Sh'mot 3:17 So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'
Milk and honey - A land flowing with milk and honey, indicates a land that is prosperous and food is abundant.
There is a deeper meaning however.
Israel is also a "type" of Messiah. He led them out of Egypt just like He did Moshe and just like He did His Son. Israel would not only be a land of milk and honey but it would be a people and a land where the promised seed would come as our Messiah. What does this have to do with milk and honey? On another level, the Messiah is considered a sweet aroma like honey to the Father. We are also to be this fragrance.
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 But thanks be to G-d, who always leads us in His triumph in Messiah, and manifests through us the SWEET aroma of the KNOWLEDGE of HIM in EVERY place. For we are a fragrance of Messiah to G-d among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of G-d, but as from sincerity, but as from G-d, we speak in Messiah in the sight of G-d.
To the one who follows the Messiah it can mean eternal life. It can also sometimes bring sorrow and the aroma of death. We are to die to the flesh and follow the spirit.
Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 7:2-4 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
We are to die in the flesh so Messiah can live in and through us in the spirit. It is a wonderful spirit to present to others. It almost reminds me of this time of year when the leaves are going through the cycles of life and in just before their death they are a display of beauty and majesty. What beautiful colors they are while in a process of death and decay. These colors only bring glory to their creator and the awesome and wonderful things He can create.
Galatians 2:20-21 I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but Messiah who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith/trusting in the Son of G-d, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Honey can be good for those who are friends of a bee but it can imply a sting to those that are the bee's enemies. This kind of symbolism pointing to the Messiah can be seen other places of Bible.
Lets look at Samson's riddle about honey.
Judges 14:12-14 Then Samson said to them, "Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing." And they said to him, "Pose your riddle, that we may hear it."
So he said to them: "Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet."
Now for three days they could not explain the riddle. NKJV
In Judges 14:18 we learn the answer... What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?
This refers back to the beginning of the chapter when Samson slew the lion and then later revisited the carcass.
Judges 14:8-9 After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.
What is really interesting here is that the answer to Samson's riddle contained another riddle.
Yeshua our Messiah is sweeter than Honey and stronger than a lion. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. (Rev 5:5)
Physical death cannot harm us for we will all rise again because of the victory our Messiah has brought us.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 "Death is swallowed up in victory. "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the sin draws its power from the Torah but thanks be to G-d, who gives us the victory through our L-rd Yeshua HaMashiach.
The milk is also symbolic of the Word of G-d. (1 Pet 2:2) We also know the Messiah is described as the Word also.
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G-d, and the Word was G-d. He was in the beginning with G-d.
Sh'mot 3:18-22 "And they will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'The L-RD, the G-d of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the L-RD our G-d.' "But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out My hand, and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. And I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians."
Moshe is warned that it is going to take time but Israel will be victorious because of G-d's intervention.
Speaking of death to death and from life to life we can see those that choose to follow or not to follow instruction from G-d. It could have implications of a happier and longer life to those that obey Him. It could also mean much graver consequences or even death to those that did not. In other words, HaShem cannot bless you unless you are blessable.