into slices (1 Sam. 17:18¹⁸And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. (1 Samuel 17:18); 2 Sam. 17:29²⁹And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. (2 Samuel 17:29); Job 10:10¹⁰Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? (Job 10:10)).

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

1 Samuel 17:18¹⁸And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. (1 Samuel 17:18). Carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

1. The cheese used in the East is made up into small cakes, strongly salted, soft when new, but soon becoming dry and hard. It is greatly inferior to either English or Dutch cheese. Burckhardt speaks of a kind of cheese made of coagulated buttermilk, which is dried until it becomes quite hard, and is then ground. The Arabs eat it mixed with butter.

2. By the expression “take their pledge,” is probably meant, Bring some token from them that they are yet alive and well. Roberts says that among the Hindus a person in a distant country sends to those who are interested in his welfare a ring, a lock of hair, or a piece of his nail, as a “pledge” of his health and prosperity.

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