Exo 3:8, 13:5, 33:3 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 8. And I am come down to deliver them ] This is the very purpose for which I am now come down upon this mountain, and for which I manifest myself to thee. Large-land ] Canaan, when compared with the small tract of Goshen, in which they were now situated, and where, we learn, from , they were straitened for room, might be well called a large land . See a fine description of this land . A land flowing with milk and honey ] Excellent for pasturage, because abounding in the most wholesome herbage and flowers; and from the latter an abundance of wild honey was collected by the bees. Though cultivation is now almost entirely neglected in this land, because of the badness of the government and the scantiness of the inhabitants, yet it is still good for pasturage , and yields an abundance of honey . The terms used in the text to express the fertility of this land, are commonly used by ancient authors on similar subjects. It is a metaphor taken from a breast producing copious streams of milk. Homer calls Argos ουθαραρουρης, the breast of the country , as affording streams of milk and honey, Il. ix., ver. 141. So Virgil: - Prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto Accipiet. AEn., lib. iii., ver. 95. "The land that first produced you shall receive you again into its joyous bosom ." The poets feign that Bacchus, the fable of whom they have taken from the history of Moses, produced rivers of milk and honey, of water and wine:- πειδεγαλακτιπεδον πειδοινωπειδεμελισσαν νεκταρι. EURIP. Bacch., εποδ., ver. 8. "The land flows with milk; it flows also with wine; it flows also with the nectar of bees, (honey.)" This seems to be a mere poetical copy from the Pentateuch, where the sameness of the metaphor and the correspondence of the descriptions are obvious. Place of the Canaanites, &c. ] See , &c.

‏ Exodus 3:8

Verse 8. And I am come down to deliver them] This is the very purpose for which I am now come down upon this mountain, and for which I manifest myself to thee.

Large-land] Canaan, when compared with the small tract of Goshen, in which they were now situated, and where, we learn, from Ex 1:7, they were straitened for room, might be well called a large land. See a fine description of this land De 8:7.

A land flowing with milk and honey] Excellent for pasturage, because abounding in the most wholesome herbage and flowers; and from the latter an abundance of wild honey was collected by the bees. Though cultivation is now almost entirely neglected in this land, because of the badness of the government and the scantiness of the inhabitants, yet it is still good for pasturage, and yields an abundance of honey. The terms used in the text to express the fertility of this land, are commonly used by ancient authors on similar subjects. It is a metaphor taken from a breast producing copious streams of milk. Homer calls Argos ουθαραρουρης, the breast of the country, as affording streams of milk and honey, Il. ix., ver. 141. So Virgil: -

Prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto

Accipiet. AEn., lib. iii., ver. 95.

"The land that first produced you shall receive

you again into its joyous bosom."

The poets feign that Bacchus, the fable of whom they have taken from the history of Moses, produced rivers of milk and honey, of water and wine:-

πειδεγαλακτιπεδον

πειδοινωπειδεμελισσαν

νεκταρι. EURIP. Bacch., εποδ., ver. 8.

"The land flows with milk; it flows also with wine; it flows also with the nectar of bees, (honey.)" This seems to be a mere poetical copy from the Pentateuch, where the sameness of the metaphor and the correspondence of the descriptions are obvious.

Place of the Canaanites, &c.] See Ge 15:18, &c.

‏ Exodus 13:5

Verse 5. When the Lord shall bring thee into the land] Hence it is pretty evident that the Israelites were not obliged to celebrate the Passover, or keep the feast of unleavened bread, till they were brought into the promised land.

‏ Exodus 33:3

Verse 3. I will not go up in the midst of thee] Consequently, the angel here promised to be their guide was not that angel in whom Jehovah's name was: and so the people understood it; hence the mourning which is afterwards mentioned.