Exodus 23:19

The commentators have accounted for the prohibition against boiling a kid (young lamb) in its mother’s milk in many different ways. Some scholars believe it was the opposition to commingling life and death, a source of life and its product, or Israel and the nations, that was the basis for this prohibition (cf. Leviticus 22:27-28; Deuteronomy 22:6). [Note: Jacob Milgrom, "’You Shall Not Boil a Kid in It’s Mother’s Milk,’" Bible Review 1:3 (Fall 1985):48-55; Merrill, in The Old . . ., p. 63.] Another view is that it was a way of specifying that only weaned animals were acceptable as sacrifices (cf. Exodus 34:18-26). [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 294.] The most popular explanation is that this was a pagan practice that showed disrespect for the God-given relationship between parent and offspring. [Note: E.g., Meyer, p. 270.] The Ras Shamra tablets have shown that boiling sacrificial kids in their mother’s milk was a common ritual practice among the Canaanites. [Note: See Charles F. Pfeiffer, Ras Shamra and the Bible. For other views, see Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 445.] This ordinance is the basis for the separation strict Jews make in their diet by not mixing dairy and meat products. Observant Jews even provide separate equipment and kitchens for the preparation of these dishes.