Milk

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

Of cows, goats, camels, and sheep a favorite Oriental food

Concise Bible Dictionary:

This from cows, goats, sheep and camels is plentifully used in the East. It is drunk in its natural condition, or shaken up in a skin into a sour curdled state, called in scripture “butter.” Flocks and herds were so numerous, and wild honey so plenteous, that the country was fitly called “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Gen. 18:88And 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 18:8); Ex. 3:8, 178And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8)
17And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:17); Ex. 18:1919Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: (Exodus 18:19); Joel 3:1818And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. (Joel 3:18)). Milk is regarded as such a necessary article of sustenance that it is associated with wine to prefigure that which grace now supplies, without money and without price, and which will be supplied to Israel in a future day (Isa. 55:11Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)). In the description of Israel’s promised glory it is said, “Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles” (Isa. 40:1616And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. (Isaiah 40:16)). In the New Testament milk is a symbol of the sustenance of God’s word (1 Peter 2:22As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1 Peter 2:2)); and is also referred to as food for infants in contrast to the solid food used by adults (1 Cor. 3:22I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. (1 Corinthians 3:2); Heb. 5:12-1312For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (Hebrews 5:12‑13)).

From Manners and Customs of the Bible:

This is meant to represent the pastoral wealth of Judah. Milk is, in the East, a very important and highly valued article of diet. In India it is sometimes said of a rich man, “He has abundance of milk.” A saying somewhat similar to this, but more closely resembling the text, is applied to one who has a plentiful supply of milk: “His mouth smells of milk.”

Related Books and Articles:

97. Milk Highly Esteemed
Narrator: Chris Genthree