Milk And Honey – Part One

Did you know that the term “milk and honey” originated in the Bible from God’s description of Canaan? Canaan was the country lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River—Israel’s “Promised Land” (Exodus 3:8). It signified a fertile land, flowing with abundance.

The Bible also indicates that these two—milk and honey—were part of the everyday diet in the Middle East, including Israel (Genesis 18:8; 43:11) and were also used in cosmetics. Legend has it that Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, regularly bathed in a mixture of honey and milk, and she attributed them to keeping her skin youthful and healthy.

For thousands of years, milk has been known to benefit the skin by helping it maintain a fair and smooth complexion. That’s why it is still used in a number of cosmetic preparations today!

So, why “milk and honey?” Why were the two so often mentioned together in Scripture? Mentions of honey throughout the Scriptures generally refer to bee-honey as well as the fruit nectar distilled from trees, specifically the date palm.

These fruit trees grow in many different terrains, but their produce overflow with nectar only when the land is especially fertile and the trees particularly well-nourished.