ISRAEL TOUR : TO THE LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY?
JERUSALEM FROM HILL VIEW
Exo 3 : 8 : ”So I have come to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”
The history of the promised land to Israelites can actually be traced back to bible in the book of Genesis chapter 12 : 7; 26 : 3 – 4; and 28 : 12 – 14. It was Lord God who made the promise to give the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants. Moses was tasked to bring Israelites out of Egypt to that promised land, which was described as the land flowing with milk and honey. This is an obvious way of describing a fertile land of bounteous provision and prosperity. A land can be full of milk provided there are many livestock on that land and these livestock can feed on good grass that grows on the land. A land flowing with honey points to countless number of bees that can feed from nectars of flowers blossoming in that land.
The modern scholars name the area from Persian Gulf where River Euphrates and Tigris start flowing through modern Iraq, Syria to South East Turkey to parts of Jordan, Israel to Egypt’s Nile River as Fertile Crescent of the Ancient Near East era. So that very part of the land promised to Israelites are indeed a fertile land. A land’s fertility can depends on the soil and ground composition as well as the weather of that land. Summer days in Israel are relatively cloudless, making it one of the sunniest area in the world. On a typical summer day, temperatures normally climb immediately after sunrise. Within short time a cooling sea breeze begins to blow from the Mediterranean sea. After passing through the coastal plain, the wind reaches Jerusalem in the hill country about noon and its cooling effect prevents the temperature from rising sharply during afternoon time.
DEAD SEA
Amount of rainfall also are crucial for agriculture that provide food and trade for the inhabitants. Autumn rain from October to December help to soften the soil for better plowing and planting of grain seeds. As the crops grow from December to February when 75% of the rain falls. These crops will continue to grow as the rain begins to be lighter during March and April. All these rainfalls and its timing are crucial for producing bumper crops.
The Land, especially the coastal plain along the Mediterranean sea are free from major topography obstacles, thus it is a major international route that connects Egypt (Africa continent), Turkey (up north to Europe) and Ancient Babylonians, Assyrians and Persians (all the way east by land to Pakistan, India, China and whole of Asia Central and South East Asian peninsular). Peoples, traders, princes in the ancient times prefer the route of coastal plain of this land along the fertile crescent that provide better weather, transportations, accommodations as well as food, drinks along the way to and fro Africa, Asia and Europe compared to the desert of Transjordan to Arab Peninsular with its hostile desert weather and geography. Hence, no wonder major power of the world of ancient times are ambitious to control this part of the land. It is indeed a strategic location that can also provide significant economic vibrancy to its inhabitants, but at the same time, it is also a land that can suffer from wars between world and regional empires that want the control of this land.
To cut the long story short, this is indeed a special land that Lord God are giving to the Israelites. In terms of strategic locations, fertility of the land, the supporting weather. It was almost perfect place for inhabitancy. On the west are Mediterranean Sea, and deeper to the eastern side was the Jordan River which has its source of water from Mount Hermon, one of the tallest mountain in that area that has high amount of rainfall and thus a source of good quality water that flow along the river and even form the Lake of Galilee then flow to its end at Dead Sea (above picture). So the inhabitants of this land can enjoy food from cattle as well as fishes from the lake and the salty sea of Mediterranean. So there are sufficient supply of fresh air, water, food and even opportunity to trade and exchange information, cultures, products and services from peoples, traders that are going to cross the land.
EMPIRES THAT EVER RULES THE LAND
The most important point to make is that this land, which Israelites are crossing over to possess is a land of mountains and valleys by virtue of heaven’s rain, it drinks in water. It is a land which Jehovah, their God cares for, always the eyes of Jehovah God are upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. And if they are certain to listen to His commandments to love Jehovah their God and serve Him with all their heart and all their soul, He will give rain to these land in its season, the early rain and the late rain, so that they may gather their grain and their new wine and their fresh oil. And He will also put grass in their field for cattle so that they will eat and be satisfied. But disobedience will cause the anger of Jehovah burn against them, He will shut up heaven, so that there is no rain and the earth does not yield its produce and they perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah is giving them. The single critical factor is their allegiances, obedience and faithfulness to Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, their ancestors who will be the most decisive force in their success or failure in that promised land.
Today, in the modern era, where knowledge and technology are experiencing leap and frog in an unprecedented ways in multi sectors of human life, the blessings of Jehovah to the seed of Abraham so that they can be blessings to other nations manifest itself in the talents of the modern Israeli that inhabit this land. Along with the fertility of the land that brought about innovations in agriculture has transformed this land to fulfil its status as the land flowing with milk and honey. Innovations in other sectors such as medicines, cyber security, military drone, commercial drone, smart technologies and others as well as continuous archaeological excavations to uncover heritage and civilisations from the past has made significant contributions to human life in general. The modern cities has flourish on these land, but the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, lake and other geographical traits of the land are still intact from the past until today, awaiting for visitors to enjoy and experience.
If you are interested to walk the land and be amazed by its beauties as well as the amazing “milk and honey” parts of it, we will be honoured and passionate to do and plan something to make your journey here exciting and memorable. We have programs to cater for many interest. You can browse our homepage to see existing packages that we do or read our blogs to know more about what we know and varieties of what we can do for your journey to this promised land. Talk to us via live chat or email. We will be happy to be in contact with you for any questions, feedback or simply to chat and be friends.
Thank you and God Bless