Because the Israelites were predominately shepherds, sheep’s milk was one of the most important staples besides bread to the Hebrews. They drank it and used it to make cheese and butter. Honey was more of a luxury item to the Jews, found only where bees could find flowers to collect nectar. Therefore, to say that a land overflowed with “milk and honey,” would mean that there were sufficient pastures for their animals to graze, flowers and fruit trees for the bees, and plenty of water for them to drink.
Some biblical scholars suggest that the saying “land of milk and honey” may also be an example of Hebrew merism – the literary use of opposites to cover the spectrum of everything in between (like saying, “from A to Z”) – reminding the Israelites that the Promised Land contains absolutely everything needful and in abundance.
