It is most probable that the chemhah may signify both clotted cream and butter, just as many words in our language have two or more significations. Some commentators have thought that the ancient Jews were not acquainted with butter. This theory, however, is scarcely tenable. Butter is used largely at the present day, and is made after the simple fashion of the East, by shaking the cream in a vessel, exactly as it is made among the black tribes of Southern Africa and other parts of the world. And, considering the unchanging character of institutions in the East, we may assume as certain that the ancient inhabitants of Palestine were, like their modern successors, acquainted both with the clotted cream and true butter. Moreover, two substances, butter and honey, which are mentioned in Samuel, in Job, and in Isaiah, as connected with each other, are still eaten together in the East. A reference to the milk of Sheep is to be found in the New Testament: "Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?" (1 Cor. ix. 7). In this country the milk of the Sheep is scarcely ever used, but in Scotland, especially in the great Sheep-feeding districts, its milk is valued as it deserves, and is specially employed for the manufacture of cheese. The mention of cheese brings us to another branch of the subject. Gesenius thinks that the chemhah mentioned in Prov. xxx. must be a kind of cheese, on account of the word "mitz," _i.e._ pressure. Thus the word "cheese" occurs three times in the Authorized Version of the Bible, and in all these passages a different word is used. We will take them in their order. The first mention occurs in 1 Sam. xvii. 17, 18, "And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand." In this passage the word which is rendered "cheeses" in the Authorized Version is "charitz," a term which is translated in the Jewish Bible as "slices of cheeses," on account of the etymology of the word, which is derived from a root signifying slicing or cutting. Another word is used in 2 Sam. xvii. 29, where, among the provisions that Barzillai brought to David, is mentioned "cheese of kine." The Hebrew word "shaphôth," which is translated as cheese, derives its origin from a root signifying to scrape. The third term translated as cheese is to be found in Job x. 10, "Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?" The word "gebînah," which is here translated as "cheese" both in the Authorized Version and the Jewish Bible, is derived from a root signifying to curdle.