And [thou shalt have] goats' milk enough for thy food,.... The word for "goats", in Proverbs 27:26, signifies he goats, which were sold to buy fields, pay servants or rent, or purchase the necessaries of life; and this here signifies she goats, which were kept for their milk; and which was daily used for food in some countries, and is still in use for the same purpose in some parts of our kingdoms; and in medicine it has been preferred by some physicians above others, next to the milk of women w: and the diligent husbandman is promised not only plenty of this his own eating, at least a sufficiency of it, but for his family;
for the food of thy household; his wife and children:
and [for] maintenance for thy maidens: or "the lives" x of them, on which they should live; for, though menservants might require strong meat yet the maidens might live upon milk; besides, Athenaeus y speaks of most delicious cheese made of goats' milk, called "tromilicus". The design of the whole is to show that a man diligent in his business shall have a sufficiency for himself and his family; and, though it may be but the meaner sort of food and clothing he may get, yet, having food and raiment, he should therewith be content.
w Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 9. Vid. Scheuehzer. Physic, Sacr. vol. 5. p. 1016. x וחיים "vitas", Montanus; "ad vitam", Gejerus; "life" is often put for "bread"; or for that by which life is maintained, both in Greek and Latin writers; so βιος, in Hesiod. Opera, l. 1. v. 31, 328. and "vita", in Plaut. Stichus, Act. 3. Sc. 2. v. 9. Trinum, Act. 2. Sc. 4. v. 76. y Deipnosoph. l. 14. c. 22. p. 658. see also l. 1. c. 8. p 10.