“It was a land flowing with milk and honey,” the Bible often says in describing Israel.
(See Exodus 3:8; Numbers 14:8; Deuteronomy 31:20; Ezekiel 20:15).
What does that word picture suggest to you?
I think of lush gardens, flowers in bloom, wholesome food everywhere, fat cows, busy bees.
God’s promise to the Jews who’d so recently crossed the red sea: “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:8; NKJV)
You can picture the green hillsides, trees, fruits, and vegetables all waiting to be picked.
It’s a refreshing and encouraging vision until you reflect on that particular land today.
From knowing current geography, my mind sees barren hillsides and rocks.
Having now visited Israel, I saw relatively few trees and many barren hills.
So, what is the Bible talking about?
Is any land flowing with milk and honey these days?
Planet earth has many beautiful places. Some are lush, some are not.
Many people don’t realize northern Africa, today the barren Sahara desert, once was covered with vegetation.
The world has suffered through constant change (climate and otherwise) since Moses first wrote about a land flowing with milk and honey in the Bible.
Indeed, as we drove down the eastern side of Israel 18 months ago, we saw little lush landscape.
All along the Israeli side of the Jordan River, the hillsides looked barren as we traveled the main highway.
What greenery we did see, was on small farms.
To my surprise, farmers cultivated banana trees beneath mesh screens–to keep out the insects and birds?
We saw many plantations growing foodstuffs, including date palms, but not many trees.
Indeed, the hillsides were more likely to be covered in windmills, than trees.
How to read the Bible and “see” land flowing with milk and honey?
I’m reading the Bible in a year again this year, and as I stumble through Judges and into the histories, it’s difficult to picture just what the Hebrews were so excited about.
Fortunately, we live in a time where Biblical fiction can help us picture–and thus understand–what the land may have looked like.
Yes, we always read the Bible first, and I spend a lot of time examining maps. (Why would Scripture give us placenames if they weren’t important? They are to me.)
But, sometimes, allowing a trusted author to describe a place we’re having trouble imagining (especially if you’re a concrete thinker), can be very helpful.
An honest novelist is very careful not to break the trust for readers, usually being careful to provide Biblical safeguards.
For these early Bible books, I turn to Conilynn Cossette, who first provided me with descriptions that would match “a land flowing with milk and honey.”
An accomplished writer can help me begin to see, and thus better understand, what’s really going on in the Bible passage.
God gave us imagination. I believe we can use our imagination–but, our imagination has to line up with the absolute truth of the Bible.
And if something about the description bothers us, set aside the book.
(A friend recently wrote a novel set in Genesis 1. I trust her, and I tried, but I couldn’t read it. It messed too much with all the recent study I’ve done about the creation story. I felt uncomfortable and the Holy Spirit basically told me to close the book.)
What else can help us understand as we read the Bible?
We live in wonderful times with plenty of resources. Scholars have made great strides in understanding Israel in the past.
They can describe the “land of milk and honey,” based on historical evidence.
Doug Hershey provides insight, as well, with his photos of the Holy Land 175 years ago set against modern shots.
Visiting the land, of course, can help.
The Land of Caanan which the spies described to Moses runs along the Jordan River, yes, but it also spreads west once it hits the Jezreel Valley.
There’s plenty of land flowing with milk and honey there! (That’s Mt. Tabor in the center distance).
Tweetables
Does the Promised Land still flow with milk and honey? Click to Tweet
Seeing the Promised Land with real eyes, but also real imagination. Click to Tweet
I enjoy your thoughtful, studious emails with pictures included. I was privileged to make two trips to Israel about 20 years ago. I was so surprised by your picture of windmills which were not in existance years ago. I also appreciated your mention of Conilynne Cossette. I read one of her books not long ago and she truly did make the biblical setting come alive. Thank you for your diligent study to provide new insights for those of us who are not true scholars.
Thanks, Marjorie!
Everyone told me that after I returned from Israel, I’d be different. I smiled politely.
Then it turned out to be true!
I’d spent most of the previous five years studying the Old Testament, and was shocked at how often we casually “stumbled” upon a spot of significance I’d read about. Now, almost two years later, my Scripture reading continues to be SO informed by where we went and what we saw.
Amazing.
I’m reading through the Bible in a year again this year, and am in Samuel–and I just picked up Cossette’s books again. Particularly that citites of refuge series, just helped me “see” and understand so much better.
I’m very thankful we live in such a rich time of archaeological discovery and splendid insights from writers. (When it matches the Scripture, of course!)
Blessings to you!
M
Milk means there must have been cows, goats, and sheep, therefore green pastures, soil health, and rain. A ruminant must give birth to come into milk, and half of those offspring would be male, so that means an abundance of draft oxen and red meat also…and manure for fertilizer, skins for leather, and horns for shofars (shofarim?). Honey means bees which require sunshine, warmth, and flowers on bushes, trees, and well, wildflowers in those pastures. What a beautiful place! Praise to Jehovah Jireh, God our Provider!
Amen, Penny, who practically lives there now! 🙂