While many of us have a favorite hymn from the beautifully inspired hymns of praise that have touched our hearts and brought tears to our eyes, The Songs of Zion are unique to our Church. They are songs that belong to a new time; they belong to a new era; they belong to our people. They are songs sent from the throne of God as a gift to The Church of Jesus Christ. They are inspirational and related to Christ and His promises of the latter-day times and events. This gift was given to our late Sister Arlene Buffington, as our songs of hope and joy, looking forward to the fulfillment of the kingdom of Zion, bathed in the latter-day glory of the restoration.

Today’s focus is No. 107 They Say the Land Has Milk and Honey by looking at the meaning and application of the song, because it’s too easy to sing without paying attention to the words and their meaning. 

107. THEY SAY THE LAND HAS MILK AND HONEY

Verse 1 

There’s talk about a promised land where people live for years, 

Where feeble knees receive their strength and smiles replace the tears. 

With canes and glasses cast aside, when sight’s restored to men, 

The Ancient latter glory’s come, they say, to earth again.

Verse 2

They say this lovely countryside has crystal running streams, 

With sparkling, bubbling fountains like I’ve pictured in my dreams. 

Where children lead the lambs and lions, leopards, and the deer, 

And none shall hurt nor e’er destroy what God has sheltered there.

Verse 3

I’ve heard about a land of peace where ev’rybody’s free, 

Where men don’t sit in pow’r and plan the latest strategy. 

Where boys don’t learn the ways of war for no one wants to fight, 

Where people serve the true and living God of love and light.

Verse 4

They say this land of Canaan isn’t very far away, 

And maybe I could make it there if I start out today. 

I want to go and see the place of baby Zion’s birth.
They say the Lord’s own kingdom there at last has come to earth.

Chorus

They say the land has milk and honey, Would you tell me is it so? 

And there’s no need for money there, The poorest man can go. 

And ev’ryone you meet there, Will be your friend for life, 

For love won’t fade like it does here, No hatred there, nor strife.

©1988 Arlene Lea Buffington

This song references a phrase used over 20 times in the Old Testament that started with Moses and the burning bush. 

Exodus 3:2-10 states: 

“And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

It was this same reference of deliverance, to a land that was promised to Israel 40 years later, spoken of in the Book of Joshua 5:6: “For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed…which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.”

A land that flows with milk and honey symbolically signifies the Eden-like garden preserve for God’s people. Milk and honey (both in concert and individually) symbolize unlimited pleasure, wealth, and opulence. Not as we might think of these in a natural sense, but rather in the spiritual sense, where love, joy, peace, contentment, communion with the Lord, etc., are in great abundance and without limit.

It’s this same spiritual hope that we have today, not to be liberated from the taskmasters of Egypt, or of a hope of greater material wealth, but instead, a longing for a day and time where sin and disobedience have been cleansed away, such that the latter-day land of Canaan (Zion) can be established: 

• Where lifespan will be extended, 
• Where the first dominion will be restored, 
• Where the very nature of animals are changed,
• Where none will hurt nor destroy, 
• Where nation will not lift up sword against nation, 
• Where Israel will be gathered along with the believing Gentiles, 
• Where Jesus will be in our midst and His kingdom will have come to earth again.

“And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.” (Isaiah 65:19-23)

This condition of peace has been prophesied of, preached about, and anticipated, for over 2,500 years. So today, we stand on the threshold as they say this land of Canaan isn’t very far away and we look forward to the day where love won’t fade like it does here, no hatred there, nor strife.

May God bless you.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Songs of Zion or listening to the songs, please visit the Songs of Zion website: https://thesongsofzion.com/