Biblical Reference: Acts 31: 20–21 in the book of Deuteronomy

Text 5

Origin: 17th century
Text Type: Bible
Intended Audience: As this text is taken from the Bible, the targeted audience are those who believe in Christianity as well as those who are exposed to christianity and its norms. In this text, there not only seems to be a literal meaning but also a spiritual meaning.

The Promised Land

Book of Deuteronomy

“For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”

The Promised Land also known as “The Land of Milk and Honey” is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), was promised and subsequently given by God to Abraham and his descendants. Its context relates to both to the restored Homeland for the Jewish people and to salvation and liberation. Moreover, the imagery of the “Promised Land” was invoked in Negro spirituals as heaven or paradise and as an escape from slavery, often which can only be reached by death. The term has also been used in popular culture, sermons and in speeches, such as the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” (1968) speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Therefore, the term “the land which I swore” and “the land flowing with milk and honey” in this context is used to refer to the ‘promised land’. “flowing with milk and honey” provides imagery to what the promise land entails — a land full of riches, food, necessities, somewhat like what heaven is supposedly suppose to be like. Hence, in those days milk and honey were luxurious foods, so the fact that this land with be ‘flowing’ with these items emphasises the mystical idea behind it.