Securely בֶּ֫טַח

We are in chapter twenty-five of Leviticus with our word for today. בֶּ֫טַח confidence, security, safety. It is used 42 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used in the sense of security, freedom from anxiety or fear. God is the one that provides this. Psalm 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell לָ֝בֶ֗טַחin safety. Psalm 16:9-10 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells לָבֶֽטַחsecure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. This is how our word is used twice in our chapter today. Leviticus 25:18-22 Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land לָבֶֽטַח securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell לָבֶ֖טַח in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. Did you catch the condition to God’s promise of security in the land? It is none other than trusting God which is expressed in following his direction. This theme of faith in God seen in our actions is consistent throughout the Bible. The Holy Spirit speaking through James says it well. James 2:17-18, 22-24 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works … You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. This is exactly what our chapter is showing connecting God’s promise of security to the people’s trust in God seen in their actions. They literally will have to trust God and not farm the land instead believe that God will provide in those three years. That’s faith in action. That is trust. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the people ever did this. On the contrary God had to kick them out of the land so that all the years that they failed to give the land rest would finally get that rest because they were not there any longer. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. The good news is that because of Jesus our faith can be considered righteousness just like the examples James gives us in chapter two of Abraham and Rahab. And if our belief is true it will express itself in action just like those same examples. I’ll close with this great reminder. James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.