Our earliest authentic records about the dairy are of the use of milk
and its products among the Jews. We are told, in the 8th verse of
the 18th chapter of Genesis, that when Abraham entertained the three
strangers, "he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed,
and set it before them." Moses, in his song, as recorded in the 23d
chapter of Deuteronomy, 14th verse, says of Jacob that the Lord, among
other things, gave him to eat "butter of kine and milk of sheep."
Deborah, who declares in her song that "the stars in their courses did
fight against Sisera," who was entertained and slain by Jael, says of
the murderess (Judges, 25th verse and 8th chapter) "he asked water
and she gave him milk, she brought forth butter in a lordly dish."
In the 17th chapter and 5th verse of 2d Samuel, the writer tells us
that David and his people, after the battle in the wood of Ephraim,
were given "honey and butter, and sheep and cheese of kine," to eat.
Zophar, in the 20th chapter of Job, 17th verse, declares of the wicked
hypocrite, who "hath swallowed down riches," that his triumph is short,
and "he shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and
butter"--which, we infer, are designed for the righteous; and Job (29th
chapter and 6th verse) bemoans the loss of his former prosperity,
"when I washed my steps with butter." In the 55th Psalm, 24th verse,
David says of his enemy that "the words of his mouth were smoother
than butter." Solomon appears to have understood the whole business.
In Proverbs, 30th chapter and 33d verse, he exclaims: "Surely, the
churning of milk bringeth forth butter." Isaiah, in the 7th chapter and
15th verse, declares of the coming Immanuel, that "butter and honey
shall he eat;" and again (22d verse) that "for the abundance of milk
that they shall give he shall eat butter."