God made a promise - the slaves doubted God
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...