NOTES for Exo 34:26
The ban to seethe a kid in his mother milk became the basis of several standards of the cacherout in the Judaism, in particular, connected to the ban to mix dishes with meat with some milk. Meanwhile, the problem here is not either in the meat and or in the milk. It indicates, among others, also the form of the corresponding legislative standard: on one hand, here is mentioned the necessity of the consecration of the first of the firstfruits, and on the other hand - the same kid seethe in the milk of his mother.
At first sight, it is about things, not at all connected between themselves. But there is in reality a link, although not so obvious. The fact is that, based on the data that have reached us in relation with the religious practice of a number of peoples in the Middle East (including also the closest neighbors, the Jews), the little goat seethed in the milk of the goat is a ritual dish, connected probably with the cult of the Great goddess, the protector of fertility and reproduction, a cult which was spread in the Middle East everywhere. The Great goddess was worshiped in the cities of Galilee, and in the Judea, and in the steppes of Samaria, and worshiped for a long time before Abraham's migration to Palestine.
And after the conquest by the Jews of the land promised by God, the cult of the Great goddess spread among them rather widely: as is known, the paganism prospered in the people of God with a pompous color, causing the rebukes of the prophets, in particular in "Astarte and Baal", seeing in them the biggest threat to yahvisme. But indeed, the Great goddess, this "Astarte", did not catch accidentally the attention of the recent nomads: they wanted to receive support from above and the blessing for their new, sedentary and agricultural life, and it seemed to many that Yahweh is not a help here: because He is the God of the desert and the steppe, the God of the nomads, and not of the sedentary inhabitants - farmers.
And here is, appear at the same time in the Torah the prohibition against participation in the cult of the Great goddess and the requirement of the dedication of the first of the firstfruits to God, to the same Yahweh, Who, as it turns out will support His people not only in the desert and the steppe, but also in the field, in the garden, in the vineyard. If of course, the people themselves want that. And if they will address with their needs not to "Astarte and Baal", but to the God, Who not only brought them out of Egypt and held through the desert, but also led to the land, on which, He will not of course leave them without help and support.