The permitted mammals named in Dt are ten. (a) The three domestic groups, oxen, sheep, and goats. The first group was called in general nc,-ij behanAh, or cattle (Dt \i*), neat cattle being distin- guished as -if3= hakdr, LXX/Sofs, tr. the herd, as dis- tinguished from the flock. The calf is in Heb. Vv 'cgel (Is 27'") ; an 'egel marhek or fatted calf was killed for Saul by the -witch (1 S 28='') ; see also Gn 18' (where the calf is ben bakar, 'the son of the herd') and i c-ircvrbs ix6(7xos oi' Lk lo*". -ivS' sh6r (LXX libaxos) is used for a bullock, as in Lv 22-'', Neh 5'», or else i; par, as in Nu 8*, Ps 22'-' ; and a heifer is called 'eglnth bakar (Gn 15', Dt 21') or parah (Gn 41=, Nu 19^). Bulls are named (poet.) pn-sx 'ctftiiVim (Is 34', Ps 22'^), and cows or cattle in general D-ab.x 'alaphim. The commonest breed were black or brown, short limbed and small, and they were principally kept in the valleys and in the low country. Fat oxen were part of Solo- mon's daily provision (1 K 4^) ; these were fed in a DCN or stall, and hence are called stalled oxen (Pr 15") ; Solomon had also pasture-fed oxen (1 K 4^3, see also Elisha, 1 K 19-'). The aurochs or wild bull (the Hebrew re'em) v/as probably seldom captured, even in nets (Is 51'"). The buffalo was not originally a native, but has been imported into Palestine since Bible times.
From the flock [Xi- zun (Gn 4=) the food animals were n^i? taleh, or sucking lambs (LXX a.pvb's yaXa- diivoi), as in 1 S 7'. A hogget or lamb from one to three years old was named e-^ia kebes (Nu 7">) or 3b'3 kescb (Lv 3'), LXX iS/ii/os or apvbi. In Aramaic a young sheep is called tex 'inimar, as in Ezr 6" ; a ewe is hrn rahel (Gn 31**) ; and a fatted sheep i3 kar (2 K 3^) ; while sheep in general are called nb' sck (Jg 6*). The commonest breed of sheej) in Palestine is the fat-taUed variety, whose tail is wide and flat, and may weigh 10 lb., most of which is pure fat. This fat tail (RV) is the n^K 'ahjdh or rump (AV) of Ex 29-^ (see Herod, m. 113). In Northern Palestine and Syria there is also a short-woolled small sheep, resembling the merino ; both are varieties of the one species Oi'is Aries. The lamb was the commonest of ail meats for feasts, and is still the animal often killed for a guest (Doughty, i. 16). The ram, S^x 'atjU, possibly the beden or wild-goat (Gn 15°), was also used as food (Gn 31^). For the use of Iambs see 2 S 12*, Is 53', and the paschal lamb (Ex 12*).
The goat (-I'VV sair) was coniiiionl3' kept in flocks in the more mountainous districts, while the sheep was fed in the lower pastures ; the two species of goat, Capra hirrus and C. mambrica, were not ap- parently differentiated by name ; tlie former is the common goat, the latter has a slieep-like head and Ion" pciuTulous, flapping ears. The mr.Ie or he-goat of tile former breed is the ay iat/is/i, (in 3(>*, Pr 30^', and of tlie latter iii^ji 'atti'u' {Gn 31'"), or in Aramaic TES zlphtr, as Ezr 6". The ly 'cz may have been the Capra JEgagrus 1 1 Sinaitica, both of which are natives of Bible lands, and probably the source of Esau's savoury meat. The kid, "3 gidi (Dt 14'-'), is mentioned as the material fur a small feast (Jg 6" 13"). Compare the fpi^os of the iiarnble (Lk 15-'), and the elder brotlier's iniplied comparison botween the kid and the calf. As the Iamb is useful for his fleece as well as his flesh (Pr 27'^), the kid is commonly used by the poorer or more economical classes (see 1 Es 1'). Rebekah used it for making Isaac's savoury meat (Gn 27°).
The thrice-repeated taboo concerning seething a kid in its mother's milk (Ex 23" 34-*, Dt 14-') h.as been interiireted : (1) As a prohibition of the slauglitcr of the mother and oflspring at the same time (as in Lv 22'^). (2) As forbiifding the killing of the young animal before it was eiglit days old : we learn from the passage just quotcil that an animal was not allowed to be sacrificed until it had reached
that age, and it has been thought that it was also unclean aa food. (3) The most probable explana- tion ia that it had reference to some custom among the surrounding nations, such as that described by Cudworth and Spencer {de Icgibus Eebr. ritual. ii. 335), in which a kid was boiled in its mother's milk, and the broth sprinkled on the ground as a sacrifice to propitiate the harvest gods and ensure fmitfulness. (4) Michaelis has supposed that mother's milk is a euphemism for butter, and that the food forbidden was meat drenched with butter. For other views on this njy'iB to'ebiih, or abomina- tion, see Tract Chullin, viii. § 4, and Maimonides, More nebochim, iii. 48.
Milk and its derivatives formed an important element of the food of the Bible peoples, Pales- tine is described as a land flowng with milk and lioney (Ex 3* and eighteen other places), ajir) haldb, LXX ti.\a, is used for fresh milk (Ca 5", Is 28"), or of cream from which butter is made (Pr 30''). Milk of goats was esteemed the best (Pr 27"), then that of sheep (Dt 32"). Cow's milk is rarely as good as either of the others, on account of the unsuitability of the pasture, and is not often specified in the Bible. Camel's milk was probably used by the patriarchs, as we infer from Gn 32" ; but it BOUTS more quickly than other milk, and often pains strangers when they first take it (Doughty, i. 216).