MILETITS (roi-le'tus), (Gr. :Worm mitay-tos), a city and seaport of Ionia in Asia Minor, about thirty-six miles south of Ephesus.
St. Paul touched at this port on his voyage from Greece to Syria, and delivered to the elders of Ephesus, who had come to meet him there, a remarkable and affecting address (Acts xx 38). Miletus was a place of considerable note, and the ancient capital of Ionia and Caria. It was the birthplace of several men of renown—Thales, Timotheus, Anaximander, Anaximenes. Democri tus (Pomp. Mela, i :17; Diog. Laert. l'it. Philo soph. pp. 15, 88, f3o, 65o). Ptolemy (Grog. v :2) places Miletus in Caria by the sea, and it is stated Meander are near by, although the mouth of the river is ten miles away.
MILK (milk). The Hebrew word for milk, :icl,khaw-lawb', is from the same root as khe kb', 'fatness,' and is properly restricted to new milk, there being a distinct term, rarir.:1, khem% aw, for milk when curdled.
(1) Frequent Mention. Milk, and the prepa rations from it, butter and cheese, are often men tioned in Scripture. Milk, in its fresh state, appears to have been used very largely among the Hebrews, as is usual among people who have much cattle, and yet make but sparing use of their flesh for food. The proportion which fresh rr.ilk held in the dietary of the Hebrews must not, however, be measured by the comparative frequency with which the word occurs.
(2) MiIeh Animals. In reading of milk in Scripture, the milk of cows naturally presents it• self to the mind of the European reader; but in NVestern Asia, and especially among the pastoral and semi-pastoral people, not only cows, but goats, sheep, and camels, are made to give their milk for the sustenance of man. That this was also the case among the Hebrews may be clearly inferred even from the slight intimations which the Scriptures afford. Thus we read of 'butter of kine, and milk of sheep' (Dent. xxxii :14) ; and in Prov. xxvii :27, the emphatic intimation, 'Thou shalt have goats' milk for food,' seems to imply that this was considered the best for use in the simple state. 'Thirty milch camels' were among the cattle which Jacob presented to his brother Esau (Gen. xxxii :15), implying the use of cam el's milk.
(3) Curdled Milk. The word for curdled milk (khem'aw) is always translated 'butter' in the A. V. It seems to mean both butter and curdled milk, but most generally the latter ; and the context will, in most cases, suggest the dis tinction, which has been neglected by our trans lators. It was this curdled milk, highly esteemed
as a refreshment in the East, that Abraham set before the angels (Gen. xviii :8), and which Jael gave to Sisera, instead of the water which he asked (Judg. v :25). In this state milk acquires a slightly inebriating power, if kept long enough. Is. :22, where it is rendered 'butter,' is the only text in which the word is coupled with 'honey,' and there it is a sign of scarcity, not of plenty as when honey is coupled with fresh milk. It means that there being no fruit or grain, the remnant would have to live on milk and honey ; and, perhaps, that milk itself would be so scarce that it would be needful to use it with economy ; and hence to curdle it, as fresh milk cannot be preserved for sparing use. Although, however, this word properly denotes curdled milk, it seems also to be sometimes used for milk in general (Deut. xxxii :14 ; Job xx :i7; Is. vii:1.5)• (4) Idolatrous Use of. The most striking Scriptural allusion to milk is that which for bids a kid to be seethed in its mother's milk, and its importance is attested by being thrice repeated (Exod. xxiii :to; xxxiv :26; Deut. xiv : 21). There is, perhaps, no precept of Scrip ture which has been more variously interpreted than this; it is possible that this was not a com mon act of cookery, but an idolatrous or magical rite. Maimonides, in his More Nevochini, urges this opinion. He says, 'Flesh eaten with milk, or in milk, appears to me to have been prohibited, not only because it affords gross nourishment, but be cause it savored of idolatry, some of the idolaters probably doing it in their worship, or at their fes tivals.' This is confirmed by an extract which Cudworth (Discourses concerning the True Aro tion of the Lord's Supper, p. 3o) gives from an ancient Karaite commentary on the Pentateuch. 'It was a custom of the ancient heathen, when they had gathered in all thcir fruits, to take a kid, and boil it in the dam's milk, and then in a magical way to go about and besprinkle with it all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards, think ing that hy this means they should make them fructify, and bring forth more abundantly the fol lowing year.' Some such rite as this is supposed to be the one interdicted by the prohibition.