Thread by @GREENESJ333

Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "Some More Thoughts on the Saying ‘A Land of Milk and Honey’”

It starts with understanding the purpose of Torah. Torah is a lesson book. It teaches through the use of stories, allegory, and metaphor.
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It connects the Hebrew (Jewish) nation to the Creator, and the Creator, like a good father that wants the best for his creation, to the Hebrew (Jewish) nation.
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There are three seemingly separate but interconnected issues in the Torah narrative about Yosef (Joseph), Ya’acov (Jacob), and Yosef’s family. One, the “famine in the land.”
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Two, Yosef’s long-term economic plan for contingencies in Egypt (seven years of plenty, and saving grains and preparations, and then seven years of problems that were not a problem because of the preparatory seven years).
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And three, the promise of return to a “Land of Milk and Honey.”

So one might ask a question: how can anyone trust the promise of a “Land of Milk and Honey” when the people had to flee it because of a famine to survive at one point in time?
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What tied this all together is a statement in Bereshit (Genesis) in the story of the creation. Mankind is created not only to be a subject of G-d, but to be a responsible caretaker of creation.
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So, yes, the land was experiencing a famine from which Ya’acov and his family fled to Egypt, but history is familiar with famines not only caused by climate cycles, but because of irresponsible use of resources.
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Over-farming land, over-grazing animals, cutting down forests without replacing them, wars burning forests or burning fields of crops to beat the enemy, and opposed to this we hear the story of Yosef acting to prevent potential famines in Egypt by responsible planning,
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by deferral of gratification, by discipline, by providing care for the land and its value.

So what is a Land of Milk and Honey?

Honey—the basic sign of responsible agriculture—bees needed to spread the pollen that is the basis for growth of the foods we eat.
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Milk—the basic example of responsible animal husbandry.

Both require responsible dealing with the land itself.

And then the addition of Yosef’s responsible, disciplined solution to handle the unexpected changes in weather.
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So, to promise “a Land of Milk and Honey” is a statement telling the people that if they act responsibly, self-disciplined, with an eye on the future, that land, subject to famine from time to time, can be that Land of Milk and Honey."
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