Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

Biblical Text

The expression first appears when God calls Moses from the burning bush. God says that He will deliver Israel out of Egypt and bring them "unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8; 3:17). It recurs as part of the promise in Exodus 13:5 and 33:3 and in Leviticus 20:24. In Deuteronomy it accompanies exhortations to keep the law (Deuteronomy 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 26:15; 27:3; 31:20). It also appears in Joshua 5:6 and in the Prophets (Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6; 20:15).

In Numbers the phrase is spoken by different people with different intentions. After surveying Canaan, the twelve spies report that "surely it floweth with milk and honey," yet add that the people who dwell in the land are strong (Numbers 13:27-28). Joshua and Caleb use the same expression to urge the people to enter the land (Numbers 14:8). By contrast, Dathan and Abiram, who joined in the rebellion of Korah, turn the phrase around and call Egypt "a land that floweth with milk and honey" in their opposition to Moses (Numbers 16:13).

Background and Meaning of the Terms

The Hebrew phrase is eretz zavat chalav udvash. Zavat means "flowing," chalav means "milk," and devash means "honey."

• Milk: This refers chiefly to the milk of goats or sheep and is understood to indicate ample pastureland for livestock.
• Honey: The word can refer to the honey of wild bees, as in Judges 14:8. In Deuteronomy 8:8, however, "honey" is listed among the produce of the land together with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olives. For this reason many scholars take it to mean a sweet syrup obtained from fruit such as dates. Which sense is intended cannot be determined with certainty from the text alone.

Deuteronomy 11:10-12 contrasts this land with Egypt, which was watered from the river. Canaan, by contrast, "drinketh water of the rain of heaven." The passage also emphasizes that the land's abundance does not come of itself but from dependence on God.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The expression depicts what the land promised in the Abrahamic covenant is actually like. It is used within the narrative movement in which that promise leads to the Exodus and the settlement of Canaan. The expression does not appear verbatim in the New Testament. However, Hebrews connects the entry into Canaan with God's "rest" (Hebrews 4:8-11) and says that the forebears of the faith desired "a better country" (Hebrews 11:13-16). These passages are frequently cited as grounds for linking the Promised Land with a greater hope.

Interpretations and Issues

• Historical reading: The phrase is understood as a description of the abundance of the land that ancient Israel actually received.
• Typological reading: Since the patristic era, many Christian traditions have read Canaan as a shadow of heaven or the New Jerusalem. The narrative of passing through the wilderness and crossing the Jordan River has been likened to the believer's life and death.
• Fulfillment of the land promise: Dispensationalism tends to hold that the land promise remains literally in force for ethnic Israel. Covenant theology tends to hold that the promise is fulfilled in Christ and the new creation.
• Relation to material blessing: Some preaching applies the expression as a promise of economic prosperity for believers today. Such readings are often criticized in connection with prosperity theology. Critics point out that the text speaks of the promise together with obedience to the covenant and a life of dependence on God.