There are a surprising number of ways in which kids are used in the Old Testament. You’ve probably all heard of the Passover lamb, but in fact it was also permissible to eat a kid at the Passover. Kids could also be used for burnt offerings, fellowship offerings, and sin offerings.
Amongst the more morally dubious uses for a kid was Jacob’s deception of his blind father Isaac by wearing the skins of kids so that he could receive the blessing that was meant for his brother Esau. Then there’s the rather bizarre story of Judah offering a kid as payment to a prostitute who happened to be his daughter-in-law Tamar. But the really big no-no when it comes to the use of a kid is cooking a kid in its mother’s milk. From this prohibition comes the restriction on Koshar food of not eating meat with dairy products.
It is not entirely clear why there should be such a restriction, but one interesting theory is the claim that an essential part of Judaism was a desire for clear separation and the abhorrence for mixtures. In Hebrew, the word for separation, kadosh, also means holy, and so practices such as not eating a kid in its mother’s milk could be symbolic of Israel’s call to holiness. It’s understandable why this particular combination might be objectionable to Jews. The kid once it had been drained of its blood in preparation to be cooked was very definitely dead, whereas milk was given to a kid to give it life. This was unacceptable to a holy people who were aware of the sharpest separation that existed on God’s earth between the realm of the living and the domain of the dead. But equally we can see why this prohibition should have been lifted under Christianity, for the separation between death and life has now been overcome by Christ’s Passion - holiness is no longer about separation, but about being united in Christ.
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