Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever (1824-1898) was a leader of the Chovevei Zion movement. In an article printed in the book Shivas Tzion, he exhorts his fellow Jews to buy farmland in Palestine and till the soil. After quoting the Ramban in Sefer Hamitzvos, who says that settling in the land is a positive commandment that applies even today, he comments:
When the Ramban says that it is a positive commandment for all generations, even during exile, to take over the land and live in it, he certainly does not mean taking it over militarily, because we are not able nor are we permitted to wage wars in our time, as it states in Kesubos 111a, that the Holy One blessed is He placed upon us an oath not to rebel against the nations under whose protection we live (and as our Sages have directed us in many places, to love, respect, fear and faithfully serve the king and the government under which we find protection), and not to go up as a wall, which Rashi z”l explains to mean “with a strong hand.” So, we must understand that the positive commandment of taking over the land which applies even today means only that we should try to buy up the land from its owners, and with every piece of land that we buy, we fulfill the mitzvah of taking over the land… however, by buying land alone we have not yet fulfilled the mitzvah completely, because this mitzvah is comprised of two parts: “You shall take possession of the land and you shall live in it.” Now, buying is taking possession, but living in it we have not yet fulfilled… we are not permitted to leave it fallow but rather to work it, and that is called settling. We must settle the land and also make it into a beautiful land with young trees and grains.
This quote was not in the English edition but appeared in the Hebrew on p. 167.
I Will Await Him 
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