Land of Milk and Honey

     Isaiah prophesied of Jesus:

Isa 7:13 (ESV) And he (the Lord) said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”... 21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, ²² and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

          The Exodus was when the Hebrew people were saved (brought through the Red Sea on dry land) from sin (the land of Egypt). Numerous places in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel God delivered them ( the Hebrews) to "a land flowing with milk and honey".  It is usually meant that Canaan land to which they were made safe was a prosperous place, being rich in food substances. God promised them that land!

Deut 3:20 (ESV) For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.

     Indeed, God did promise them a land flowing with milk and honey but it seemed to be contingent on faithfulness to God.  However, if the reader remembers the Abrahamic Covenant, the Lord promised a Savior through the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (renamed Israel). The ultimate Covenant was unconditional (Gen 12 and 15). The Lord told Abraham:

Gen 12:3b (ESV) In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

     That promise was not to be blessed by material things or pecuniary prosperity; it was a spiritual blessing. Hidden within that Promise was the Messiah who would bless all the peoples of the earth - Jew and Gentile. In the Lord's eyes, grace was bestowed upon the Gentiles before it was cool to be Gentile (in the apostle Paul's time). In reference to the blessed, the Lord made another promise:

Gen 12:3a (ESV) I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.

      Christian Gentiles are blessed because they bless Israel. This is why evangelical Christians support Israel without reservation. We fulfill the promise God made to Abraham! (Note that mostly Muhammadans curse Jews and they are cursed by God.)  Since the Covenant was made unconditionally, God would fulfill His promise regardless. Isaiah wrote of the destruction of Israel as the Hebrews turned to other gods (Deut 3:20 above) and served them. That seems to make the Covenant conditional but it doesn't in all respects. The Messiah was promised regardless of whether the Jews were obedient or not! 

     "The land flowing with milk and honey", referring to Israel (the Promised Land, the Kingdom of David) is not a Epicurean tease at all, but a sign of the times of the coming Messiah. Ironically, when the time came for the Messiah, sustenance was meager but the promise was still fulfilled! In Isa 7:21 (above) in the time of the Messiah (Immanuel) there will be plentiful milk and honey! That is indicative of Jesus Christ (Immanuel) who will come eating curds (from milk) and honey (Isa 7:15). Thus, the Promised Land was more than the land between the sea and the Euphrates but the place where Jesus would be born, die, and resurrected as Jesus was the promised Savior to whom the earth would be blessed!

     As a side note, many have often wondered whether Jesus was a normal young boy. It seems from Isa 7:15-16 that Jesus ate milk and honey until he was old enough to "refuse evil and do good". Jesus taught in the synagogue at twelve-years old. People take that as the age of accountability when one is responsible for their actions. It may be that the infants in the time of Jesus subsisted on curds and honey because of what Isaiah said. It would seem that Jesus became accountable at a very young age, perhaps as young as four or five as he learned to think for himself with his earthly brain. He apparently recalled at a young age what he had said so many times before as the Word in the Old Testament. Jesus exercised free will at an early age as he developed his sense of right and wrong. That conscience was tested with the Temptations of Christ by Satan.

     In summary, Jesus was of whom the Lord (Pre-incarnate Jesus) spoke when he referred to the land flowing with milk and honey. Jesus doctrine was symbolic of the milk and honey! How could we miss that? Each and every time the Old Testament speaks of "the land flowing with milk and honey" it is the Doctrine of Jesus to which the Lord spoke. Can you now see that?

     Jesus did eat. We don't know if he ate meat but he did eat curds and honey. The only other food he was known to have eaten was fish (Luke 24:43). Milk and honey were promises of his coming, and fish of His resurrection (since Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish).