God made a promise - the slaves doubted God

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What a wonderful promise to recently emancipated slaves travelling through a wilderness, that they would live permanently and safely in their own fertile country; see Lev. 26:5! The word ‘dwell’ or abide, when used in the Bible, has at its root the idea of remaining permanently in a place, see Gen. 29:19, while its antonym (opposite) is to sojourn, as in Genesis 12:10, where we read that Abram had it in mind to stay for a short time only in Egypt.

This promise of dwelling follows the Lord’s earlier declaration that, ‘I established also my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan … in which they were sojourners’, Exod. 6:4 JND. Former sojourners were to be dwellers! However, this and the other promises connected with it were conditional, as the Lord had said, ‘if ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them’, Lev. 26:3, ‘I will give you rain … peace … and make you fruitful’, vv. 4, 6, 9, and ‘I will … establish my covenant with you, v. 9. (In fact, the word ‘if’ appears nine times in chapter 28.) This assurance that they would dwell safely in the land was promised again, Deut. 12:10; 33:12, 28.

There were times when the nation did enjoy this blessing, throughout the land, as for instance when, ‘Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon’, 1 Kgs. 4:25. ‘Under the vine and fig tree’ is also characteristic of the coming millennial day, Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10, when Israel shall again dwell safely, Jer. 23:6; 32:37; 33:16.

For the believer today, just like the Israelites, the promise of dwelling safely is an important idea. Our permanent, unconditional, and safe present position was spoken about by the Lord Jesus when He said, of His own, that they would be in His Father’s hand, and that no one could remove them from that secure position, John 10:28, 29. Our future, unconditional safe dwelling is also assured, because, as Jude wrote, ‘(the only wise God our Saviour) is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy’, Jude 24, 25.





Barnes, H. (2004). January 31st: Ye Shall … Dwell in Your Land Safely (Leviticus 26:1–9). In J. Bennett (Ed.), Day by Day: Bible Promises (p. 49). West Glamorgan, UK: Precious Seed.

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