I like Rabbi Joseph Bekhor Shor’s interpretation. It’s far from being accepted in Judaism - probably because it makes so much sense.
The interpretation is based on the fact that the passage originally appears in Exodus twice - but not in a section about Kosher laws. It appears in sections about Bikurim - bringing offerings to the temple:
- www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+23%3A…
- www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+34%3A…
The very same verse that contains that law also contains a law about Bikkurim:
Bring the best firstfruits of your land to the house of the Lord your God.
You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Because these two laws seem so unrelated, Rabbi Joseph Bekhor Shor suggests a different way to read the second part.
In Hebrew, the root of the word “cook”/“boil” is B-SH-L - and this is also the root of the word “ripe”/“mature”. Because of that, it’s possible to read “you must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk” as “you must not let a young goat mature while drinking its mother’s milk”.
This makes the second part of the verse a repetition of the first part - a pattern very common in the Old Testament as a (vain) attempt to prevent misinterpretations. Reading it like so, both parts mean “the offerings should be as young and as fresh as possible”.
That reading is a little bit odd - but not too odd in biblical language standards, and it makes so much more sense in the context where the passage appears.
sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Deuteronomy is originally from the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish mythology, the book is from the sermons of Moses. Though, it’s believed to be much more recent (something like a 1000 years) than the time period where the figure of Moses (or the person(s) he was based on) would have existed. But, even taking Jewish and Christian mythologies at their word, Jesus had nothing to do with that rule. Also, Jesus probably meant for this rule to end for adherents of Christianity.
So, feel free to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. Jesus is A-ok with that.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
And further back? Babylonian? There’s some Gilgamesh and Atrahasis in the bible…
thiseggowaffles@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Further back than Babylon. We’re talking ancient Sumer.
sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I would be surprised if they were borrowing ideas from other cultures in the area (and vice versa). The various peoples in Mesopotamia were interacting regularly; so, some back and forth of ideas is to be expected. Though as a law code, Deuteronomy seems like it would be more home grown.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
I mean, Jesus was Jewish and he wouldn’t have called his followers Christians because he hadn’t died on a cross yet. He would have called them his Jewish brothers and his followers would have done the same for decades afterwards. He was the leader of a sect of Judaism.
Pacattack57@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think what he’s referring to is much of the Jewish traditions (by other Christian denominations) are deemed unnecessary because Jesus fulfilled the prophecies and therefore “preparation” for his coming is no longer required.
It’s a little hard to explain but that’s why Christians don’t do any of the dietary restrictions in the old testament.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Jesus is against the pull out method confirmed.
CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 3 days ago
It’s been a long time since I read any of the bible, but wasn’t there some story in it somewhere where some guy uses that and is immediately killed by god or something? (albiet I think the justification was some sort of tradition obligating him to have a child with a specific person, and his behavior was supposed to be exploiting that without fulfilling his end or something like that).
sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is good. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.
Sludgeyy@lemmy.world 3 days ago
How did you get that it was alright to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk out of that?
Sure, he says you could eat the young goat that has been boiled in its mother’s milk.
But nothing saying it’s alright to boil the young goat in the first place, which the OP verse clearly states.
frezik@midwest.social 2 days ago
It’s a technicality. Jesus didn’t require any of the old law to be followed unless expressly said otherwise. The only two things that were expressly said otherwise was “love God” and “love your neighbor”. Therefore, baby goat milk boiling is fine.
RattlerSix@lemmy.world 3 days ago
This isn’t a sermon of Moses, it’s God’s law. God said to follow his law forever. Christians ignore it, but Jesus said to follow the law forever too.
sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s Yahweh’s laws but the mythology has it provided by Moses in his sermons to the Israelites. As for Christians ignoring bits of it, part of that is based on saying attributed to Jesus in the gospels (e.g. the bit from Mark I quoted above) and also the simple fact that most religions update themselves as society changes. If anything, I think the Catholic church was smart to have a leader who could receive “new revelations from God”. It lets them update canon, while maintaining the illusion that they aren’t just making shit up to stay relevant.
letsgo@lemm.ee 2 days ago
The Old Testament Law/Covenant still stands today and you have the choice to try to follow it if you want. I don’t see why you would want to because it’s “to be perfect you have to do all this all your life but TLDR you’ve already broken it so it’s impossible and you’re already condemned”. Jesus introduced a new covenant (aka testament, hence “New Testament”, also called “New Covenant” in some bibles) of grace and forgiveness, which is superior to the Old. We don’t ignore the Old as such, we just follow the New because it’s better.
bathing_in_bismuth@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
How does this benefit your neighbour?
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Check, check, probably not, check, check, check, check, maybe?, check, check, check and check.