Kid

The kid (the young of the goat) was one of the most common food animals in ancient Israel, used widely in meals of celebration and hospitality. Abraham served a kid prepared with milk to the three divine visitors at Mamre (Genesis 18:8, where the calf and meal were accompanied by curds and milk); Rebekah prepared two kids for Isaac to carry out Jacob's deception of the birthright blessing; and Samson brought a kid as a gift when visiting his Philistine wife at Timnah.

The Mosaic law's thrice-repeated prohibition, You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21), became the foundational text for the rabbinic laws of kashrut separating meat and dairy. The kid was also used in sacrificial contexts: the red heifer ceremony, Passover preparations, and various guilt offerings could involve goats. The prodigal son's older brother notes bitterly that he was never given even a kid for a celebration with his friends (Luke 15:29), underscoring the modest cost of such hospitality and thus the generosity of the father's feast for the returning prodigal.