Land Flowing of Milk and Honey

(7) And The Lord said, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. (8) I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (9) Now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. (10) Come, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt.”

Milk flows from the goats and honey flows from the dates and from the figs.

UNTO A GOOD AND LARGE LAND, UNTO A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY; UNTO THE PLACE OF THE CANAANITE, AND THE HITTITE, AND THE AMORITE, AND THE PERIZZITE, AND THE HIVITE, AND THE JEBUSITE. He mentions here six nations and omits the seventh. Perhaps this was because his land was not flowing with milk and honey as were these [lands of the six nations mentioned]. Similarly, He mentions these six only in the verse, For Mine angel shall go before thee. It may be because He alluded here [to a future event], i.e., that they will conquer these six nations first, for it is these six nations who assembled to fight Joshua, and G-d gave them into his hand. Our Rabbis have said that the Girgashite arose and emigrated of his own accord. This is why he is not mentioned together with those destined for destruction, as it is said concerning them, and I will cut them off. I will discuss this matter further, with the help of G-d.
The sense of the expression, a land flowing with milk and honey, is that He first praised the land as a good land, meaning that its climate is good and beautiful for people and that all that is good is found in it, and as a large land, meaning that it will afford all Israel to be established in a broad place. It may be that r’chavah (large) means spaciousness, referring to [the extensive lands of] the lowland, the valley and the plain, large and small, and is not confined mostly to mountains and valleys. He then began to praise the land as being a land for cattle, having good pasture and good water which cause the cattle to have abundant milk, for healthy and good cattle with abundant milk are to be found only where the climate is good, with plenty of vegetation and good water. But since these are found only in the marsh-lands, while on the height of the mountains fruits are not very fat and good, He further states that this land is so fat that its fruits [all over] are fat and sweet, even to the extent that it all flows with the honey that comes from them. Thus He has praised the land for all its goodness of the Eternal, for the corn, and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd. This is the meaning of the verse, It is the beauty of all lands.
The reason that He said, unto the ‘place’ of the Canaanite, and not “unto the ‘land’ of the Canaanite” as He said in all other places, is to allude to the fact that they will inherit [the Canaanite, etc.], and will destroy them and settle in their places, and not dwell among them as their fathers had done.

Es ist sehr eigentümlich, daß die Bezeichnung der Produktenfülle durch — זוב nur bei א׳׳י und sonst nie wieder in solcher Bedeutung vorkommt, bei dem jüdischen Lande aber der stete Ausdruck ist. זוב heißt im תנ׳׳ך nie: überfließen. Es kommt vorzugsweise nur zur Bezeichnung eines krankhaften Zustandes beim Menschen und sonst nur als ein durch eine Wundermacht — הכה צור ויזובו מים (Ps. 78, 20) — oder durch Gewalt bewirktes Ausfließen — שהם יזובו מדוקרים (Klagel. 4, 9). — vor, "erdolcht strömen sie ihr Blut aus". Alles zusammengenommen dürfte ארץ זכת ח׳ וד׳ wohl nicht ein Land bezeichnen, das seiner natürlichen Fruchtbarkeit nach diese Fülle entfaltet, sondern ein Land, das dies nur unter besonderen Bedingungen tut. Palästina ist ein hartes Land, הארצות האל. (Bereschit 26, 3). Wiederholt sahen wir es von Hungersnot heimgesucht, und auch, nachdem Israel es verlassen, liegt es öde. למטר השמים תשתה מים heißt es von ihm. Ein Land, das nicht wie Ägypten nur ohne weiteres von seinen Bewohnern auszubeutende, natürliche Bedingungen der Fruchtbarkeit bietet, sondern, "das nur unter einer steten, von Anfang des Jahres bis zum Ende des Jahres darauf gerichteten besonderen Gottesfürsorge" aufzublühen vermag. Wenn es Wasser hat, so blüht es üppig auf. Allein dieses Wasser erhält es nur von oben. Es ist ein Boden, der seine Bewohner nötigt, brav zu sein. Für ein hartes Volk, wie wir waren, gehört ein hartes Land. — אל מקום הכנעני. Die jetzigen Bewohner sind durch die darin genossene Üppigkeit entartet, und das Land speit sie aus. Nur freibleibend von allem kanaanitischen Unwesen wird Israel sich seine Fülle erhalten.