Read in Joshua Prawer’s The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem:

"...the dry fosse surrounding many fortresses is the direct result of the fact that the Holy Land, though blessed with milk and honey, never had enough water to spare for a flooded moat."

Proves that an historian may occasionaly display a sense of humour!  

Silly me; I also meant to ask whereabouts in the Bible the Holy Land is referred to as a land of milk and honey.

[quote author=Linnet link=board=idiom;num=1036232090;start=0#0 date=11/02/02 at 05:14:49]Read in Joshua Prawer’s The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem:

I also meant to ask whereabouts in the Bible the Holy Land is referred to as a land of milk and honey.

Exodus has several references starting in 3:8, 3:17, 13:5, 16:31, 33:3 etc.

There are others if you need them.

Bryn

According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the honey of the Bible was not the substance we call honey, but rather "a thick syrup mde from either grapes or dates, called dibs in Arabic."

Dvash is the word used in the Hebrew Bible. EJ says that is only since Talmudic times that this word refers to (bees’) honey, though some biblical stories, e.g., Samson (Judges 14), could only be speaking about honey as we know it.

Linnet, there is a very good website for researching such things:

http://www.biblegateway.com

You can search by chapter and verse or search by keyword.  Very handy for such vexing questions!

Well I’m off to spend three whole hours immersed in the land of milk and honey:  Medieval Crusades and Crusaders exam is this morning (Thursday), at 9.30 (2 1/2 hours from now)...