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Israel
Land Of Milk And Honey
“I
promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and
the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus
3:17)
God
told Moses the plan and the glorious destination – a land flowing with milk and
honey. But this plan was not newly-hatched.
God had
given Abraham the heads up a whole four
centuries earlier, telling his friend that he could count on these things all
coming to pass:
“Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a
land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted
for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they
serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be
buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth
generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Genesis
15:13-16)
God was
not in a hurry. He graciously let the Canaanites continue in their sin until it
reached its full measure before bringing judgement upon them in the form of the
Israelites.
God
respects our wishes and freedom, including our freedom to sin, but he does have
limits.
Four
hundred years of unbridled sin is a pretty long leash, but finally, in about
1400 BC, enough was enough. The Israelites marched right into Canaan’s land.
God delivers on his promises
Over
those four hundred long years, the brothers of Joseph who had come from Israel
to Egypt to avoid starving in the famine had become a nation, a couple of
million strong.1
And, as
it turned out, the journey back to the Promised Land turned out to be pretty
long and winding… not to mention full of adventures.
But all
the while, they had this dream to hold onto – their assured destination – the
land of milk, honey, and all good things.
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good
land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys
and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,
pomegranates, olive oil and honey.” (Deuteronomy 8:7-8)
The
seven species listed above refer to date honey rather than honey from bees, but
we know from other places in the Bible, such as Samson’s lion-and-honeycomb
riddle (Judges 14:9) Jonathan breaking his father’s fast when they
came across it in the woods (1 Samuel 14:29) – as well as John the
Baptist’s unusual diet – that honey from the honeycomb was also plentiful in
Israel.
God
gives good gifts to his children. The specific phrase “land of milk and
honey” crops up 22 times in the Bible in relation to the Promised Land –
it’s a promise that God reiterated over and over. It was a promise they could
count on.
Why Milk and Honey?
I heard
the explanation, which makes a lot of sense to me, that milk and honey are the
ultimate signs of a lush and fertile land. Why?
Because
livestock can merrily munch grass and vegetation, thus producing milk, while
bees can happily visit all kinds of flowers to produce honey. Both indicate,
indeed pretty much require, a verdant, pastural landscape.
It is perhaps then no
surprise that both milk and honey feature in the Jewish feasts today. They are
a byword for decadence, worthy of a feast!
If you
ask an Israeli what Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is all about, their answer
will likely include the giving of the Torah at Sinai and dairy products.
The
main connotations in Israel are staying up all night to study the Torah, and
cheesecake, to be specific!
The
word of God is often likened to honey in the Bible, and milk represents the
bounty of the land, which is pretty much what Shavuot is all about.
“Shavuot? It’s some kind of cheese festival,”
explained a Russian new immigrant on the phone to a relative back in the
motherland.
It’s
true that the Biblical meaning of the feasts often get lost in modern
traditions, much as celebrations of the incarnation gets swamped with Christmas trees, and the cross with Easter eggs.
But the
Shavuot enthusiasm with dairy is not entirely random. Some believe it was
connected to the verse within a passage about the Feasts, about not boiling a
kid in its mother’s milk, which kicked off all the kosher laws (Exodus
23:19).
Others
see milk as referring to the Torah itself – our nourishment and
sustenance. Equally, honey is a key ingredient on the Jewish festal table
in the fall, along with all things sweet.
Judaism,
more than others it seems, has a hearty appreciation and celebration of the
physical joys of life.
God
considers the earth he has made, and declares that it is GOOD! Good food,
laughter, relationships, running around in fields, milking cows and making
bread – it’s all part of God’s wonderful design, created to bring pleasure.
Milk
and honey are sort of emblematic of the fact that God really does bless us with
good things right here on earth, in the physical. It’s not a Platonic either /
or, but a both /and situation: we can enjoy the good things God created for us
right here on earth, as well as having every spiritual
blessing in Messiah.
Milk and honey: the richness of relationship with God
David
declared in Psalm 119:103:
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey
to my mouth!”
This
analogy crops up several times in the Scriptures. God’s word is like
honey, but it is also likened to milk later in the New Testament – essential
nourishment to our souls, as babies require milk.
Similarly,
the phrase appears in chapter 4 of Song of Songs:
“Sweetness drops from your lips, O bride; Honey and milk are
under your tongue.”
Rabbinic
tradition considers the milk and honey here in this verse to refer to the
Torah, since Song of Songs is seen as an analogy of the love relationship
between God and his people. Certainly, God’s word is both sweet and sustaining
to all who know him and love him.
Have
you ever had the experience of receiving a pertinent Bible verse that really
hit the nail on the head in your current circumstance? It’s wonderful, isn’t
it?
A timely word from God can give us such encouragement and
strength to keep going. “See how my eyes brightened when I tasted a little
of this honey,” said Jonathan to his friends. (1 Samuel
14:29).
God’s
word can energize us when we’re flagging, just like honey rejuvenated that
hungry man.
Often
in the Bible there’s a physical manifestation which prefigures the greater,
spiritual reality to come.
The
Promised Land really and truly was a land of milk and honey in Biblical times –
and has become so once again in our times!
But it
also points to the greater reality of the richness and sweetness of a life in
relationship to God, which can be enjoyed by people from all nations, from
anywhere in the world.
Yet
even more than that awaits us in the ultimate Promised Land – we will have
complete union with God in the new heavens and new earth, in the World to Come.
What
awaits us there? A feast, of course! We are promised a banquet to end all banquets!
Who’s guessing there might be milk and honey on that table?
1. It is
written in the Torah, “The Children of Israel journeyed… 600,000 adult males
on foot, besides the children.” (Exodus 12:37) Since the verse only
includes the number of men who were 20 years of age and over, we can
extrapolate the total population by including the women and children as
well. According to Rabbi Yonasan ben Uziel (circa 1st century CE, author
of an Aramaic translation of the Five Books of Moses), there were 3 million
Jews in total who witnessed the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. (see Targum
Yonasan – Exodus 12:37) It is probable that a comparable number of Jews left
Egypt. (Aish.com)
2. Psalm
19:10, Proverbs 24:14, Ezekiel 3:3, Revelation 10:9
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