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 Exodus 1:7 , they were straitened for room, might be well called a large land. See a fine description of this land Deuteronomy 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 ουθαρ αρουρης , 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.
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