The Significance of Milk & Honey

Exodus 3:8  - And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

It has been interesting to research the significance of milk & honey and what that promise reveals about the nature of God. Study has revealed two major themes: 1) rich blessings of supernatural proportion and 2) God’s revelation of Himself through scripture.

Regarding this specific blessing of a land flowing with milk and honey, Matthew Henry notes God’s intention to come down to the children of Israel “so that it should be done speedily and effectually, and by methods out of the common road of providence.” This is how the blessings of God occur in our lives.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, regarding the meaning of the Hebrew word for flowing, wrote: “In Tanakh [the canon of the Hebrew Bible], the word zov never means overflowing. It occurs mainly to describe a human pathological condition, and otherwise as a flowing forth caused by miraculous power. It does not seem to describe a land that develops the abundance in accordance with its natural fertility, but a land that only does this under special conditions.”

A land flowing with milk & honey can be understood, for believers today, as perfect abundance and blessing that are only understandable in the context of the inexplicable movement of God, on our behalf – not luck or chance or natural occurrences or our good planning. God blesses us uniquely and in uncommon ways.  

The second meaning, God’s revelation of Himself, is equally intriguing.

“The "milk" of God's word refers to things that are literally understood, which require no interpretation, and it is the nourishment intended for babes. The apostle Peter said: 1 Peter 2:2 - As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

Taking the scriptures literally, is viewing them as if they consist only of "milk," which can be swallowed without any chewing, and so is suitable for infants lacking teeth. The scriptures can be read in a literal fashion, but they have a deeper spiritual significance, that requires some thoughtful interpretation, analogous to "chewing" solid food.

The Psalmist wrote: Psalm 119:103 - How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! And in Proverbs, we read: Proverbs 16:24 - Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.  The true meaning of the land of Canaan that was promised to Abraham is that it represents the revelations of God intended for the saints.”

According to this understanding of milk & honey, we may understand that God reveals Himself quite literally and simply. Reflect on Christ’s words recorded in John 4:9 – “Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Because Christ (the Living Word) came to earth, God is clearly revealed! But there is also a level of sweet revelation that is not palatable to the “infant”; it is to be consumed as we grow and mature in our spiritual journey. The Psalmist wrote: Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. (Psalm 92:13) When we plant ourselves in the house of the Lord – reading and meditating upon His word, in prayer, in fellowship with wise believers, and through submission to Him, we will grow and mature – the Father is able to reveal to us those things which require deeper understanding – and we will flourish!

Praise God for His great abundance and His precious revelations!