These are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed to them, by the lot of their inheritance, as Yahweh commanded by Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe. For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. They gave no portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. The children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses, and they divided the land.
Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God. Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed Yahweh my God.’
“Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today. As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh said.”
Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed Yahweh, the God of Israel wholeheartedly. Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 13 1. And these are the countries, etc He now…
1. And these are the countries, etc He now proceeds to the land of Canaan, from which nine tribes and a half were to obtain their lots. And he will immediately break off the thread of the narrative, as we shall see. Yet the transition is seasonably made from that region whose situation was different, to let the reader know that the discourse was to be concerning the land of Canaan, which was to be divided by lot. We have said that Joshua and Eleazar not only divided what the Israelites had already acquired, but trusting in the promise of God, confidently included whatever he had promised to his people, just as if they had been in actual possession of it. We shall see, indeed, that the division was not all at once made complete, but when the first lot turned up in favor of Judah, the turns of the others were left in hope.
Here a difficult question arises. How can it be said that the distribution of the land was made by Joshua, Eleazar, and the princes, if lots were cast? For the lot is not regulated by the opinion or the will or the authority of man. Should any one answer, that they took charge and prevented any fraud from being committed, the difficulty is not removed, nay, this evasion will be refuted from the context. It is to be known, therefore, that they were not selected simply to divide the land by lot, but also afterwards to enlarge or restrict the boundaries of the tribes by giving to each its due proportion. That this business could not be accomplished by a naked lot is very apparent. For while, according to human ideas, nothing is more fortuitous than the result of a lot, it was not known whether God might choose to place the half tribe of Manasseh where the tribe of Judah obtained its settlement, or whether Zebulun might not occupy the place of Ephraim. Therefore they were not at liberty at the outset to proceed farther than to divide the land into ten districts or provinces. In this way, however, the space belonging to each would remain indefinite. For had an option been given to each, some would have chosen to fix themselves in the center, others would have preferred a quiet locality, while others would have been guided in their choice by the fertility of the soil, or the climate and beauty of the scenery. But the lot placed the tribe of Judah, as it were, at the head, while it sent that of Zebulun away to the seashore, placed the tribe of Benjamin adjacent to that of Judah, and removed that of Ephraim to a greater distance. In short, the effect of the lot was that ten divisions fell out from Egypt towards Syria, and from the north quarter to the Mediterranean Sea, making some neighbors to the Egyptians, and giving to others maritime positions, to others hilly districts, to others intervening valleys.
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This being understood, the office remaining for the rulers of the people was to trace out the boundaries on all sides in accordance with the rules of equity. It remained, therefore, for them to calculate how many thousand souls there were in every tribe, and to assign more or less space to each, according to the greatness or the smallness of their numbers. For in conformity to the divine command, a due proportion was to be observed, and a larger or narrower district was to be assigned, according as the census which was taken had ascertained the numbers to be. (Numbers 26) To the judgment of the princes was it in like manner left to shape the territories, regulating the length and breadth as circumstances might require. It is necessary also to bear in mind what is said in Numbers 26, that the ten who are here called heads of families were appointed to execute this office, not by the suffrages of men, but by the voice of God. Thus each tribe had its own overseers to prevent either fraud or violence from being committed. Then it would have been impious to have any suspicion of those who had been nominated by God. Such is the manner in which Joshua may be said to have distributed the land, though it was portioned out by lot.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 15 As Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of…
As Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, Num. 32:33.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–15 Jos 14:1 And these [are the countries] which the…
Jos 14:1 And these [are the countries] which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.
Ver. 1. And these are the countries.] These that are expressed in this and the five following chapters.
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Which Eleazar the priest.] Who was a type of Christ, by whom we have entrance into the heavenly Canaan, and the fourth from Levi; and so that prophecy was fulfilled, Gen 15:16.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 These, mentioned chapters 14-19. Eleazar the priest. see on…
These, mentioned chapters 14-19. Eleazar the priest. see on Jos 8:33; 9:15,18; 19:51. He best understood the laws of God, by which this division was to be regulated; and he was to consult God upon any difficult occurrence.
The heads of the fathers of the tribes; twelve persons, each the head of his tribe, which were appointed and named by God, Num 34:19; and if any of them were now dead, no doubt Joshua and Eleazar, by God’s direction, put others in their stead.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The historian, having in the foregoing chapter given an…
The historian, having in the foregoing chapter given an account of the disposal of the countries on the other side Jordan, now comes to tell us what they did with the countries in the land of Canaan. They were not conquered to be left desert, a habitation for dragons, and a court for owls, Isa 34:13. No, the Israelites that had hitherto been closely encamped in a body, and the greatest part of them such as never knew any other way of living, must now disperse themselves to replenish these new conquests. It is said of the earth, God created it not in vain; he formed it to be inhabited, Isa 45:18. Canaan would have been subdued in vain if it had not been inhabited. Yet every man might not go and settle where he pleased, but as there seems to have been in the days of Peleg an orderly and regular division of the habitable earth among the sons of Noah (Gen 10:25, Gen 10:32), so there was now such a division of the land of Canaan among the sons of Jacob. God had given Moses directions how this distribution should be made, and those directions are here punctually observed. See Num 26:53, etc.
I. The managers of this great affair were Joshua the chief magistrate, Eleazar the chief priest, and ten princes, one of each of the tribes that were now to have their inheritance, whom God himself had nominated (Num 34:17, etc.) some years before; and, it should seem, they were all now in being, and attended this service, that every tribe, having a representative of its own, might be satisfied that there was fair dealing, and might the more contentedly sit down by its lot.
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II. The tribes among whom this dividend was to be made were nine and a half. 1. Not the two and a half that were already seated (Jos 14:3), though perhaps now that they saw what a good land Canaan was, and how effectually it was subdued, they might some of them repent their choice, and wish they had now been to have their lot with their brethren, upon which condition they would gladly have given up what they had on the other side Jordan; but it could not be admitted: they had made their election without power of revocation, and so must their doom be; they themselves have decided it, and they must adhere to their choice. 2. Not the tribe of Levi; this was to be otherwise provided for. God had distinguished them from, and dignified them above, the other tribes, and they must not now mingle themselves with them, nor cast in their lot among them, for this would entangle them in the affairs of this life, which would not consist with a due attendance on their sacred function. But, 3. Joseph made two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, pursuant to Jacob's adoption of Joseph's two sons, and so the number of the tribes was kept up to twelve, though Levi was taken out, which is intimated here (Jos 14:4): The children of Joseph were two tribes, therefore they gave no part to Levi, they being twelve without them.
III. The rule by which they went was the lot, Jos 14:2. The disposal of that is of the Lord, Pro 16:33. It was here used in an affair of weight, and which could not otherwise be accommodated to universal satisfaction, and it was used in a solemn religious manner as an appeal to God, by consent of parties. In dividing by lot, 1. They referred themselves to God, and to his wisdom and sovereignty, believing him fitter to determine for them than they for themselves. Psa 47:4, He shall choose our inheritance for us. 2. They professed a willingness to abide by the determination of it; for every man must take what is his lot, and make the best of it. In allusion to this we are said to obtain an inheritance in Christ (Eph 1:11), eklerothemen - we have obtained it by lot, so the word signified; for it is obtained by a divine designation. Christ, our Joshua, gives eternal life to as many as were given him, Joh 17:2.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–15 And these are the countries which the children of…
And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan,.... Of which an exact account is given in the following chapters, particularly in the Jos 15:1,
which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for an inheritance unto them; namely, ten princes, one of each tribe, who, with Eleazar and Joshua, were appointed of the Lord by name to do this business, even seven years ago, before their entrance into the land of Canaan, Num 34:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 The method of dividing the land, ver. 1-5. Caleb…
The method of dividing the land, ver. 1-5. Caleb demands Hebron, ver. 6-12. which Joshua grants, ver. 13-15.
Eleazar the priest - He best understood the laws of God by which this division was to be regulated. Heads of the fathers - Twelve persons, each the head of his tribe, who were appointed and named by God, Num. xxxiv, 19, and if any of them were now dead, no doubt Joshua and Eleazar, by God's direction, put others in their stead.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Eleazar, Joshua, and the heads of the fathers, distribute…
CHAPTER XIV
Eleazar, Joshua, and the heads of the fathers, distribute the
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land by lot to the people, 1-3.
The Levites receive no land, but cities to dwell in, and suburbs
for their cattle, 4, 5.
Caleb requests to have Mount Hebron for an inheritance, because
of his former services, 6-12.
Joshua grants his request, 13-15.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIV
Verse 1. Eleazar the priest, c.] ELEAZAR, as being the minister of GOD in sacred things is mentioned first. JOSHUA, as having the supreme command in all things civil, is mentioned next. And the HEADS or PRINCES of the twelve tribes, who in all things acted under Joshua, are mentioned last. These heads or princes were twelve, Joshua and Eleazar included and the reader may find their names in Nu 34:19-28. It is worthy of remark that no prince was taken from the tribes of Reuben and Gad, because these had already received their inheritance on the other side of Jordan, and therefore could not be interested in this division.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15 Jos 14:1. And these are the countries — Namely,…
Jos 14:1. And these are the countries — Namely, those mentioned in the 15th, 16th, and following chapters, to the 20th; for this chapter is but a kind of preface to the division of the land; which was now conquered by Joshua, as that of Sihon and Og had been by Moses; and was to be divided by lot according to the command given by God to Moses, Num 34:17-18, where the names of the twelve heads of tribes, or princes, as they are there called, are set down. Eleazar the priest and Joshua, &c. — They best understood the laws of God by which this division was to be regulated.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15 By lot - We are not told in what…
By lot - We are not told in what manner the lot was cast. Perhaps two urns were employed, one containing a description of the several districts to be allotted, the other the names of the tribes; and the portion of each tribe would then be determined by a simultaneous drawing from the two urns. Or a drawing might be made by some appointed person, or by a delegate of each tribe from one urn containing the description of the ten inheritances. The lot only determined in a general way the position in the country of the particular tribe concerned, whether north or south, etc.; the dimensions of each territory being left to be adjusted subsequently, according to the numbers and wants of the tribe to be provided for. Since the predilections and habits of two tribes and a half were consulted in the apportionment to them of the trans-Jordanic territory Num 32:1 there is no objection to the supposition that something of the same kind may have taken place, subject to the divine approval, in the distribution of the lands to the nine and a half other tribes; and the lot would thus be appealed to as finally deciding the matter and foreclosing jealousies and disputes.
It is apparent that the casting of the ten lots did not take place simultaneously. The tribe of Judah had precedence, whether by express appointment or because its lot “came up” first, does not appear. It was, as it seems, only after this tribe had settled upon its domains, that further lots were drawn for Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh. After this a pause, perhaps of some duration, appears to have occurred; the camp was moved from Gilgal to Shiloh; and the further casting of lots for the other seven tribes was proceeded with at the instigation of Joshua (see Jos 18:10).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Princes, whose names are given, Numbers xxxiv. 17. There…
Princes, whose names are given, Numbers xxxiv. 17. There were 12, including Josue and Eleazar. The tribes of Ruben and Gad sent none of their princes, as they were not concerned in this distribution.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 3. Beginning of the Distribution
3. Beginning of the Distribution
Jos_14:1-5
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1And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan,1 which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children [sons] of Israel distributed for inheritance [a 2possession] to them. [,] By lot was their inheritance [by the lot of their possession], as the Lord [Jehovah] commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe. 3For Moses had given the inheritance [possession] of [the] two tribes and an half-tribe on the other side [of the] Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none [no] inheritance among them. 4For the children [sons] of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore [and] they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with [and] their suburbs [pasture-grounds] for their cattle, and for their substance. 5As the Lord [Jehovah] commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.
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4. The Possession of Caleb
Jos_14:6-15
6Then [And] the children [sons] of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing [word] that the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. 7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought 8him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless [And] my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the Lord 9[Jehovah] my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying: Surely the land whereon thy feet have [thy foot hath] trodden shall be thine inheritance [thy possession], and thy children’s for ever; because thou hast wholly followed the Lord 10[Jehovah] my God. And now, behold, the Lord [Jehovah] hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even [omit: even] since the Lord [Jehovah] spake this word unto Moses, while the children of [omit: the children of] Israel wandered [walked] in the wilderness; and now, lo [behold], I am this day fourscore and five years old. 11As yet I am as strong this day, as I was in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even [omit: even] so is my strength now, for 12war, both [and] to go out, and to come in. Now therefore [and now] give me this mountain, whereof the Lord [Jehovah] spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced [and great and fortified cities]: if so be [perhaps] the Lord [Jehovah] will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord [Jehovah] said. 13And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance [a possession]. 14Hebron therefore became the inheritance [possession] of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day; because that he wholly followed the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel. 15And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba: which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The chapter contains, partly, Jos_14:1-5, the introduction to the division of the country west of the Jordan among the nine and a half remaining tribes, and partly an episode breaking the connection between Jos_14:1-5; Jos_15:1 ff., concerning the possession of Caleb. With this, Jos_15:13-19 and Jdg_1:10-15, which agree with each other, are to be compared.
a. (3) Jos_14:1-5. Introduction to the Division of the Land West of the Jordan. Jos_14:1. As distributors Eleazar and Joshua are named here, as in Num_34:17, while in Jos_13:6-7; Jos_18:6; Jos_18:8; Jos_18:10, Joshua alone casts the lot or grants the land as in vers 13; Jos_17:15; Jos_17:18. Eleazar, אֶלְעָזָר (whom God helps, Gotthilf), “was Aaron’s third son and successor in the high-priesthood, Exo_6:23; Exo_6:25; Num_3:2. After the death of his father he followed him in the dignity of the high-priesthood; Num_20:25 ff; Deu_10:6, and was associated thus for a time with Moses, then with Joshua, Jos_14:1; Jos_17:4 ff. His death is related Jos_24:33” (Winer, 1. 314).
Jos_14:2. Eleazar and Joshua distributed the land through the lot of their possession; i.e. through the lot by which the part of the land was to be determined according to Num_26:55, whether in the north or in the south, whether in the east or in the west, whereas the magnitude of the portion was to be fixed (Num_26:56) according to the population of the tribe, by Moses or his successor. “Whether also the provinces of the several families of the tribes were assigned by lot, or whether this was left to the heads of the tribes, respectively, is not to be discovered” (Knobel).
The distribution by lot of conquered countries appears also in other histories. Thus it was “a standing custom with the Athenians, to divide the land of conquered enemies to colonists by lot, (Diod. xv. 23, 29). They proceeded in this manner in Eubœa (Herod, v. 77; 6, 100), and in Lesbos Thuc. iii. 50). Among the Romans, also we read of sorte agros legionibus assignare (Cic. Epp. add. Divv., xi. 20, comp. Appian, Bell. Civ., v. 74)” (Knobel).
How the lot was taken we are not informed. Most probably, as the Rabbins have conjectured. there were two urns. In one had been placed little tablets (Keil: tickets) with the names of the tribe, and in the other similar tablets with the names of the districts; and one of each was drawn at the same time. If we reject the supposition of two urns, we may think of one containing the tablets designating the portions of country, which the heads of the several tribes may have drawn, As Jehovah had commanded by Moses,Num_26:52 ff.
Jos_14:4. The appointment concerning the Levitical cities is found Num_35:1 ff. where it is stated also how large their pasture-grounds should be. מִגְרָשׁ from גָרַשׁto drive, drive forth signifies a place whither cattle are driven (Germ. Trieb, Trift, [comp. Eng.: drove, “a road for driving cattle,” Webster]), and denotes here the space around the city which should serve for the driving of herds” (Knobel on Num_35:2). A diagram by which the dimensions in Num_35:5 may be clearly apprehended is given in Keil on this passage.2 These pasture-grounds (Bunsen: Commons); in Switzerland called All-menden), are repeatedly mentioned Joshua 20. Luther [the Eng. version also] translates, incorrectly: suburbs, led evidently by the Vulg., which renders מ׳suburbana.
b. (4) Jos_14:6-15. Caleb’s Possession. Caleb, the patriarch of the sons of Judah (Num_34:19), accompanied by the men of his tribe (Jos_14:6), approaches Joshua, and desires, with an appeal to the promise of Moses (Jos_14:9), and with a declaration of his still unbroken capacity for war (Jos_14:11), that the mountain of Hebron may be given to him, out of which he purposes to extirpate the Anakites (Jos_14:12). Joshua promptly and gladly grants the request of the respected, proved, and brave old man, who had once with himself spied out the land from Kadesh-barnea (Num_13:29; Num_14:6). The place of the transaction is Gilgal, and that, as has before been shown, in the Jordan-valley. Later, Jos_18:1, we find the camp moved to Shiloh.
Jos_14:6. Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite. Caleb, כָּלֵב (perhaps, seizing vehemently, from כָּלַב, Gesen.3), son of one Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah (Num_13:6), one of the spies (Num_13:7), had in vain encouraged the Israelites to venture an attack and take possession of the promised land (Num_13:31). Pained at the cowardice of the people, he and Joshua rent their garments and still urged the people to a bold and resolute deed, which so enraged the latter that they were ready to stone them both (Num_14:10). On account of their fidelity, Caleb and Joshua alone were deemed worthy to enter into the land of Canaan (Num_14:24; Num_14:30; Num_14:38; Num_26:65; 1Ma_2:56; Sir_46:11-12). He is here, as in Jos_14:14 and also in Num_32:12, called קְנִזִּי, i.e. a descendant of Kenaz, which name occurs yet again, as Jdg_1:12, in the family of Caleb. We agree with Winer (i. 654) in thinking it quite unlikely that there is here any connection with the Kenizzites mentioned Gen_15:19, as Bertheau and Ewald suppose. [But see Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, articles “Caleb” and “Kenezites”].
We next have the speech of Caleb, whose main thought has been already given above. He first calls to mind the word which Jehovah in Kadesh-barnea spoke to Moses, the man of God, concerning him and Joshua. It is found in Num_14:24; Num_14:30, but purports only, as Keil aptly remarks, that the Lord will bring Caleb into the land whither he had gone, and give it to his seed for a possession. Kadesh-barnea we have already found mentioned in Jos_10:41, and shall find it again Jos_15:3; Jos_15:23. The name sounds either as here, or merely קָדֵשׁ (Gen_14:7; Gen_16:14; Num_20:16), or קֶדֶשׁ (Jos_15:23). It lay at the foot of the mountain of the Amorites (Deu_1:19-21), was reached by the Israelites in eleven days from Horeb, and was the principal scene of their stubbornness and insubordination (Numbers 14; Num_20:1-13), and where they decided their fate for the long period of forty years. Robinson, whom Hitzig (Gesch. d. v. Israels, 1:89) unhesitatingly follows, regards as Kadesh, Ain el-Weibeh, which lies northwest of Petra, and almost south of the Dead Sea. Von Raumer fixes upon the more northerly Ain Hasb (p. 209, as with special particularity, p. 483 ff.), lying, as well as the former place, in the Arabah. Menke has followed on his map the opinion of Rowland, controverted by both Robinson and Raumer, according to which Kadesh must be sought far west of the Arabah. Thither Menke transfers Mount Seir, also, and the wilderness of Zin. But how then should Num_21:4 be understood in comparison with Deu_2:12?4
Jos_14:7. At the time when he was sent forth from Kadesh-barnea Caleb was forty years old. He brought back a report, and as he expresses it, so as it was in [lit. with] my heart. Hebr.עִם־לְבָבִי בַּאֲֹשֶׁר. Luther translates לבב here as in Job_27:6, by “conscience.” We are not to think of conscience, however, but rather of the bold confident spirit of Caleb, which he spoke out just as he felt it. He was a spirited man and not discouraged like the rest. On the variant reading of the LXX. (αὐτοῦ) which presupposes לְבָבוֹ, as one codex of Kennicott has it, see Keil, in loc.
Jos_14:8. Not so were his brethren who went up with him; they rather discouraged (הִמְסִיד for הִמְכוּ, Ewald, Lehrg. § 142, a; Gesen. § 75. Rem. 17) the heart of the people; prop. they made the heart of the people to melt, as in Eng. vers. Comp. Jos_2:11; Jos_5:1, but especially Jos_7:5. By that Caleb was not troubled, but wholly followed (comp. Num_14:24) Jehovah, i.e. completely fulfilled (מִלֵּאתִי) what Jehovah required,—rendered him unconditional, cheerful obedience.
Jos_14:9. In consequence of this Moses swore to give him the land on which his foot had trod. We find no difficulty in meeting with this oath in Deu_1:34 ff. where 14:36 agrees, in part literally, with the verse before us. And although it is there said that God swore, here that Moses did, we see, ceteris paribus, no irreconcilable discrepancy. Moses, the man of God (Jos_14:6), swears in the name and at the command of God. Knobel’s observation: “moreover we read, in what the Jehovist has given of the report of the author, of an oath of Jehovah, Num_14:21; Num_14:24,” needs correction, since the oath in question, which is identical with that in Deu_1:34, is the one mentioned Num_14:21; Num_14:24.
[Jehovah my God. It is less easy to reconcile this expression with any form of the oath as taken by Jehovah. May we not assume that Caleb quotes some expression of Moses not elsewhere preserved to us, but familiar then to Joshua?—Tr.]
Jos_14:10. God has fulfilled his promise and kept him alive, as he spoke, and that for these forty and five years. … while Israel walked in the wilderness.אְשֶׁר has here the signification “in which” (time), “while,” Ewald, Lehrg. § 321, c. Concerning the forty-five years see the Introd. § 4.
Jos_14:11. The might of the hero is still unbroken although he is now eighty-five years old. A similar statement is made of Moses, Deu_34:7.
Jos_14:12. On the ground of all these facts Caleb now asks for mount Hebron, although he had, according to Num_13:21, gone much further into the country, even into the north of Palestine, while certainly, according to Num_13:22-23, he had spied out the land only into the region of Hebron. As there Num_14:22-23 are inserted into the context so is it here with this whole passage, Jos_14:6-15, which probably comes from the same hand. It is remarkable also, that Caleb here says to Joshua: thou heardest in that day, how the Anakim were there, since Joshua (Num_13:8) also was one of the spies; cf. besides Knobel on this passage, also Bleek, Introduction, i. p. 316. As Anakim are mentioned, Num_13:22; Jdg_1:10, and in this book, Jos_15:14, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
Perhaps Jehovah will be with me that I may drive them out, as Jehovah said. According to Jos_11:21, Joshua had already driven them out, (וַיּכְרֵת).— אֹתִי for אִתִּי Gesen. § 103, 1, Rem. Ewald, Lehrg. § 264, a.
Jos_14:13. Joshua cheerfully granted the request of Caleb. He blessed him, i.e. “joined with his gratitude for the courageous declaration, an expression of his good wishes and prayer for the success of his undertaking; comp. Gen_14:19; Gen_27:23; Exo_39:43; 2Sa_14:22” (Knobel). Joshua himself, as in Jos_17:14 ff., bestows on him the land.
Jos_14:14. Thus Hebron passes over into the hands of Caleb. According to Jos_21:11, he must have yielded the city to the Levites, while he held the land for himself.
Jos_14:15. A notice that in earlier times (לְפָנִים) Hebron had been called “city of Arba,” who was a great man among the Anakim. The same remark is repeated Jos_15:13; Jos_21:11, and had already occurred Gen_23:2. Another piece of information see Num_13:22.
And the land had rest from war; repeated here from Jos_11:23.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The manner of employing the lot here is different from its use in Jos_7:14, inasmuch as we here have to deal, not with a criminal process, but only with the fairest possible performance of an administrative transaction, namely, with the division of the land. In this case also God himself should give the decision, and therefore resort is had to the lot. So again after the return from the exile the resettlement of the capital was effected by casting lots (Neh_11:1), comp. Winer, ii. 31.
2. That the Levites received no province as a tribe, but rather cities for their habitation, and pastures for their herds, just so much, therefore, as, joined to the portion of the offerings mentioned Numbers 18, was necessary for their subsistence, this was altogether suited to keep them in lively remembrance that Jehovah was their inheritance. Christ expresses the same principle in regard to his disciples, Mat_10:9-10; Mar_6:8-9; Luk_9:3; Luk_10:4; Luk_10:7. Paul appeals directly to the O. T. arrangement, 1Co_9:13, although for himself he makes no claim to this right, 1Co_9:18. Now also these principles ought to give the standard to congregations and church authorites in fixing the salaries of spiritual offices. Fat benefices with large landed possessions or extravagant revenues of money are wrong; but equally wrong is it when care for subsistence daily oppresses the preacher and robs him of the joy of his calling. In this matter there is still much room for improvement. Rightly, therefore, does Starke say “The Levites were by this wise arrangement so much the more assured of their earthly support, and could so much the more diligently and without embarrassment perform their duty. They are a pattern for all Christians, who ought to regard all which they have as a gift of God.”
3. The youthful freshness with which Caleb comes forward, has in it something uncommonly cheering, and shows how a pious walk joined with an efficient accomplishment of the business of life, keeps a man even physically sound and vigorous up to advanced age. It was so also with Moses, and even in our time there were and are men who have shared the same beautiful lot. Of one at least let us here make mention, the recently departed Nitzsch. Compare also in Schleiermacher’s Monologen the discourse concerning “Youth and Age.”
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Caleb’s demand. (1) On his part well grounded, therefore: (2) gladly granted by Joshua.—What is right and just one may well demand.—How God sustains those who are his even to old age, and until they are gray (Isa_46:4), shown in the case of Caleb.—The blessing of a faithful fulfillment of the commands of God.—The land had ceased from war (Peace Sermon).
Starke: Only he who is a child of God and belongs to the peculiar people of God, can partake of the heavenly inheritance, Gal_4:7; Gal_3:29; Rom_8:17.—In the reception of earthly good we must refer everything to the divine blessing.—O, how profitable is godliness! It is profitable unto all things and has the promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come, 1Ti_4:8; Mat_6:33. Although God does good to his children and blesses them, yet with the sweet He always shows them the rod also, Mal_3:16-18.—In the world is war and strife, but in heavey, peace, rest, and blessedness, Job_7:1.
Cramer: Dividing an inheritance and all business transactions and dealings are matters of con science, 1Th_4:6.—No one can of himself take for himself anything of the kingdom of heaven, and of eternal life, except it be given to him from above, Joh_3:27.—That to which a man has a right he may even demand of the magistrate, for to this end are judges appointed, Deu_17:18.—Our glory and boast should be the testimony of a good conscience, 2Co_1:12, Act_24:16.—Godliness is rewarded also with long life and health, Psa_91:16; Pro_3:2.
Osiander: Although we certainly cannot attain blessedness through our own works and merits, still God of his great goodness is wont to reward what we do from the spirit of submissive obedience with temporal and spiritual benefits.
Footnotes:
[1][Jos_14:1.—And these are what the sons of Israel received as a possession in the land of Canaan, what Eleazar the priest, etc.—Tr.]
[2][This is Keil’s figure:—Tr.]
[3][Gesenius: “perhaps, dog, for כֶּלֶב” from כָּלַב “to bark, to yelp.” But Fürst and Dietrich (in his edition of Gesenius) give the above explanation. See Smith’s Dict. art. “Caleb,” Am. Edition.—Tr.]
[4][The site of Kadesh is fully discussed in the Dict. of the Bible, s. v.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 15 The children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and…
The children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim--As two and a half tribes were settled on the east Jordan, and the Levites had no inheritance assigned them in land, there would have been only eight and a half tribes to provide for. But Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, had been constituted two tribes (Gen 48:5), and although Levi was excluded, the original number of the tribes of Israel was still preserved.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 INTRODUCTION TO THE WEST JORDANIC ALLOTMENTS, Jos_14:1-5.
INTRODUCTION TO THE WEST JORDANIC ALLOTMENTS, Jos_14:1-5.
1. These are the countries — Passing from the eastern side of the Jordan, our historian now traces the boundaries of the tribes on its western side, constituting the main area of the Holy Land. The directions of Moses (Num_26:53-56) were obeyed in the allotment. Yet God so overruled the lots as to fulfil the predictions of the prophecies of the dying Jacob. Genesis 49.
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Eleazar the priest — The term High Priest had not yet been invented. Eleazar was the third son of Aaron, and came into the high-priesthood by the death of his two sacrilegious brothers, Nadab and Abihu. See notes on Exo_6:23; Lev_10:1 : Num_3:4; Num_20:28. He aided Moses in the census of the people, (Num_26:3,) assisted at the inauguration of Joshua, and now is the proper person to superintend the sacred lots by which the conquered lands were divided. The original document describing the division we might naturally suppose to be prepared under his superintendence and preserved in the archives of the tabernacle. In the form in which the records here stand in the sacred volume they form a part of the law, and they were, we might suppose, preserved with the sacred records in the ark of the covenant. The persons who were to divide western Palestine among the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh were designated by Jehovah before the death of Moses, and their names are given in Num_34:17-28.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–15 Ch. Jos_14:1-5. Distribution of the Land West of the…
Ch. Jos_14:1-5. Distribution of the Land West of the Jordan
1. And these are the countries] In this section, from Jos_14:1-5, we have an introduction to the division of the country west of the Jordan among the nine and a half remaining tribes.
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Eleazar the priest] He was the third son of Aaron, and his successor in the highpriesthood (Num_20:25; Deu_10:6). See below, ch. Jos_24:33. Both here and in Num_34:17 he is mentioned before Joshua, “for the division by lot was presided over by the high priest as the representative of the government of the Lord in Israel.” Keil.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15
XIV.
FOURTH DIVISION OF THE BOOK.
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DIVISION OF THE TEBBITORY ON THE WEST OF JORDAN TO NINE TRIBES AND A HALF
(Joshua 14-19, inclusive).
(1) And these are the countries which . . . Eleazar . . . and Joshua . . . distributed.—Here we enter upon the record of the third portion of Joshua’s great work. He had (1) to bring Israel over Jordan; (2) to conquer the land; (3) to divide it among the tribes.
Eleazar . . . and Joshua.—Not Joshua and Eleazar, observe. This is in strict accordance with the law of Moses, and the form of government which he was ordered to establish in Israel, to continue after his death. See Numbers 27, where, in answer to Moses prayer for a shepherd in Israel, the Lord says, “Take thee Joshua (here a figure of the great “Shepherd, the stone of Israel”), and lay thine hand upon him; and (Num_27:21) he (Joshua) shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord; at his (Eleazar’s) word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he (Joshua) and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” (Comp. also Deu_17:9 : “Thou shalt come unto the priests (at the place which the Lord shall choose), and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment.”) In these passages we see delineated the nature of the government established in Israel by Moses, to continue until there was a king. The priest had the legislative authority, the executive power rested with the judge. Of these judges, Joshua stands first; those who followed, until Samuel, held the same relation to the priest. Joshua was also a prophet. Samuel (a prophet likewise) established a third power in the constitution, and made the supreme executive power continuous and hereditary, giving to Israel a form of government by prophet, priest, and king. For the present, however, Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun (the answer to Moses’ prayer for a shepherd) were the rulers. “To lead them out and to bring them in” was what Moses asked that the shepherd of Israel might do. Joshua had led them out to victory; he was now to bring in each of the tribes into the home that the Lord had chosen for it in the promised land.
And the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.—These men are all named in Num_34:16-28 : one from every tribe, in addition to Eleazar and Joshua. The names were then given by God to Moses, as the narrative states in Num_34:16-19. But is it not remarkable that before the land was conquered, in view of all the battles that were to be fought before it could be divided, the names of the men who were to divide it should be revealed? Man could not have arranged it so. The bow drawn at a venture, or one false step in the heat of battle, or the hurry of pursuit or flight, might have made a gap in the list. But it was not to be. “The Lord hath kept me alive,” says Caleb (the first man after Joshua on this list) in Jos_14:10. But all the twelve commissioners might have said the same. We cannot forbear to ask the question—Is it conceivable that, were the narrative in Numbers 34 anything but simple truth, it should contain such an unlikely statement as this? It will not do to say the names in the Book of Numbers were added afterwards; the form of the language in which they are given forbids this, and, with the single exception of Caleb, we know nothing of these twelve commissioners except their names.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Tribes. The word here for "tribes," in connection with…
Tribes. The word here for "tribes," in connection with the word "fathers," is the one which implies genealogical descent. (see note on Jos_13:29) Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes. A picture of national unity; the head of the Church, representing the religious aspect of the community; the head of the State, representing its civil aspect; the heads of the tribes, to signify the general assent of the body politic. A work so begun was likely to be satisfactorily carried out. And accordingly the distribution of the land, recognised as carried out according to the will of God, displayed no partiality, and excited no jealousies.
HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER Ver. 1. Peasant proprietorship.
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The land of Canaan is divided not amongst nobility and gentry, but amongst the people. Each family has its little farm probably averaging about ten acres. Divided equally amongst the people, the Mosaic law expressly forbade its alienation in perpetuity from any family. The jubilee year was ordained in order that twice in a century any too great inequalities of condition which had crept in might be redressed; that every family which, through misfortune or even fault, had fallen out of property, might regain their land, and with it the means of maintenance for their families. In that jubilee year his freedom reverted to the slave, and his family heritage to him who had fallen into poverty. There was no injustice, for the value of the land was assessed in the case of every sale as that of a leasehold having so many years to run. Every tax and every religious charge upon the land similarly varied, according as the jubilee year was near or distant. None hurt by this system; numerous and incalculable advantages arose from it. It prevented the rise of a feudal aristocracy, with the inevitable degradation of the poor. It put Israel in the best of all conditions for developing self respect in the individual. Its equality was a school for liberty. It averted many of the most prolific causes of poverty. It diffused a homely comfort throughout all the land. It made the well being of the State a matter of vital interest to every citizen, giving each able-bodied man a "stake in the country." It made Israel a model commonwealth, where the land was the home of all, and all classes without envy and without arrogance enjoyed the gifts of God in fairly even distribution. Observe
I THE GROUNDS OF SUCH A PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION. The first "idea" lying at the root of this distribution of land is, that land is, unlike all other property, not proper to be the possession in perpetuity of any holder. The land is like the air of heaven, like the rain and the sunshine, like the fisheries of the sea, meant to be a common blessing for all, rather than the private good of any. Its productiveness is due to Nature"s chemistry as much as to man"s art. What man has no part in producing, he has no title to possess, anal therefore no man can legitimately possess himself, to the exclusion of others, of that Divine part of the earth"s fruitfulness. Accordingly, the theory of Moses is, that God is the great and only landlord; none having more than life interests in the land. Every fifty years it all was to fall into His hands again. Under God the land belonged to the nation, and the jubilee year permitted it to be so divided that all the families of the nation would enjoy it with a rough equality. A second idea lying at the base of this legislation was, that great wealth and great poverty were both of them great evils, to be prevented at any cost. The evils of poverty are obvious. Insufficient food, physical degeneracy, the development of a servile and dependent spirit; or of a reckless, turbulent spirit, that in its haste to relieve its hunger is apt to overthrow the State. Strife of classes inevitably springs from it. There is a poverty the result of indolence, which the law wisely would not attempt to prevent; and one the result of accidents, which it was impossible to foresee, and so provide against. But every State should direct its first and most patient attention to poverty produced by law; for that is generally the worst kind of all, as well as being a very general kind. And wealth corrupts equally with poverty. Wealth is full of fears, and fear begets tyranny and injustice. Too much is good for no one. The body is weakened by being pampered, the mind by want of constant occupation, the character by the softness that comes from the absence of struggle with difficulties. Ignorance of many of the ills of life begets hard heartedness, and destroys the finer sympathies. The presence of great wealth and great poverty, side by side, intensifies the mischiefs of each, and becomes one of the greatest perils that any community has to contend with. The law of Moses, and the carrying out of it by Joshua, was thus directed to prevent the development of the two great evils of modern civilisation excessive wealth and excessive poverty. A third idea, lying at the foundation of this legislation, was that the equality of the citizens is the condition most favourable to the well being of the State. All exaggerated differences of condition tend to divide and alienate classes, depriving the land in some degree of cooperation in enterprise, in defence of liberties, in practice of religion. Joshua aimed not at a stagnant communism, which would rob life of its energy, but yet of a brotherly state in which all would have a fair chance of comfort, and none an unfair chance of inordinate wealth. In the present circumstances of our country the land legislation of Moses is especially worthy of our study. We differ from Israel in one important condition England finds the chief part of her national wealth, not in agriculture, but in manufactures and in commerce. This fact has made land laws, such as every other civilised nation has abolished, tolerable here. But even for England, and still more for Ireland, which is an agricultural land, the time has come when the needless loss and harm and waste which they produce should terminate. In these circumstances mark
II SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR LAND LEGISLATION AT HOME CONTAINED IN THE LAWS OF CANAAN.
1. These present us with the ideal at which to aim; viz., to get the land into as many hands as possible.
2. Such an ideal should, it is almost needless to say, be pursued only in a righteous and peaceful way. In a land of such wealth and resource as ours any other method would be as foolish as wicked.
3. Every facility that the law can give for the sale and transfer of landsought to be given. Entail ought to be forbidden at once, as unjust to the younger children of a family, and injurious to the State, Settlements destroying the right of sale should be prohibited. These two alterations would at once bring much land into the market.
4. A law for division of property among his children on the death of the holder would in two or three generations effect a marvellous revolution in the present most deplorable distribution of land, and would work the same blessings here as such a law has wrought in France, Belgium, Denmark, etc. Instead of 2, 000 persons (2, 148 exactly) holding more than one-half of the land in the United Kingdom, it is desirable 2, 000, 000 of persons should share it. If by facilities for sale, the abolition of feudal laws tending to accumulate property in few hands which survive nowhere but here, the land could be by justice and peace brought again into the possession of the people, the gain to the nation would be incalculable. An enormous increase in productiveness would, judging from the experience of the other nations of Europe, at once accrue. This would be the least of the benefits. There would be less poverty, more self respect, more energy, more patriotism, more union amongst our people; perhaps, with the extinction of so much injustice, more religion too. And we should find in this, as in other things, that modern civilisation is never so wise as when it sits at the feet of ancient inspiration. Moses and Joshua are the grandest of all political economists. G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 By lot was their inheritance.
Jos_14:1-5
By lot was their inheritance.
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The tribes apportioned
As the whole inheritance was the gift of God, so each ones share was assigned to him by His appointment. Not even Joshua himself in a display of the greatest wisdom and impartiality could have yielded satisfaction in a matter where so many, and all of one family, were concerned. Only the authority of the Father, who had entailed upon them as His redeemed children this common patrimony, could decide the portion of each tribe and of each family. This may yield great satisfaction to the heirs of promise, who are looking for a share in the heavenly inheritance. There, whatever degree of station, difference of capacity, or diversity of possession may exist, no one but will find his inheritance all he could desire and enjoy, and for ever beyond the possibility of becoming a cause of dissatisfaction to himself or of envy to others. To animate the hopes of the believer, and quicken his desires after it, an outline is presented in the descriptions of heavenly promise. Oh, for a realising faith, that elevation and meekness which characterise the high-born sons of God, and which by present hopes wean the heart from earthly bliss and sublimate its affections to highest joys. The portion of inheritance that fell to the members of this great family was, agreeably to previous instructions in the wilderness, determined by lot; and was to be viewed not as the result of chance, but as the wise and gracious appointment of their heavenly Father. No one but had reason to be satisfied with his portion, and to consider it assigned him with the indisputable exactness of last will and testament. What a sweet thought to the true spiritual Church of God, the heirs of grace and glory, both with respect to their present condition and their future inheritance! He who did not overlook one tribe or family in the earthly Canaan, but provided for them as few or many, now, though the lot is differently determined, as minutely fixes the bounds of His peoples habitations, and manages all their affairs. Nor less exact will appear the eternal consummation of His goodness, in the final results of providence, and completion of His covenant purpose. (W. Seaton.)
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The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v6 CHAPTER XXII. THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB*. Jos_14:6-15.
CHAPTER XXII. THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB*. Jos_14:6-15.
CALEB is one of those men whom we meet with seldom in Bible history, but whenever we do meet them we are the better for the meeting. Bright and brave, strong, modest and cheerful, there is honesty in his face, courage and decision in the very pose of his body, and the calm confidence of faith in his very look and attitude. It is singular that there should be cause to doubt whether his family were originally of the promised seed. When introduced to us in the present passage he is emphatically called "Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite" (R.V., Kenizzite, rightly, same as Kenizzite in Gen_15:19), as if he had been a descendant of Kenaz, a son of Esau (Gen_36:11; Gen_36:15), and a member of the Kenizzite tribe. It was not customary to distinguish Israelites in this way, but only those who had come among them from other tribes, like "Heber the Kenite," "Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite" (Jdg_4:11; Jdg_4:17), Uriah the Hittite, Hushai the Archite, etc. Moreover, Othniel, Caleb's younger brother, is called the son of Kenaz (Jos_15:17); and further, when it is recorded in the fourteenth verse of this chapter that Hebron became the possession of Caleb, the reason assigned is that he "wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." On the other hand, in the genealogical list of 1Ch_4:13; 1Ch_4:15, Othniel and Caleb occur as if they were regular members of the tribe; but that list shows obvious signs of imperfection. On the whole, the preponderance of evidence is in favour of the opinion that Caleb's family were originally outside the covenant, but had become proselytes, like Hobab, Rahab, Ruth, and Heber. Their faith was pre-eminently the fruit of conviction, and not the accident of heredity. It had a firmer basis than that of most Israelites. It was woven more closely into the texture of their being, and swayed their lives more powerfully. It is pleasing to think that there may have been many such proselytes; that the promise to Abraham may have attracted souls from the east, and the west, and the north, and the south; that even beyond the limits of the twelve tribes many hearts may have been cheered, and many lives elevated and purified by the promise to him, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
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*There is some difficulty in adjusting the three passages in which the settlement of Caleb is referred to. From this first passage of the three, we are led to think that it was before the tribe of Judah obtained its portion. Again, from Jos_15:13 we might suppose that it was simultaneously with the rest of the tribe. From Jdg_1:10, again, it might be thought that the subduing of the natives in Hebron was effected, not by Caleb alone, but by the tribe of Judah, and that it took place "after the death of Joshua " (Jdg_1:1). Putting all these together, it would appear that Hebron was assigned to Caleb before the tribe of Judah was settled; that this allocation was ratified at the general settlement; that as Caleb was a member of the tribe, his services against the Canaanites, and especially the Anakim, were ascribed to his tribe; and that the process of dispossessing the Canaanites went on for some time after the death of Joshua. The repetitions in the narrative concerning Caleb form one of the considerations that favour the idea of more sources than one having been made use of in the composition of this book.
Caleb and Joshua had believed and acted alike, in opposition to the other ten spies; but Caleb occupies the more prominent place in the story of their heroism and faith. It was he that "stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it " (Num_13:30); and at first his name occurs alone, as exempted from the sentence of exclusion against the rest of his generation: ''But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went: and his seed shall possess it " (Num_14:24). As we have said before, it is probable that Caleb was the readier speaker, and it is possible that he was the firmer man. Joshua seems to have wanted that power of initiation which Caleb had. It was because he had always been a good follower that Joshua in his old age was fitted to be a leader. Because he had been a good servant he became a good master. As long as Moses lived, Joshua was his servant. After Moses died, Joshua set himself simply to carry out his instructions. It was a happy thing for him on the return of the ten spies that Caleb was one of them, otherwise he might have found himself in a condition of embarrassment. Caleb was evidently the man who led the opposition to the ten, not only asserting the course of duty, but manifesting the spirit of contempt and defiance toward the faithless cowards that forgot that God was with them. In his inmost heart Joshua was quite of his mind, but probably he wanted the energetic manner, the ringing voice, the fearless attitude of his more demonstrative companion. Certain it is that Caleb reaped the chief honour of that day*.
*Some readers may no doubt prefer the explanation that when Caleb is mentioned alone one document was followed, and when Caleb and Joshua are coupled, another.
It is beautiful to see that there was no rivalry between them. Not only did Caleb interpose no remonstrance when Joshua was called to succeed Moses, but he seems all through the wars to have yielded to him the most loyal and hearty submission. God had set His seal on Joshua, and the people had ratified the appointment, and Caleb was too magnanimous to allow any poor ambition of his, if he had any, to come in the way of the Divine will and the public good. His affectionate and cordial bearing on the present occasion seems to show that not even in the corner of his heart did there linger a trace of jealousy toward the old friend and companion whom on that occasion he had surpassed, but who had been set so much higher than himself. He came to him as the recognised leader of the people - as the man whose voice was to decide the question he now submitted, as the judge and arbiter in a matter which very closely concerned him and his house.
And yet there are indications of tact on the part of Caleb, of a thorough understanding of the character of Joshua, and of the sort of considerations by which he might be expected to be swayed. There were two grounds on which he might reasonably look for the conceding of his request - his personal services, and the promise of Moses. Caleb knows well that the promise of Moses will influence Joshua much more than any other consideration; therefore he puts it in the foreground. "Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea." "Moses, the man of God." Why does Caleb select that remarkable epithet? Why add anything to the usual name, Moses? The use of the epithet was honouring to all the three.
That which constituted the highest glory of Moses was that he was so much at one with God. God's will was ever his law, and he was in such close sympathy with God that whatever instructions he gave on any subject might be assumed to be in accordance with God's will. Moreover, in calling him "the man of God" when addressing Joshua, Caleb assumed that Joshua would be impressed by this consideration, and would be disposed to agree to a request which was not only sanctioned by the will of Moses, but by that higher will which Moses constantly recognised. In short, when Joshua considered that the particular wish of Moses which Caleb now recalled was only the expression of the Divine will, Caleb felt assured that he could not withhold his consent. The three men were indeed a noble trio, worthy descendants of their father Abraham, even if one of the three was no son of Jacob. Long before our Lord taught the petition "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," it had become habitual to them all. Moses was indeed ''the man of God," - preeminently in fellowship with Him; in a lower sphere both Caleb and Joshua were of the same order, men who tried to live their lives, and every part of them, only in God.
Having fortified his plea with this strong reference at once to Moses and to God, Caleb proceeds to rehearse the service which had led to the promise of Moses. The facts could not but be well known to Joshua. "Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the Lord my God." Why does Caleb put the matter in this way? Why does he not couple Joshua with himself as having been faithful on that never-to-be- forgotten occasion? The only explanation that seems feasible is, that from the pre-eminent position of Joshua this was unnecessary, perhaps it might have appeared even unbecoming. A soldier making a request of the Duke of Wellington, and recalling some service he had done at the battle of Waterloo, would hardly think it necessary, or even becoming, to say how the Duke, too, had been there, and what surpassing service he had rendered on that day. A soldier like the Duke occupying a position of unrivalled pre-eminence on account of long and brilliant service, does not need to be told what he has done, Joshua was now the leader of Israel, and the last few years had crowned him with such manifold glory that his whole life was transfigured, and individual acts of service did not need to be spoken of Caleb was comparatively an obscure individual, whose fame rested on a single service now nearly half a century old, which could not, indeed, be quite forgotten, but amid the brilliant events of later times might easily pass out of sight and out of mind. There was no disparagement of Joshua, therefore, in his not being mentioned by Caleb, but, on the contrary, a silent tribute to his exalted office as chief ruler of Israel, and to his all but unparalleled services, especially during these later years.
"I brought him word again, as it was in my heart." The statement is made in no boasting spirit, and yet what a rare virtue it denotes! Caleb, as we now say, had the courage of his convictions. He had both an honest heart and an honest tongue. We can have but little idea what temptations he lay under not to speak what was in his heart. For six weeks these ten men had been his close companions. They had eaten together, slept under the same canvas, walked by the same paths, beguiled the long way by story and anecdote, and no doubt by joke and play of humour, and done kind offices to each other as circumstances required. To break away from your own set, from the comrades of your campaign, to upset their plans, and counsel those in power to a course diametrically opposed to theirs, is one of the most difficult of social duties. And in these days of ours there is no duty more commonly set aside. Moral cowardice has been well said to be one of the most common vices of our age.
What more common in Parliament, for example, than for men to differ strongly from some of the measures of their party, and yet, because it is their party, support them by their votes? And in the ranks of the Church and of its various sections the same tendency prevails, though it may be in a less degree. Of the many able and seemingly honest prelates of the Roman Church who dissented, often with vehemence, from the Vatican decree of the pope's infallibility, what became finally of their opposition? Were there more than one or two who did not surrender in the end, and agree to profess what they did not believe? And to come to more ordinary matters, when our opinions on religious subjects are at a discount, when they are met with ridicule, how often do we conceal them, or trim and modify them in order that we may not share in the current condemnation? The men that have the courage of their convictions are often social martyrs, shut out from the fellowship of their brethren, shut out from every berth of honour or emolument, and yet, for their courage and honesty, worthy of infinitely higher regard than whole hundreds of the time-servers that ''get on" in the world by humouring its errors and its follies.
Nevertheless, though most of us show ourselves miserably weak by not speaking out all that is "in our hearts," especially when the honour of our Lord and Master is concerned, we are able to appreciate and cannot fail to admire the noble exhibitions of courage that we sometimes meet with. That beautiful creation of Milton's, the Seraph Abdiel, "faithful found among the faithless, faithful only he," is the type and ideal of the class. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego resisting the enthusiasm of myriads and calmly defying the fiery furnace; the Apostle Paul clinging to his views of the law and the gospel when even his brother Peter had begun to waver; Martin Luther, with his foot on the Bible confronting the whole world; John Knox defying sovereign and nobles and priests alike, determined that the gospel should be freely preached; Carey, going out as a missionary to India amid the derision of the world, because he could not get the words out of his head, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel unto every creature," - have all exemplified the Caleb spirit that must utter what is in the heart; nor has any new idea commonly laid hold of mankind till the struggles of some great hero or the ashes of some noble martyr have gone to sanctify the cause.
"He that believeth shall not make haste." Caleb believed, and therefore he was patient. Five-and-forty long years had elapsed since Moses, the man of God, speaking in the Spirit of God, had promised him a particular inheritance in the land. It was a long time for faith to live on a promise, but, like a tree in the face of a cliff that seems to grow out of the solid rock, it derived nourishment from unseen sources. It was a long time to be looking forward; but Caleb, though he did not receive the promise during all that time, was persuaded of it and embraced it, and believed that at last it would come true. He did not anticipate the proper time, though he might have had as plausible reasons for doing so as the two tribes and a half had for asking leave to settle on the east side of the river. He bore his share of warlike work, bore the burden and heat of the day, waited till the proper time for dividing the land. Nor did he rush forward selfishly by himself, disregarding the interests of the rest of his tribe; for the children of Judah, recognising his claim, draw near to Joshua along with him. Nor was it a portion of the land which any tribe might be eager to enter upon that he asked; for it was still so harassed by the Anakim, that there would be no peace till that formidable body of giants were driven out.
It seems that when acting as one of the twelve spies, Caleb had in some emphatic way taken his stand on Hebron. "The land on which thy foot hath trodden will be an inheritance to thee." Perhaps the spies were too terrified to approach Hebron, for the sons of the Anakim were there, and, in the confidence of faith, Caleb, or Caleb and Joshua, had gone into it alone. Moses had promised him Hebron, and now he came to claim it. But he came to claim it under circumstances that would have induced most men to let it alone. The driving out of the Anakim was a formidable duty, and the task might have seemed more suitable for one who had the strength and enthusiasm of youth on his side. But Caleb, though eighty-five, was yet young. Age is not best measured by years. He was a remarkable instance of prolonged vigour and youthful energy. "As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in." Faith, and temperance, and cheerfulness are wonderful aids to longevity. As one reads these words of Caleb, one recalls the saying of a well-known physician, Dr. Richardson, that the human frame might last for a hundred years if it were only treated aright.
There is something singularly touching in Caleb's asking as a favour what was really a most hazardous but important service to the nation. Rough though these Hebrew soldiers were, they were capable of the most gentlemanly and chivalrous acts. There can be no higher act of courtesy than to treat as a favour to yourself what is really a great service to another. Well done, Caleb! You do not ask for a berth which there will be no trouble in taking or in keeping. You are not like Issachar, the strong ass couching between the sheepfolds: "and he saw a resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work." The dew of youth is yet upon you, the stirring of lofty purpose and noble endeavour; you are like the warhorse of Job - "he paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength; he mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed; he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting."
There is nothing we admire more in military annals than a soldier volunteering for the most hazardous and difficult of posts, - showing
"That stern joy which warriors feel
In foemen worthy of their steel."
In the spiritual warfare, too, we do not want instances of the same spirit. We recall Captain Allan Gardiner choosing Tierra del Fuego as his mission sphere just because the people were so ferocious, the climate so repulsive, and the work so difficult that no one else was likely to take it up. We think of the second band who went out after Gardiner and his companions had been starved to death; and still more after these were massacred by the natives, of the third detachment who were moved simply by the consideration that the case was seemingly so desperate. Or we think of Livingstone begging the directors of the London Missionary Society, wherever they sent him, to be sure that it was "Forward"; turning aside from all previous mission stations, and the comparative ease they afforded, to grapple with the barbarian where he had never begun to be tamed; his eyes thirsting for unknown scenes and untried dangers, because he scorned to build on the foundation of others, and thirsted for "fresh woods and pastures new." We think of him persevering in his task from year to year in the same lofty spirit; disregarding the misery of protracted pain, the intense longings of his weary heart for home, the repulsive society of savages and cannibals, the vexations, disappointments, and obstacles that seemed to multiply every day, the treachery of so-called friends whom he had helped to raise, the indifference of a careless world, and of a languid Church; but ever girding himself with fresh energy for the task which he had undertaken, and of which the difficulties and trials had never been absent from his thoughts. We think of many a young missionary turning away from the comfortable life which he might lead at home and which many of his companions will lead, that he may go where the need is greatest and the fight is hottest, and so render to his Master the greatest possible service. A crowd of noble names comes to our recollection - Williams, and Judson, and Morrison, and Burns, and Patteson, and Keith- Falconer, and Hannington, and Mackay - men for whom even the Anakim had no terrors, but rather an attraction; but who, serving under another Joshua, differed from Caleb in this, that what they desired was not to destroy these ferocious Anakim, but to conquer them by love, and to demonstrate the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change the vilest reprobates into sons of God.
And even now there are other Anakim among us for whom the fate of the Canaanite giants ought to be reserved. Anakim within us - greed, selfishness, love of ease, lust, passion, cruelty - all, if we are faithful, to be put to the edge of the sword. And there are Anakim, tremendous Anakim, around us - drunkenness, and all that fosters it, despite the paltry excuses we so often hear; sensuality, that vile murderer of soul and body together; avarice, so cruelly unjust, and content to gather its hoard from the thews and sinews of men and women to whom life has become worse than slavery; luxurious living, that mocks the struggles of thousands to whom one crumb from the table or one rag from the wardrobe would bring such a blessed relief. With giants like these we need to wage incessant war, and for the necessary spirit we need constant supplies of the faith and courage that were so remarkable in Caleb. He followed the Lord fully; believing that if the Lord deserved to be followed at all. He deserved to be followed in full. What was there to gain by following Him one half, and surrendering the other half to the world? Could he count on God helping him if he went with but half his heart into His service, and, like Lot's wife, looked back even when flying from Sodom? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy might."
The tendency to compromise is one of the besetting sins of the day. In the army or the navy, if one is to serve God at all, one must serve Him wholly. Decision is eminently requisite there, and Christians there are commonly more whole-hearted and consistent than in many circles nominally Christian. Decision is manly, is noble; it brings rest within, and in the end it conciliates the respect of the bitterest foes. Courage is the ornament of Christianity, and the crown of the Christian youth. "Fear not" is one of the brightest gems of the Bible.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 CRITICAL NOTES.—The section of the history which is introduced…
DIVISION OF THE LAND WEST OF JORDAN.—THE INHERITANCE OF CALEB
CRITICAL NOTES.—The section of the history which is introduced in the first five verses of this chapter terminates with chap. 19., and deals with the division of the land lying between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, among the nine and a half tribes.
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Jos_14:1. Eleazar the priest] He was solemnly set apart to this office in Mount Hor, just before the death of his father. As the distribution of the land was to be by lot, Eleazar the priest is named before Joshua. This, too, is the order in which the names occur in Num_34:17. As Keil points out: “In every other respect, even in the distribution of the land, Joshua was at the head of the commission appointed for that purpose, as we may clearly see from Jos_14:6, chap. Jos_17:14, Jos_18:3.” The high priest only had precedence in things purely sacred. To consult God was the first step in dividing the land, and this was to be done by God’s high priest. Heads of the fathers of the tribes] Called “princes” in Num_34:18, following which the ten names of the representatives are given.
Jos_14:4. The children of Joseph were two tribes] Levi not being counted. This is stated to show how the number of twelve tribes was nevertheless preserved in the territorial division. Cities … with their suburbs] The extent of these suburbs was to be one thousand cubits beyond the city wall, in each direction (Num_35:4-5). The difficulty of the verses in Numbers is well explained by Keil. Therefore they gave] Heb. = “And they gave.” It is not said that this was the reason why the Levites had no portion of territory.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_14:1-5
GOD’S CHOICE OF HIS PEOPLE’S INHERITANCE
The principal topic of these verses is the division by lot of the inheritance of the nine and a half tribes. The lot was of the Lord; the details of the method in which it was obtained are not stated. Probably the process was carried on at the door of the tabernacle, and presided over by Eleazar, the high priest. Further than this we know little. The Rabbins think that two urns were used, one containing the names of the districts to be chosen, and the other the names of the tribes, a simultaneous selection being made from each urn. The employment of two urns, however, is a mere speculation. The operation would have been equally definite had the representative of each tribe drawn for his people the name of the district from one urn. However the process may have been conducted, the issue was directed by Jehovah. “The lot was cast into the lap” (lit., “bosom,” perhaps meaning that of the vessel or garment employed); “but the whole disposing thereof was of the Lord.”
Looking in a general way at the subject of the verses, the following thoughts are suggested:—
I. An insignificant lot, feeble creatures to occupy it, and the lot, nevertheless, chosen by God. The Jews fully believed in the Divine guidance in this form. In the solemn judgment of Achan, the question, to them, must have been placed altogether beyond doubt. Scripture continually teaches that God directly affords His guidance to men, and that in other matters than on occasions like this. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
1. God’s choice of our lots in this life is no fiction, but an evident reality. It is not manifest and visible; it is nevertheless placed beyond doubt. No eye could see the hand of God within the urn from which the princes made their selection; that hand was there notwithstanding. It is thus always. We can never pronounce upon this as we look at the process; we can often speak confidently as we mark the results. Taking this case, for instance, of the dividing of the land, compare the prophetic blessings of Jacob and Moses with the issues of the lot. “The portion, says Masius,” as reported by Dr. Clarke, “fell to each tribe just as Jacob had declared two hundred and fifty years before, in the last moments of his life, and Moses immediately before his death; for to the tribe of Judah fell a country abounding in vineyards and pastures; to Zebulon and Issachar, sea coasts; in that of Asher was plenty of oil, wheat, and metals; that of Benjamin, near to the temple, was, in a manner, between the shoulders of the Deity; Ephraim and Manasseh were distinguished with a territory blessed in a peculiar manner by heaven; the land of Naphtali extended from the west to the south of the tribe of Judah” (cf. chap. Jos_19:34). While there is some difficulty as to the case of Naphtali, the general correctness of this description of agreement is unquestionable. In the same way who can fail to see God’s guidance and choice in the lot of Abraham, of Joseph, of Moses, or of Cyrus. Similarly Christ marked out the future of some of His apostles. He said of John words which seemed to intimate a long life; to Peter, “Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee;” and, not least noteworthy, of Paul, “I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” No less does God choose the lot of His servants now. The unseen process. The reality of the fact.
2. This concern of God in the lot which men shall occupy in life is very wonderful in its condescension. How glorious is the universe over which Jehovah rules! How insignificant must any one of these little divisions of Canaan have appeared to Him! How frail, physically and religiously, were the creatures who were to occupy these little lots! For what a mere point of time, to Him who is the Eternal, could they hold them! How very wonderful does Divine condescension appear as we see the Divine attention seemingly concentrated for century after century on these few lots of land in Palestine, which pass successively towards, into, and through the hands of so many occupants! What a mere morsel of a lot each individual life is concerned with, and for what a mere moment of time is the lot held by any particular life! Yet all this is but a picture, taken from the gallery of Providence by the hand of Revelation, and held out to the gaze of men. It is only a section, and that given but in outlines, of a long panoramic view of God’s care of human lives, which began with Adam, which has never ceased with any one of his descendants, which is being extended to-day, and in which, it may be, the redeemed shall presently, through the ages of eternity, examine with wonder, awe, and admiration, the wisdom, patience, and love displayed in God’s marvellous care for His creatures.
II. Many lots, and many would be choosers, but the choice of the Lord the only choice worth following. Men see about them in life an endless variety of conditions, and not a few think the lot of their neighbour better than their own. Men and women cry out not only for a “changed cross,” but for a changed lot. Contrary to what they feel to be the leadings of Providence, not a few try to force their way through life in some other direction. They have no care to study the will of God, and not unfreqnently try to avoid it. Either here or hereafter, the sorrowful issues of a course like this cannot but disclose its folly. The following things should be borne in mind touching the choice of God:—
1. It is the choice of one who knows us perfectly. We know little of ourselves. Every day’s experience proves this. The very proverbs which have obtained an abiding place in our literature prove it: “Man, know thyself;” “The greatest study of mankind is man,” etc. God knows how much we can bear; how much prosperity, how much adversity, how much change, how much monotony. He knows us altogether.
2. It is the choice of one who sees our lot as perfectly as He knows ourselves. We can see no distance before us. We cannot take into the account what our great poet calls the “millioned accidents” which intervene between our plans and their results, and “blunt the sharpest intents.” All these, even as we ourselves, are “naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
3. It is the choice of one who prepares our lot beforehand. The lot of our lives is no haphazard thing. God had been four hundred and thirty years preparing these lots for the Israelites. From the call of Abraham onward, a hundred events shew the careful preparation of the Lord.
4. It is the choice of one who ever holds our lot well within His own control. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing defeats His purpose. Nothing escapes without the boundless circle of His management. Nothing changes His benevolent designs. “He is in one mind, who can turn Him?” Only we ourselves, by persistent sin, can break away from His gracious intentions.
5. It is the choice of one who equally controls all surrounding lots. All the lots which lie around our own, all events of others which touch upon the events of our own lives, are also at His bidding. And “All things work together for good to them,” etc.
These are but items in the list which, could we read it fully, would tell us of His infinite fitness to undertake for us. Let the song of the after ages, from the lips of the descendants of Israel, bear its witness to the blessedness of the choice of the Lord (cf. Psa_47:1-4). The children of these very people, centuries later, learned to cry out in a great and irrepressible joy: “O clap your hands all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.… He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved.”
III. The Divine choice of human lots acquiesced in by men, or resisted by men, and God’s will alike prevalent in either case.
1. Think of God’s choice in its interworking with the willing efforts of His own people. The land was to be divided by lot, but the lot could only point out the district; the extent of its boundaries had to be decided by the leaders of the people. A large tribe was to have much territory; a small tribe was to have little. That was the general rule for the distribution (Num_26:51-56; Num_33:54). “The lot,” says Clericus, “appears to have determined only the situation, but not the size of the fields.” So Calvin, Masius, and Keil also expound. God determined the situation, and, saving regulations to guide them, He left men to determine the extent. It is much the same in our lives now. God interworks with the man who follows His will, and while He shapes the life in its main features, He leaves very much to ourselves. He leaves much to our faithfulness in conflicts which yet remain. He leaves much to our energy and industry in daily toil. He leaves much to our judgment, asking us in all difficulties to refer back to Him for further guidance. Thus, Providence is no mere machine which forces us into life, through life, and then presently forces us out of life. We are purposely left to determine much ourselves, thus forming and cultivating and proving our own character. “We are workers together with God.”
2. Consider God’s choice in its triumph over those who oppose His will and oppose His people. Ultimately, as many instances bear testimony, His way prevails. It was thus with Joseph’s brethren, with Pharaoh, with Haman, and with others of those who set themselves against the Lord, and against the people whom He called His own. (a) It is useless to resist God in His plans for our personal life.
“There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”—Hamlet.
He who wants his own way in life without hindrance, must begin by choosing submission to the way of the Lord.
“Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours to make them Thine.”—In Memoriam.
(b) It is equally useless to resist God in His plans for others. One of the greatest instances of this has recently entered upon the pages of history. In order to prevent the escape of their slaves, the American Senate enacted the Fugitive Slave Law, which required, under severe penalties, that no one should harbour the fugitive who was fleeing from bondage, or in any way assist his escape. But God’s time for the end of American slavery had come, and the effort to retain it in greater strength did but hasten its overthrow. The operation of the Act is thus described by the late Wm. Arnott: “The stroke which was intended to rivet the fetters of the slave more firmly, guided in its descent by an unseen hand, fell upon a brittle link, and broke it through. The newspapers announced that the cruel device had been enacted into a law. The intelligence fell like a spark on the deep compassion that lay pent up in a woman’s heart, and kindled it into a flame. The outburst took the form of a book, the instrument of power usually employed in these later ages of the world. It is certainly true, and is widely known, that the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law produced the book, and that the book caused a panorama of slavery to pass before the eyes of millions in America and Europe, inexpressibly augmenting the public opinion of the civilised world against the whole system, root and branch. Let no one imagine that we are elevating little things into an undue importance; we speak of Jehovah’s counsel, and how it stands erect and triumphant over all the devices of men. He is wont to employ weak things to confound the mighty. Long ago He employed the tears of a helpless child and the strong compassion of a woman (Exo_2:6) as essential instruments in the exodus of an injured race, and it would be like Himself if, in our day, while statesmen and armies contend in the senate and the battle field, He should permit women who remain at home to deal the blow which decides the victory, and distribute the resulting spoil. ‘He sits King upon the floods.’ ‘All are His servants.’ ‘Stand still and see the salvation of God.’ ”
Such has ever been the way in which God has made it apparent that “the counsel of the wicked shall not stand.” He may work by feeble means, as though He would shew the abundance of His power, but His way must stand. He who opposes the will of God does but hasten his own overthrow (Jer_13:24-25). In this, as in many things besides, the volume of Divine revelation and that of human history are one.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_14:1.—INHERITING THE PROMISED POSSESSION.
I. The promised possession in its reality. “Which the children of Israel inherited.” The promise given to Abram, and repeated through several generations, was not merely a promise. The time for actual inheritance had come at last. God’s promises all end in an estate.
II. The promised possession in its need of faith and patience. The inheritance had been a long time coming. More than four hundred and fifty years had passed since the Lord called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land, and look upon it as the future home of his people. Canaan was for so long “The Promised Land,” that it got to bear that name, a fact not a little significant, intimating, perhaps, something of the long struggle between human hope and human impatience. He who “waits on the Lord” may well wait in confidence. “The vision is yet for an appointed time.”
III. The promised possession in relation to the grace and power of God. Now that the people had to last come to the inheritance, what a picture was presented in the path behind them of the longsuffering and help of Jehovah. Egypt, the Exodus, the Wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, the fall of Jericho, and the various victories which followed, were all eloquent of the power of the Divine arm and the love of the Divine heart. What had the people done apart from God? We come into nothing worth holding, saving as we reach it by the same might and the same love. “Not by might, nor by power,” etc. As when we look back from each valuable estate in life, we have to feel that God hath wrought all, so when we look forward to blessings for which we wait, let us be willing to accept the Lord’s words, “Without Me ye can do nothing.”
IV. The promised possession on earth a possession in which rest is only partial. The land which Israel was about to divide, could only be entered upon with much care and much conflict. Faith, patience, wisdom, and work were still largely needed. It is ever thus with all estates on earth, not excepting our more spiritual possessions. Rest is broken, not only by toil, but by conflict. We never get an inheritance here in which there are not left some foes to dispute the possession with us.
V. The promised possession in heaven a possession in which rest is perfect. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” It is only at the point of death that we come to the last of our foes, but after that the inheritance is undisputed for ever. We must not think, however, that the rest is free from work. It has no toil, yet it is full of activity. As has been remarked, while Scripture teaches that heaven is perfect rest, it also says of some there, “They rest not day nor night.” Inaction must be worse than toil. How blessed must be the activity which is all prompted by love, which knowns no conflict, and which feels no care!
Jos_14:2.—THE INHERITANCE DIVIDED BY LOT.
I. The lot of God in its silent and invisible working. The unseen chariot of Providence is drawn by invisible steeds, and the wheels thereof run noiselessly.
II. The lot of God in its extensive range. It dealt with the whole country. Providence has no waste land. Every acre of the universe is under its inspection and cultivation.
III. The lot of God in its mysterious complexity. Every single lot had its relation to every other lot, to every year in each succeeding century of Israelitish history, to every inhabitant of the land through all that period, and thus to nations, far and near, outside of Canaan.
IV. The lot of God in its irreversible issues. The lot once taken was not to be altered. The ways of Providence shew no hesitation, and suffer no readjustment by men.
V. The lot of God in its witness to Divine wisdom and love. The wisdom is corroborated by the song of the generations following (Psalms 47); the love is apparent in the condescension which shews such care at the time, and in the patience which helps and blesses for so long a period afterwards. God not only chooses the portions of His people, but gives them many an after-occasion to sing, “Thou maintainest my lot. The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”
THE LOTS NOT ALL DRAWN AT THE SAME TIME
“It is somewhat remarkable that the casting of the lots was stopped as soon as Judah and Joseph had received their shares. The command of God, that the whole land, even that which had not yet been conquered, should be portioned out amongst the nine tribes and a half (chap. Jos_13:1-7), would lead us to expect that when once the casting of the lots had commenced, it would proceed uninterruptedly, until every tribe had received its share; and that it would only have to enter it in reliance upon the Divine promise, and exterminate, or at least subjugate, the Canaanites who still remained. But, instead of this, as soon as the shares had been allotted to two tribes and a half, the camp was removed from Gilgal to Shiloh (chap. Jos_14:6, Jos_18:1; Jos_18:9), and the tabernacle set up there; and the other tribes manifested so little anxiety to receive their inheritance, that Joshua had to say to them, ‘How long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?’ He then appointed a commission, consisting of twenty-one men, three from each tribe, and sent them out to survey the country, and bring home a description of it, and to divide it into seven parts. And it was not till after the description of the country, thus arranged according to its cities, had been received, that he was able to proceed with the lot, and distribute to each tribe its appointed share. The reason for this interruption is not stated. Masius (on chap. Jos_15:1-4) thinks it necessary to assume, that after the defeat of the Canaanites in the south and the north, the division of the conquered land was commenced by the territory which fell to the tribes of Judah and Joseph being awarded by lot, without any accurate measurement, and that only the two tribes mentioned, as being the most powerful, were allowed to draw lots for it. By the appropriation of the southern district of Palestine to these tribes, the camp at Gilgal was well guarded from any sudden attack on the part of the enemy; an important precaution, as the other tribes had shewn so little desire to take possession of the inheritance which was hereafter to be assigned to them. The exact distribution of the land was therefore postponed until messengers had been despatched in every direction to make a survey of the country, and to bring back an accurate description. This view is generally approached by Rosenmüller, De Wette, and Lengerke.” [Keil, pp. 346–7.] To this assumption of Masius, however, Keil very properly objects that “it is at variance with the Divine command to divide the whole country by lot amongst the nine tribes and a half, the unconquered as well as the conquered portions, and almost destroys the value and defeats the purpose of the lot.” Probably, as with the seven tribes later on, the lot merely decided the general position to be occupied by Judah, Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, leaving the more exact adjustment of territory to be made after the general survey had taken place. This accords best with the subsequent settlement of Simeon within the lot roughly given at first to Judah, and with the subsequent cession of towns and territory made by Judah and Ephraim to the smaller tribe of Dan.
Jos_14:3-4.—LEVI, MANASSEH, AND EPHRAIM.
“It is here repeated for the third time, with regard to the Levites, that they were not included in the number, so as to have the portion of a tribe assigned to them; but it is mentioned for a different purpose, for it is immediately after added that the sons of Joseph were divided into two tribes, and were thus privileged to obtain a double portion. Thus had Jacob prophesied (Genesis 49), or rather, like an arbiter appointed by God, he had in this matter preferred the sons of Joseph to the others. God therefore assumed the Levites to Himself as a peculiar inheritance, and in their stead substituted one of the two families of Joseph.”—[Calvin.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v6
Joshua
CALEB-A GREEN OLD AGE
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Jos 14:6.
Five and forty years had passed since the Lord had ‘said this thing.’ It was the promise to these two, now old men, of the prolongation of their lives, and to Caleb of his inheritance in the land. Seven years of fighting have been got through, and the preparations are being made for the division of the land by lot. But, before that is done, it is fitting that Caleb, whose portion had been specially secured to him by that old promise, should have the promise specially recognised and endorsed by the action of the leader, and independent of the operation of the lot. So he appears before Joshua, accompanied by the head men of his tribe, whose presence expresses their official consent to the exceptional treatment of their tribesman, and urges his request in a little speech, full of pathos and beauty and unconscious portraiture of the speaker. I take it as a picture of an ideal old age, showing in an actual instance how happy, vigorous, full of buoyant energy and undiminished appetite for enterprise a devout old age may be. And my purpose now is not merely to comment on the few words of our text, but upon the whole of what falls from the lips of Caleb here.
I. I see then here, first, a life all built upon God’s promise.
Five times in the course of his short plea with Joshua does he use the expression ‘the Lord spake.’ On the first occasion of the five he unites Joshua with himself as a recipient of the promise, ‘Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said concerning me and thee.’ But in the other four he takes it all to himself; not because it concerned him only, but because his confidence, laying hold of the promise, forgot his brother in the earnestness of his personal appropriation of it. And so, whatsoever general words God speaks to the world, a true believer will make them his very own; and when Christ says, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish,’ faith translates it into ‘He loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ This is the first characteristic of a life built upon the promise of God, that it lays its hand upon that promise and claims it all for its very own.
Then notice, still further, how for all these forty-five years Caleb had ‘hid the word in his heart,’ had lived upon it and thought about it and believed it, and recognised the partial fulfilment of it, and cherished the secret fire unknown to any besides. And now at last, after so long an interval, he comes forward and stretches out a hand, unweakened by the long delay, to claim the perfect fulfilment at the end of his days. So ‘the vision may tarry,’ but a life based upon God’s promise has another estimate of swiftness and slowness than is current amongst men who have only the years of earthly life to reckon by; and that which to sense seems a long, weary delay, to faith seems but as ‘a watch in the night’. The world, which only measures time by its own revolutions, has to lament over what seem to the sufferers long years of pains and tears, but in the calendar of faith ‘weeping endures for a night, joy cometh in the morning.’ The weary days dwindle into a point when they are looked at with an eye that has been accustomed to gaze on the solemn eternities of a promising and a faithful God. To it, as to Him, ‘a thousand years are as one day’; and ‘one day,’ in the possibilities of divine favour and spiritual growth which it may enfold, ‘as a thousand years.’ To the men who measure time as God measures it, His help, howsoever long it may tarry, ever comes ‘right early.’
Further, note how this life, built upon faith in the divine promise, was nourished and nurtured by instalments of fulfilment all along the road. Two promises were given to Caleb-one, that his life should be prolonged, and the other, that he should possess the territory into which he had so bravely ventured. The daily fulfilment of the one fed the fire of his faith in the ultimate accomplishment of the other, and he gratefully recounts it now, as part of his plea with Joshua-’Now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as He spake, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses. And now, lo! I am this day fourscore and five years old.’
Whosoever builds his life on the promise of God has in the present the guarantee of the better future. As we are journeying onwards to that great fountain-head of all sweetness and felicity, there are ever trickling brooks from it by the way, at which we may refresh our thirsty lips and invigorate our fainting strength. The present instalment carries with it the pledge of the full discharge of the obligation, and he whose heart and hope is fixed with a forward look on the divine inheritance, may, as he looks backward over all the years, see clearly in them one unbroken mass of preserving providences, and thankfully say, ‘The Lord hath kept me alive, as He spake.’
And, still further, the life that is built upon faith like this man’s, is a life of buoyant hopefulness till the very end. The hopes of age are few and tremulous. When the feast is nearly over, and the appetite is dulled, there is little more to be done, but to push back our chairs and go away. But God keeps ‘the good wine’ until the last. And when all earthly hopes are beginning to wear thin and to burn dim, then the great hope of ‘the mountain of the inheritance’ will rise brighter and clearer upon our horizon. It is something to have a hope so far in front of us that we never get up to it, to find it either less than our expectations or more than our desires; and this is not the least of the blessednesses of the living ‘hope that maketh not ashamed,’ that it lies before us till the very end, and beckons and draws us across the gulf of darkness. ‘The Lord hath kept me alive, as He said; now give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake.’
II. Further, I see here a life that bears to be looked back at.
Caleb becomes almost garrulous in telling over the old story of that never-to-be-forgotten day, when he and Joshua stood alone and tried to put some heart into the cowardly mob before them. There is no mock modesty about the man. He says that, amidst many temptations to be untrue, he gave his report with sincerity and veracity, ‘speaking as it was in mine heart,’ and then he quotes twice, with a permissible satisfaction, the eulogium that had come upon him from the divine lips, ‘I wholly followed the Lord my God.’ The private soldier’s cheek may well flush and his eye glitter as he repeats over again his general’s praise. And for Caleb, half a century has not dimmed the impression that was made on his heart when he received that praise, through the lips of Moses, from God.
Now, of course, such a tone of speaking about one’s past savours of an earlier stage in revelation than that in which we live, and, if this were to be taken as a man’s total account of his whole life, we could not free it from the charge of unpleasing self-complacency and self-righteousness. But for all that, it is not the same thing in the retrospect whether you and I have to look back upon years that have been given to self, and the world, and passion, and pride, and covetousness, and frivolities and trifles of all sorts, or upon years that in the main, and regard being had to their deepest desires and governing direction, have been given to God and to His service. Many a man looking back upon his life-I wonder if there are any such men listening to me now-can only see such a sight as Abraham did on that morning when he looked down on the plain of Sodom, and ‘Lo! the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.’ Dear friends I the only thing that makes life in the retrospect tolerable is that it shall have been given to God, and that we can say, ‘I wholly followed the Lord my God.’
III. Again, I see here a life which has discovered the secret of perpetual youth.
‘I,’ says the old man-’am as strong this day as I was in the day when Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in.’ For fighting, and for all the intercourse and manifold activities of life, his sinews are as braced, his eyes as clear, his spirit and limbs as alert as they were in those old days. No doubt you will say that was due to miraculous intervention. No doubt it was; but is it not true that, in a very real sense, a man may keep himself young all his life, if he will go the right way to work? And the secret of perpetual youthfulness lies here, in giving our hearts to God and in living for Him. Christianity, with its self-restraint and its exhortations to all, and especially to the young, to be chaste and temperate and to subdue the animal passions, has a direct tendency to conserve physical vigour; and Christianity, by the inspiration that it imparts, the stimulus that it gives, and the hopes that it permits us to cherish, has a direct tendency to keep alive in old age all the best of the characteristics of youth. Its buoyancy, its undimmed interest, its cheeriness, its freedom from anxiety and care-all these things are directly ministered to, and preserved by, a life of simple faith that casts itself upon God, and dwells securely, in joy and in restfulness, and not without a great light of hope, even when the shadows of evening are falling.
One of the greatest and most blessed of the characteristics of youth is the consciousness that the most of life lies before us; and to a Christian man, in any stage of his earthly life, that consciousness is possible. When he stands on the verge of the last sinking sandbank of time, and the water is up to his ankles, he may well feel that the best and the most of life is yet to be.
‘The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, “A whole I planned.
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid.”‘
‘They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be full of sap and green.’ A gnarled old tree may be green in all its branches, and blossom and fruit may hang together there. The ideal of life is, that into each stage we shall carry the best of the preceding, harmonised with the best of the new, and that is possible to a Christian soul. The fountain of perpetual youth, of which the ancients fabled, is no fable, but a fact; and it rises, where the prophet in his vision saw the stream coming out, from beneath the threshold of the Temple door.
IV. So, lastly, I see here a beautiful example of a life which to the last is ready for danger and enterprise.
Caleb’s words as to his undiminished strength were not meant for a boast. They express thankfulness and praise, and they are put as the ground of the request that he has to make. He gives a chivalrous reason for his petition when he says,’ Now, therefore, give me this mountain, for the Anakims {the giants} are there; and the cities great and fenced.’
Caleb’s readiness for one more fight was fed by his reliance on God’s help in it. When he says, ‘It may be the Lord will be with me,’ the perhaps is that of humility, not of doubt. The old warrior’s eye flashes, and his voice sounds strong and full, as he ends his words with ‘I shall drive them out, as the Lord spake.’ That has the true ring. What were the three Anak chiefs, with their barbarous names, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, and their giant stature, to the onset of a warrior faith like that? Of course, ‘Caleb drove out thence the three sons of Anak,’ and Hebron became his inheritance. Nothing can stand against us, if we seek for our portion, not where advantages are greatest, but where difficulties and dangers are most rife, and cast ourselves into the conflict, sure that God is with us, though humbly wondering that we should be worthy of His all-conquering presence, and sure, therefore, that victory marches by our sides.
Old age is generally much more disposed to talk about its past victories than to fight new ones; to rest upon its arms, or upon its laurels, than to undertake fresh conflicts. Now and then we see a man, statesman or other, who, bearing the burden of threescore years and ten lightly, is still as alert of spirit, as eager for work, as bold for enterprise, as he was years before. And in nine cases out of ten such a man is a Christian; and his brilliant energy of service is due, not only, nor so much, to natural vigour of constitution as to religion, which has preserved his vigour because it has preserved his purity, and been to him a stimulus and an inspiration.
Danger is an attraction to the generous mind. It is the coward and the selfish man who are always looking for an easy place, where somebody else will do the work. This man felt that this miraculously prolonged life of his bound him to special service, and the fact that up in Hebron there were a fenced city and tall giants behind the battlements, was an additional reason for picking out that bit of the field as the place where he ought to be. Thank God, that spirit is not dead yet! It has lived all through the Christian Church, and flamed up in times of martyrdom. On missionary fields to-day, if one man falls two are ready to step into his place. It is the true spirit of the Christian soldier. ‘A great door and effectual is opened,’ says Paul, ‘and there are many adversaries.’ He knew the door was opened because the adversaries were many. And because there were so many of them, would he run away? Some of us would have said: ‘I must abandon that work, it bristles with difficulties; I cannot stop in that post, the bullets are whistling too fast.’ Nay! says Paul; ‘I abide till Pentecost’-a good long while- because the post is dangerous, and promises to be fruitful.
So, dear friends, if we would have lives on which we can look back, lives in which early freshness will last beyond the ‘morning dew,’ lives in which there shall come, day by day and moment by moment, abundant foretastes to stay our hunger until we sit at Christ’s table in His kingdom, we must ‘follow the Lord alway,’ with no half-hearted surrender, nor partial devotion, but give ourselves to Him utterly, to be guided and sent where He will. And then, like Caleb, we shall be able to say, with a ‘perhaps,’ not of doubt, but of wonder, that it should be so, to us unworthy, ‘It may be the Lord will be with me, arid I shall drive them out.’ In all these things ‘we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Territories of the Western Tribes
Territories of the Western Tribes
Chs. 14-19 inclusive describe the allotment of territories to the Western Tribes. There are two assignments. The first, embracing Judah and Joseph, is described as taking place at Gilgal (Jos_14:6) under the auspices of Eleazar and Joshua and the 'heads of the fathers' (Jos_14:1). Judah (15), Ephraim (16), and Manasseh (17) each occupy a single chapter The second assignment, to the seven remaining tribes, takes place apparently at a later date (Jos_18:3), after an elaborate survey (Jos_18:6, Jos_18:8-9) of the territory available. Its scene is Shiloh, and Joshua alone is named as presiding. It is noticeable (see further note on the assignment of the territory) that the details of the seven territories are much more meagre than those of the others, except in the case of Benjamin. Joshua 14 itself is introductory, partly (Jos_14:1-5) to the whole of the 5 chapters following; partly (Jos_14:6-15) to the first assignment (Joshua 15-17), recording Caleb's request for Hebron and its favourable reception. This latter section (Jos_14:6-15) is of special interest in that it affords incidentally one of the few definite chronological data available for this period (see on Jos_14:10).
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The Portion of Caleb
1-5. Introductory Section.
1. Eleazar the priest] The mention of the priest in association with the leader, to whom he is here given precedence, is one of the characteristics of the Priestly narrative.
4. The children of Joseph were two tribes, etc.] This reckoning, with the subtraction of Levi, makes a total of twelve still. Practically, however, Simeon became absorbed in Judah, and each half-tribe of Manasseh came to count as a complete tribe.
6-15. The inheritance of Caleb: see Jos_15:18-19.
6. Thou knowest the thing, etc.] The promise to Caleb occurs in Num_14:24, and is referred to again in Deu_1:36. On Caleb see on Jos_15:13.
10. These forty and five years] The notes of time given here and in Jos_14:7 are interesting. Caleb was 40 years old at Kadesh: 45 years have intervened since then, and he is now 85. Allowing 38 years for the penal wanderings, we get 7 years as the period covered by the war of conquest up to this date.
12-15. Hebron assigned to Caleb: on Hebron see on Jos_10:36, and on Caleb's possession of it, Jos_15:13. and note. On the Anakim see on Jos_11:22.
12. RV 'it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out': cp. Jos_5:14 and Jdg_1:20. It is a brave man's word (cp. Jos_14:11). Caleb welcomes the task the more for its peril, and the hard work confronting him adds value to the inheritance.
15. The name of Hebron, etc.] LXX 'Now the name of Hebron was formerly the city of Argob: this was the metropolis of the Anakim': and similarly in Jos_15:13; Jos_21:11 for 'father of Anak' LXX reads 'metropolis of Anak.' This may be the true sense.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 2. Caleb’s Request and Inheritance
2. Caleb’s Request and Inheritance
CHAPTER 14
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1. The inheritance by lot (Jos 14:1-5)
2. Caleb’s request (Jos 14:6-15)
Judah’s portion comes first, and as they draw near to Joshua to receive their inheritance by lot (See Pro 16:33 and Act 1:26) at Gilgal (note the recurrence of this place and its significance), Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, steps to the front. It was not forwardness or love of the preeminence which led him to do this, but the burning zeal in that old, yet youthful soul. He comes to claim the inheritance, which forty-five years ago Moses had promised unto him. Caleb was eighty-five years old. “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in.” One can almost see him standing before Eleazar, Joshua and the heads of the tribes. What a beautiful testimony he gives to the faithfulness of the Lord! He could say, “I wholly followed the LORD my God.” He stands for the man who trusts his God, who reckons not with earthly circumstances and conditions, but with the Lord and His promised power. They that honor Me, I will honor. Forty years old was Caleb when he was put among the spies and when, with Joshua, he honored God and His Word. The reward of faith became evident in his life. Mental vigor and physical strength remained unimpaired. And now he claims his inheritance. Patiently he had waited for forty-five years. The hour has come. He claims the mountain with its Anakim, the giants, the fenced cities, the great cities. That beautiful mountain with its strenuous task is the claimed inheritance. Old age is often characterized by “the pride of life.” The lust of the flesh is peculiar to youth; the lust of the eyes, the desire of increase in earthly things to enjoy them, comes with middle life, and in old age temptation is “the pride of life.” But not so with the man of faith. Listen to his humble language. He does not pride himself on his faith and trust in God; he knows nothing of self-confidence. “If so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.”
In our day of departure from God and unbelief, may we be like Caleb, “wholly following the LORD.” We, too, wait in faith and in patience for the promised inheritance, which some day will be ours, when He comes to reward His Saints. Then as Israel’s land had rest from war (verse 15) we shall enter into our rest from strife and conflict.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The Beginning of the Distribution
The Beginning of the Distribution
v. 1. And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited, received for their possession, in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them, to remain in their possession, and to be transferred from one generation to the next.
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v. 2. By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and for the half tribe, Num 26:52-56. The location of the territory of the various tribes was determined by lot, but the size of each tribal state was fixed according to the numerical strength of the individual tribe.
v. 3. For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan, as described in detail in the preceding chapter; but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them.
v. 4. For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim; therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance, forty-eight cities with their meadows or pasture-lands, Numbers 35.
v. 5. As the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land, they made preparations for its distribution by lot, under the direction of the leaders appointed by God, although some time elapsed before the division of the land was actually completed.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 the areas of land that the people of Israel…
the areas of land that the people of Israel received as their inheritance
The land that the people of Israel acquired is spoken of as if it were an inheritance that they received as a permanent possession. (See: Metaphor)
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tribal leaders
"leaders of the tribes"
translationWords
Israel
receive
inherit
Canaan
assign
priest
Joshua
tribe
family
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15 14:1–19:51 The allotment of land to the tribes on…
14:1–19:51 The allotment of land to the tribes on the west side of the Jordan describes what God intended for each tribe to possess. • The narrator frames this section with the assignment of land to Caleb at the beginning (14:6-15) and to Joshua at the end (19:49-51). Only Caleb and Joshua had expressed faith in God that Israel could conquer the land (Num 13:30; 14:6-9).
14:1 Eleazar . . . Joshua . . . and the tribal leaders supervised the distribution of the land to ensure that the process was honest and just.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.