In our reading from the Book of Deuteronomy this weekend,
Moses tells the people that if they keep
all God’s statutes and commandments, God promises to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. Does he mean it literally?
The expression in Hebrew, zavat halav u'dvash translates as flowing with milk and
honey. But we’re not exactly talking
about cows and bees here. In fact, the
milk in question is the kind that flows from goats’ udders, while the honey in
question is the liquid that gushes from ripe dates and figs. Interestingly, the expression milk
and honey eventually came to be associated (by extension) with mother’s milk
& bees’ honey, “the only two
kosher substances which are derived from a non-kosher source (bees and people
are not kosher). The implication is that the Land of Israel has the spiritual
energy to purify even the impure” (source 1).
Geographically,
the expression refers to the Promised Land, Canaan, which lies between the Mediterranean
Sea and the River Jordan (map below), a region blessed by God with fertile
land, therefore representing God’s abundance in the form of riches bestowed on
the people of Israel. The land is not
just “naturally” so; it is especially fertile when and only when it receives
the constant care of God. It is a land
that is meant to nourish the Israelites so they can be fruitful and
multiply.
Spiritually,
the expression is a bit more complex.
One Jewish scholar has written that the Promised Land is, “a land
that makes it necessary for its inhabitants to be good” (see source 3) Interestingly, this is related to the nature
of the milk and honey described: the Hebrew
word suggests not just ordinary milk, but cream, the richest part of the
liquid. Likewise, “honey” is the special
essence of dates or figs. The Israelites
knew that the gift of their deliverance from Egypt was conditional upon their
obedience to God, that obedience being the best part of themselves; their own
offering of the best they had, the best they were, would bring back to them the best part
of what God had to offer the human race. And our own Promised Land? The Kingdom of Heaven, of course!
No comments:
Post a Comment