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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea.
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Then the children of Judah drew nigh unto Joshua in Gilgal; and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said unto him: 'Thou knowest the thing that the LORD spoke unto Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning thee in Kadesh-barnea.
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to Joshua 14:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 14:30 surely you shall not come into the land concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
- Numbers 13:6 Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
- Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.
- Numbers 14:6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
- Joshua 14:14 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.
- Numbers 13:26 They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them and to all the congregation. They showed them the fruit of the land.
- Numbers 32:12 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Yahweh completely.’
- Joshua 15:17 Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
- Deuteronomy 1:36-38 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his children, because he has wholly followed Yahweh.” Also Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also shall not go in there. Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
- Psalms 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.
- Numbers 12:7-8 My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
- Deuteronomy 33:1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
- Deuteronomy 34:5 So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to Yahweh’s word.
- Deuteronomy 34:10 Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
- Joshua 4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.
- Joshua 10:43 Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp to Gilgal.
- Judges 13:6-8 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name; but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”
- 1 Kings 13:1 Behold, a man of God came out of Judah by Yahweh’s word to Bethel; and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
- 1 Kings 13:14 He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He said, “I am.”
- 2 Kings 4:9 She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.
- 2 Kings 4:16 He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
- 2 Kings 4:42 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. He said, “Give to the people, that they may eat.”
- 2 Kings 8:7 Elisha came to Damascus; and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. He was told, “The man of God has come here.”
- 2 Kings 8:11 He settled his gaze steadfastly on him, until he was ashamed. Then the man of God wept.
- 1 Timothy 6:11 But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
- 2 Timothy 3:17 that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (23 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. Then the children of Judah came, etc Here…
6. Then the children of Judah came, etc Here the account which had been begun as to the partition of the land is broken off to make way for the insertion of a narrative, namely, that Caleb requested Mount Hebron to be given to him as he had been promised by Moses. This happened a long time before the people had ceased from making war, and it became necessary to cast lots. It is stated to be the fifth year since their entrance into the land, and he does not ask for a locality to be given up to him which was already subdued and cleared of the enemy, but in the midst of the noise and heat of warfare, he asks to be permitted to acquire it by routing and slaying its giants. He only seeks to provide, that when his valor has subdued the giants, he is not to be defrauded of the reward of his labor. The method of so providing, is to prevent its being included in the common lot of a tribe. Accordingly, he does not put forth the claim by himself alone, but the members of his tribe, the sons of Judah also concur with him, because the effect of conferring this extraordinary benefit on one family was so far to make an addition to all. Hence though Caleb alone speaks, all the tribe whose interest it was that his request should be granted were present.
I am not clear why the surname of Kenite was given to Caleb. He is so called also in Numbers 32. I am not unaware of the conjecture of some expositors, that he was so surnamed from Kenas, because either he himself or some one of his ancestors dwelt among the Kenites. But I see no solid foundation for this. What if he gained this title by some illustrious deed, just as victors sometimes assume a surname from the nations they have subdued? As the promise had not been inserted into any public record, and Joshua was the only witness now surviving, he makes his application to him. And it is probable that when the ten spies made mention of the names of the Anakim, with the view of terrifying the people, Caleb, to refute their dishonesty, answered with truth, that when he beheld them on Mount Hebron, they were so far from being terrible, that he would attack them at his own hand, provided that on their expulsion he should succeed to their lands; and that on these conditions Moses ceded to him a habitation in that locality which he should have acquired by his own prowess.
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 Which was, that they two only should enter into…
Which was, that they two only should enter into the land, Num. 14:24.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 14:6 Then the children of Judah came unto…
Jos 14:6 Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
Ver. 6. Then the children of Judah,] i.e., The chief of them came, as advocates for Caleb, who was a man of great eminency in their tribe.
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And Caleb the son of Jephunneh.] To distinguish him from Caleb the son of Hezron. {1Ch 2:18}
Thou knowest the thing.] What prerogative the Lord promised us for a reward of our constancy. God is a liberal paymaster, and sendeth no man away with cause to complain of a hard bargain.
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 Then the children of Judah; either,
Then the children of Judah; either,
1. At that time when Joshua and the rest were consulting about the division of the land, though they did not yet actually and fully divide it. Or,
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2. When Joshua, and himself, and the Israelites were proceeding in their conquests, and were going against Hebron, Jos 10:36, which expedition, there mentioned in a general manner, may be particularly described in this chapter, and Jos 15:13,14. But the former seems more probable, because this was done when Joshua was in Gilgal, and not when he was pursuing his enemies. Came, not so much to intercede for Caleb, which was not needful with Joshua, especially in a thing already promised by God, but only to justify and countenance him in his desire.
Gilgal; where the division of the land was designed and begun, though it was executed and finished at Shiloh, Jos 18:1.
Son of Jephunneh; so he is called here, and 1Ch 4:15, to difference him from Caleb the son of Hezron, 1Ch 2:18.
The Kenezite; of the posterity of Kenaz, of whom see Jdg 1:13; 1Ch 4:13,15. The thing that the Lord said unto Moses; in general, the gracious and comfortable promise he made us of possessing this land; and in particular, for my part, that which is expressed here, Jos 14:9.
The man of God; whose words therefore thou art obliged to make good.
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 Before the lot was cast into the lap for…
Before the lot was cast into the lap for the determining of the portions of the respective tribes, the particular portion of Caleb was assigned to him. He was now, except Joshua, not only the oldest man in all Israel, but was twenty years older than any of them, for all that were above twenty years old when he was forty were dead in the wilderness; it was fit therefore that this phoenix of his age should have some particular marks of honour put upon him in the dividing of the land. Now,
I. Caleb here presents his petition, or rather makes his demand, to have Hebron given him for a possession (this mountain he calls it, Jos 14:12), and not to have that put into the lot with the other parts of the country. To justify his demand, he shows that God had long since, by Moses, promised him that very mountain; so that God's mind being already made known in this matter it would be a vain and needless thing to consult it any further by casting lots, by which we are to appeal to God in those cases only which cannot otherwise be decided, not in those which, like this, are already determined. Caleb is here called the Kenezite, some think from some remarkable victory obtained by him over the Kenezites, as the Romans gave their great generals titles from the countries they conquered, as Africanus, Germanicus, etc. Observe,
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1. To enforce his petition, (1.) He brings the children of Judah, that is, the heads and great men of that tribe, along with him, to present it, who were willing thus to pay their respects to that ornament of their tribe, and to testify their consent that he should be provided for by himself, and that they would not take it as any reflection upon the rest of this tribe. Caleb was the person whom God had chosen out of that tribe to be employed in dividing the land (Num 34:19), and therefore, lest he should seem to improve his authority as a commissioner for his own private advantage and satisfaction, he brings his brethren along with him, and waiving his own power, seems rather to rely upon their interest. (2.) He appeals to Joshua himself concerning the truth of the allegations upon which he grounded his petition: Thou knowest the thing, Jos 14:6. (3.) He makes a very honourable mention of Moses, which he knew would not be at all unpleasing to Joshua: Moses the man of God (Jos 14:6), and the servant of the Lord, Jos 14:7. What Moses said he took as from God himself, because Moses was his mouth and his agent, and therefore he had reason both to desire and expect that it should be made good. What can be more earnestly desired than the tokens of God's favour? And what more confidently expected than the grants of his promise?
2. In his petition he sets forth,
(1.) The testimony of his conscience concerning his integrity in the management of that great affair on which it proved the fare of Israel turned, the spying out of the land. Caleb was one of the twelve that were sent out on that errand (Jos 14:7), and he now reflected upon it with comfort, and mentioned it, not in pride, but as that which, being the consideration of the grant, was necessary to be inserted in the plea, [1.] That he made his report as it was in his heart, that is, he spoke as he thought when he spoke so honourably of the land of Canaan, so confidently of the power of God to put them in possession of it, and so contemptibly of the opposition that the Canaanites, even the Anakim themselves, could make against them, as we find he did, Num 13:30; Num 14:7-9. He did not do it merely to please Moses, or to keep the people quiet, much less from a spirit of contradiction to his fellows, but from a full conviction of the truth of what he said and a firm belief of the divine promise. [2.] That herein he wholly followed the Lord his God, that is, he kept close to his duty, and sincerely aimed at the glory of God in it. He conformed himself to the divine will with an eye to the divine favour. He had obtained this testimony from God himself (Num 14:24), and therefore it was not vain-glory in him to speak of it, any more than it is for those who have God's Spirit witnessing with their spirits that they are the children of God humbly and thankfully to tell others for their encouragement what God has done for their souls. Note, Those that follow God fully when they are young shall have both the credit and comfort of it when they are old, and the reward of it for ever in the heavenly Canaan. [3.] That he did this when all his brethren and companions in that service, except Joshua, did otherwise. They made the heart of the people melt (Jos 14:8), and how pernicious the consequences of it were was very well known. It adds much to the praise of following God if we adhere to him when others desert and decline from him. Caleb needed not to mention particularly Joshua's conduct in this matter; it was sufficiently known, and he would not seem to flatter him; it was enough to say (Jos 14:6), Thou knowest what the Lord spoke concerning me and thee.
(2.) The experience he had had of God's goodness to him ever since to this day. Though he had wandered with the rest in the wilderness, and had been kept thirty-eight years out of Canaan as they were, for that sin which he was so far from having a hand in that he had done his utmost to prevent it, yet, instead of complaining of this, he mentioned, to the glory of God, his mercy to him in two things: - [1.] That he was kept alive in the wilderness, not only notwithstanding the common perils and fatigues of that tedious march, but though all that generation of Israelites, except himself and Joshua, were one way or other cut off by death. With what a grateful sense of God's goodness to him does he speak it! (Jos 14:10). Now behold (behold and wonder) the Lord hath kept me alive these forty and five years, thirty-eight years in the wilderness, through the plagues of the desert, and seven years in Canaan through the perils of war! Note, First, While we live, it is God that keeps us alive; by his power he protects us from death, and by his bounty supplies us continually with the supports and comforts of life. He holdeth our soul in life. Secondly, The longer we live the more sensible we should be of God's goodness to us in keeping us alive, his care in prolonging our frail lives, his patience in prolonging our forfeited lives. Has he kept me alive these forty-five years? Is it about that time of life with us? Or is it more? Or is it less? We have reason to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. How much are we indebted to the favour of God, and what shall we render? Let the life thus kept by the providence of God be devoted to his praise. Thirdly, The death of many others round about us should make us the more thankful to God for sparing us and keeping us alive. Thousands falling on our right hand and our left and yet ourselves spared. These distinguishing favours impose on us strong obligations to singular obedience. [2.] That he was fit for business, now that he was in Canaan. Though eighty-five years old, yet as hearty and lively as when he was forty (Jos 14:11): As my strength was then, so is it now. This was the fruit of the promise, and out-did what was said; for God not only gives what he promises, but he gives more: life by promise shall be life, and health, and strength, and all that which will make the promised life a blessing and comfort. Moses had said in his prayer (Psa 90:10) that at eighty years old even their strength is labour and sorrow, and so it is most commonly. But Caleb was an exception to the rule; his strength at eighty-five was ease and joy: this he got by following the Lord fully. Caleb here takes notice of this to the glory of God, and as an excuse for his asking a portion which he must fetch out of the giants' hands. Let not Joshua tell him he knew not what he asked; could he get the possession of that which he begged for a title to? "Yes," says he, "why not? I am as fit for war now as ever I was."
(3.) The promise Moses had made him in God's name that he should have this mountain, Jos 14:9. This promise is his chief plea, and that on which he relies. As we find it (Num 14:24) it is general, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess it; but it seems it was more particular, and Joshua knew it; both sides understood this mountain for which Caleb was now a suitor to be intended. This was the place from which, more than any other, the spies took their report, for here they met with the sons of Anak (Num 13:22), the sight of whom made such an impression upon them, Jos 14:3. We may suppose that Caleb, observing what stress they laid upon the difficulty of conquering Hebron, a city garrisoned by the giants, and how thence they inferred that the conquest of the whole land was utterly impracticable, in opposition to their suggestions, and to convince the people that he spoke as he thought, bravely desired to have that city which they called invincible assigned to himself for his own portion: "I will undertake to deal with that, and, if I cannot get it for my inheritance, I will be without." "Well," said Moses, "it shall be thy own then, win it and wear it." Such a noble heroic spirit Caleb had, and so desirous was he to inspire his brethren with it, that he chose this place only because it was the most difficult to be conquered. And, to show that his soul did not decay any more than his body, now forty-five years after he adheres to his choice and is still of the same mind.
(4.) The hopes he had of being master of it, though the sons of Anak were in possession of it (Jos 14:12): If the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out. The city of Hebron Joshua had already reduced (Jos 10:37), but the mountain which belonged to it, and which was inhabited by the sons of Anak, was yet unconquered; for though the cutting off of the Anakim from Hebron was mentioned Jos 11:21, because the historian would relate all the military actions together, yet it seems it was not conquered till after they had begun to divide the land. Observe, He builds his hopes of driving out the sons of Anak upon the presence of God with him. He does not say, "Because I am now as strong for war as I was at forty, therefore I shall drive them out," depending upon his personal valour; nor does he depend upon his interest in the warlike tribe of Judah, who attended him now in making this address, and no doubt would assist him; nor does he court Joshua's aid, or put it upon that, "If thou wilt be with me I shall gain my point." But, If the Lord will be with me. Here, [1.] He seems to speak doubtfully of God's being with him, not from any distrust of his goodness or faithfulness. He had spoken without the least hesitation of God's presence with Israel in general (Num 14:9); the Lord is with us. But for himself, from a humble sense of his own unworthiness of such a favour, he chooses to express himself thus, If the Lord will be with me. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, If the Word of the Lord be my helper, that Word which is God, and in the fulness of time was made flesh, and is the captain of our salvation. [2.] But he expresses without the least doubt his assurance that if God were with him he should be able to dispossess the sons of Anak. "If God be with us, If God be for us, who can be against us, so as to prevail?" It is also intimated that if God were not with him, though all the forces of Israel should come in to his assistance, he should not be able to gain his point. Whatever we undertake, God's favourable presence with us is all in all to our success; this therefore we must earnestly pray for, and carefully make sure of, by keeping ourselves in the love of God; and on this we must depend, and from this take our encouragement against the greatest difficulties.
3. Upon the whole matter, Caleb's request is (Jos 14:12), Give me this mountain, (1.) Because it was formerly in God's promise, and he would let Israel know how much he valued the promise, insisting upon this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day, as most desirable, though perhaps as good a portion might have fallen to him by lot in common with the rest. Those that live by faith value that which is given by promise far above that which is given by providence only. (2.) Because it was now in the Anakim's possession, and he would let Israel know how little he feared the enemy, and would by his example animate them to push on their conquests. Herein Caleb answered his name, which signifies all heart.
II. Joshua grants his petition (Jos 14:13): Joshua blessed him, commended his bravery, applauded his request, and gave him what he asked. He also prayed for him, and for his good success in his intended undertaking against the sons of Anak. Joshua was both a prince and a prophet, and upon both accounts it was proper for him to give Caleb his blessing, for the less is blessed of the better. Hebron was settled on Caleb and his heirs (Jos 14:14), because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. And happy are we if we follow him. Note, Singular piety shall be crowned with singular favours. Now, 1. We are here told what Hebron had been, the city of Arba, a great man among the Anakim (Jos 14:15); we find it called Kirjath-arba (Gen 23:2), as the place where Sarah died. Hereabouts Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived most of their time in Canaan, and near to it was the cave of Machpelah, where they were buried, which perhaps had led Caleb hither when he went to spy out the land, and had made him covet this rather than any other part for his inheritance. 2. We are afterwards told what Hebron was. (1.) It was one of the cities belonging to priests (Jos 21:13), and a city of refuge, Jos 20:7. When Caleb had it, he contented himself with the country about it, and cheerfully gave the city to the priests, the Lord's ministers, thinking it could not be better bestowed, no, not upon his own children, nor that it was the less his own for being thus devoted to God. (2.) It was a royal city, and, in the beginning of David's reign, the metropolis of the kingdom of Judah; thither the people resorted to him, and there he reigned seven years. Thus highly was Caleb's city honoured; it is a pity there should have been such a blemish upon his family long after as Nabal was, who was of the house of Caleb, Sa1 25:3. But the best men cannot entail their virtues.
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 Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in…
Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal,.... Whither he was returned after the conquest of the kings and their kingdoms; these were not the whole tribe of Judah, but some of the chief men of it who accompanied Caleb, for the honour of him, as Ben Gersom observes, he being their prince; and to second his petition, and to show their consent unto, and an approbation of such an assignment to him as he desired:
and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, said unto him; whether Caleb or Jephunneh called the Kenezite, and what the reason of the name, are not very material; and of which See Gill on Num 32:12; and as Caleb was personally and singly concerned in the following affair, he alone dressed Joshua, attended with some principal men of his tribe:
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thou knowest the thing the Lord said unto Moses the man of God,
concerning thee and me, in Kadeshbarnea; the place from whence the spies were sent, and whither they returned to Moses there, of whom Caleb speaks with great respect and veneration, which he knew would be very pleasing and endearing to Joshua, who could not but remember what had been said by him concerning himself and Caleb, though it was now forty five years ago; it being so very striking and memorable, that only two of that generation then present should enter into the land of Canaan; the fulfilment of which, in all its circumstances, they had lived to see.
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 Then - When Joshua and the rest were consulting…
Then - When Joshua and the rest were consulting about the division of the land, though they did not yet actually divide it. The heads of that tribe who were willing thus to shew respect to him; and to testify their consent, that he should be provided for by himself, and that they would not take it as any reflection on the rest of the tribe. In Gilgal - Where the division of the land was designed and begun, though it was executed and finished at Shiloh. The Kenezite - Of the posterity of Kenaz. The Lord said - In general, the promise he made us of possessing this land; and for my part, that which is expressed here, ver. 9.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite]…
Verse 6. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite] In the note on the parallel place, Nu 32:12, it is said Kenaz was probably the father of Jephunneh, and that Jephunneh not Caleb, was the Kenezite; but still, allowing this to be perfectly correct, Caleb might also be called the Kenezite, as it appears to have been a family name, for Othniel, his nephew and son-in-law, is called the son of Kenaz, Jos 15:17; Jdg 1:13, and 1Ch 4:13; and a grandson of Caleb is also called the son of Kenaz, 1Ch 4:15. In 1Ch 2:18, Caleb is called the son of Hezron, but this is only to be understood of his having Hezron for one of his ancestors; and son here may be considered the same as descendant; for Hezron, of the tribe of Judah, having come into Egypt one hundred and seventy-six years before the birth of Caleb, it is not at all likely that he could be called his father in the proper sense of the term. Besides, the supposition above makes a very good sense, and is consistent with the use of the terms father, son, and brother, in different parts of the sacred writings.
Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said] In the place to which Caleb seems to refer, viz., Nu 14:24, there is not a word concerning a promise of Hebron to him and his posterity; nor in the place (De 1:36) where Moses repeats what had been done at Kadesh-barnea: but it may be included in what is there spoken. God promises, because he had another spirit within him, and had followed God fully, therefore he should enter into the land whereinto he came, and his seed should possess it. Probably this relates to Hebron, and was so understood by all parties at that time. This seems tolerably evident from the pointed reference made by Caleb to this transaction.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jos 14:6. Then the children of Judah came —…
Jos 14:6. Then the children of Judah came — When Joshua, Eleazar, and the rest were consulting about the division of the land, and before they had begun to cast lots, some of the children of Judah interposed in behalf of Caleb, coming along with him to show him respect, to testify their consent that he should be provided for by himself, and to be witnesses of the truth of what he alleged. In Gilgal — Where the division of the land was designed, and begun, though it was executed and finished in Shiloh. The Kenezite — Of the posterity of Kenaz. Thou knowest the thing the Lord said — In general, the promise he made us of possessing this land, and what he said concerning me in particular, Jos 14:9.
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 The children of Judah - No doubt, in particular,…
The children of Judah - No doubt, in particular, the kinsmen of Caleb, and perhaps other leading men of the tribe. These came before Joshua, with Caleb, in order to make it manifest that they supported his claim, to be secured in the possessions promised him by Moses before the general allotment should be made to the tribes (compare the marginal references).
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 Jephone was the father of Caleb. Esron and Cenez…
Jephone was the father of Caleb. Esron and Cenez probably some of his ancestors, 1 Paralipomenon ii. 18., and Numbers xxxiii. 12. What Caleb here asserts, must have been delivered by word of mouth, in the hearing of the people, Deuteronomy i. 36. Moses declared not that Caleb was to have the whole country but that he should enter into it, and possess the environs of Hebron. (Calmet)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain CALEB BY PRIVILEGE REQUESTS AND OBTAINS HEBRON. (Jos 14:6-15)
CALEB BY PRIVILEGE REQUESTS AND OBTAINS HEBRON. (Jos 14:6-15)
Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb . . . said--This incident is recorded here because it occurred while the preparations were being made for casting the lots, which, it appears, were begun in Gilgal. The claim of Caleb to the mountains of Hebron as his personal and family possessions was founded on a solemn promise of Moses, forty-five years before (Num 14:24; Deu 1:36; Jos 14:10), to give him that land on account of his fidelity. Being one of the nominees appointed to preside over the division of the country, he might have been charged with using his powers as a commissioner to his own advantage, had he urged his request in private; and therefore he took some of his brethren along with him as witness of the justice and propriety of his conduct.
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 CALEB’S INHERITANCE, Jos_14:6-15.
CALEB’S INHERITANCE, Jos_14:6-15.
6. Children of Judah came — Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, and probably by his request the elders of his own tribe accompany him to Gilgal, lest they might suspect that he was using his office of commissioner to carve out a splendid portion for himself. They may have seconded his petition as having an important bearing on the question of their own portion, which would naturally contain the tract of Caleb, their tribesman, so that the granting of his request would virtually establish southern Canaan as their lot. Caleb was one of the two spies so famous for their faith in Jehovah, and for their courage and independence in making a very unpopular minority report, for which they narrowly escaped stoning at the hands of the infuriated people. Num_14:6-10. They were spared in the ensuing plague which swept off the faithless ten, and were also excepted when Moses declared that none who were above twenty years old when they came out of Egypt should enter Canaan. Num_14:29-30.
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Kenezite — That is, a son of Kenaz. He was a pure Hebrew, not an Edomite.
Kadesh-barnea — Jos_10:41, note.
7. Forty years old was I — When, in the plains of Moab near the banks of the Jordan, Moses numbered Israel, not a man was left of those who had heard the law thundered from Sinai, save these two veterans who now stand face to face, Caleb and Joshua. Num_26:63. The desert of the sojourn had been the nation’s tomb. Joshua had succeeded Moses as leader of the tribes; Caleb now comes forward to claim the patrimony that had been promised by Jehovah to him.
In mine heart — Heart means here not the affections solely, but the understanding. See note on Rom_10:10. He made his report a perfect transcript of things as he saw them, uncoloured by cowardice, or faithlessness to Jehovah, or compliance with the people.
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 6–15. The Possession of Caleb
6–15. The Possession of Caleb
6. in Gilgal] Where the casting of the lots commenced.
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and Caleb the son of Jephunneh] Caleb was a prince of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of Hezron, the son of Pharez, and grandson of Judah (1Ch_2:5; 1Ch_2:18; 1Ch_2:25). He is first mentioned in the list of the princes who were sent to search the land of Canaan in the second year of the Exodus (Num_13:6), and he and Joshua were the only two who on their return encouraged the Israelites to go up and take possession of the land. In the plague that ensued, these two alone were spared, and deemed worthy to enter the Promised Land (Num_14:24; Num_14:30; Num_26:65).
the Kenezite] His younger brother Othniel, afterwards the first Judge, is also called “the son of Kenaz” (Jos_15:17; Jdg_1:13; Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:11). Hence (a) some have thought he was a foreigner by birth, descended from the Edomite tribe spoken of in Gen_15:19, a proselyte who had been incorporated into the tribe of Judah (comp. Gen_36:15; Gen_36:42); (b) others hold that even if Jephunneh was on the father’s side descended from this people, on the mother’s he came from Judah, and that this Kenaz probably belonged to the posterity of Judah of whom nothing further is known. From 1Ch_4:15 it appears that one of Caleb’s sons was called Kenaz, and it is clear that the name was held in great affection by the family, and it was customary both with Hebrews and Arabs to perpetuate certain family names. See Keil’s Commentary.
Thou knowest] Caleb begins by reminding his friend and leader of the word which Jehovah had spoken to Moses at Kadesh-barnea concerning them both (Num_14:24).
in Kadesh-barnea] Next to Sinai, the most important of all the resting-places of the children of Israel (see Deu_33:2).
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 INHERITANCE OF JUDAH (Jos_14:6 to Jos_15:63).
INHERITANCE OF JUDAH (Jos_14:6 to Jos_15:63).
(6) Caleb the son of Jephunneh—Caleb was the commissioner appointed from the tribe of Judah to divide the land (Num_34:19). His coming forward on this occasion to ask for his own inheritance first of all might appear to savour of self-interest, if the post of honour for which he applied had not been also the most dangerous and difficult position in the inheritance of his tribe. He applied for the territory of the gigantic sons of Anak, whom he undertook to drive out in the strength of Jehovah. Therefore “Joshua blessed him” and gave him Hebron for his inheritance. It is noticeable that of the two faithful spies whom Moses sent, Caleb received his inheritance first, and Joshua last of all Israel. (See Jos_19:49.) The characters of the two men are well seen in this contrast—the one foremost in a service of danger; the other last to seek the things that were his own. Thus, “even Christ pleased not Himself” (comp. Joshua); but “the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me,” as the conquest of the sons of Anak fell to the lot of Caleb. Observe how the slayer of Goliath is said to take away the reproach from Israel, 1Sa_17:26. “Who can stand before the children of Anak?”
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 In Gilgal. (see Jos_9:6) Caleb the son of Jephunneh…
In Gilgal. (see Jos_9:6) Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite. Or, descendant of Kenaz, as was his kinsman Othniel. As far as we can make out from the genealogy in 1Ch 2, Caleb and Kenaz were family names, for the Caleb or Calubi (1Ch_2:9) the son of Hezron, (1Ch_2:18) the Caleb the son of Hur, (1Ch_2:50) and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, (1Ch_4:15) could not have been the same persons. And Caleb was a Kenezite, or descendant of Kenaz; he had a grandson, apparently, of that name, (so the LXX and Vulgate translate, 1Ch_4:15) and a brother, according to the most probable rendering of the Hebrew of both Jos_15:17 and Jud_1:9. See also 1Ch_4:13. For Caleb was the son of Jephunneh, not of Kenaz. Hitzig, "Geschichte des Volkes Israel," 1:105, thinks that Caleb was a descendant of the Kenaz mentioned in Gen_36:11; or, see 15. Some think he was a Kenizzite. (see Gen_15:19) The Bishop of Bath and Wells, in his article in Smiths "Dictionary of the Bible," thinks that the view that he was not of Jewish origin agrees best with the Scripture narrative, and removes many difficulties regarding the number of the children of Israel at the Exodus. It certainly serves to explain why the tribe of Judah came with Caleb, when he preferred his request, and the statement in Jos_15:13, which seems to imply that Caleb was not one of the tribe of Judah by birth, but one of the "mixed multitude" that went up with the Israelites, (Exo_12:38) and acquired afterwards by circumcision the rights of Israelites. If this be the case, it is an illustration of the truth declared in Rom_2:28, 29 4:12 Gal_3:7. By his faithfulness to God he had well earned the reward which he now sought. Concerning me and thee. And yet Knobel asserts that, according to vers. 8 and 12, Joshua was not one of the spies! He accordingly sees the hand of the "Jehovist" here. So accurate is the criticism which pretends to be able to disintegrate the narratives in the Hebrew Scriptures, and to assign each part to its separate author. (see Num_14:24) As well might we conclude that this verse in Nu 14 is by a different hand to vers. 30 and 38 in the same chapter, in spite of the obvious coherence of the whole narrative.
Vers. 6-15. Caleb"s faithfulness and its reward.
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The history of Caleb seems to have a special fascination for the sacred historian. We read of him here, and in the next chapter, and in Judges 1. Whether this were due to his bravery, his sincerity, his hale and hearty old age, or (see note on ver. 6) his foreign extraction, coupled with his zeal for his adopted country and tribe, or from the combination of all these, it is not necessary to decide. Sufficient to remark
(1) that he was beloved by the people; and
(2) that he was a favourite character in the inspired Jewish history.
I THE BRAVE MAN WINS RESPECT. This is sure to be the case in the long run. He may be accused of rashness, want of judgment, intemperance of language or of purpose; but in the end he secures the confidence and attachment of all. The lesson is especially needed in the present age. One of its most marked characteristics is moral cowardice (as even John Stuart Mill has remarked). Men are incapable, for the most part, of incurring the disapprobation of the set in which they live. Politicians vote with their party for measures of which they disapprove. People in society dare not raise theft voices against what passes current in their own coterie; they yield to practices, admit persons to their intimacy of which and whom, in their own better judgment, they disapprove. They dare not brave the unfavourable verdict of theft acquaintance. Yet if they did they would lose nothing by it. Even the careless and thoughtless respect fearlessness, and delight to honour the man who dares to say what he thinks. They may condemn at first, but in the end they come round to a sounder judgment. History continually repeats itself. The history of Caleb is the history of every man who is honest in setting himself above the prevailing opinions of the day. His report was unpopular at first. The people sympathised with the cowardly ten. But events demonstrated the correctness of his view, and he became a popular hero. His tribe came with him to support his request, and if he were not of Israelite origin this incident makes the moral still more clear.
II WE SHOULD ALWAYS STEAK THE TRUTH. Caleb brought word according to what his heart told him. He sought neither to say what Moses would wish, nor what would be palatable to the people. What he thought, that he said. And this is one of the results of a heart devoted to God. Caleb "wholly followed" Him, and thus he had that sincerity and integrity which is the result of single mindedness. All Christians, and especially God"s ministers, should learn to shun the fear or favour of man, but everywhere and always to "declare the whole counsel of God." As we have seen, we do not thereby lose the favour we have not sought. Because we have not asked for it, (1Ki_3:11) we have it. But this is not to be taken into consideration. Those who "wholly follow the Lord their God" will be men who never fail to speak according to the dictates of the regenerate heart.
III THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT FAIL OF HIS REWARD. Moses had sworn to Caleb that he should have the land for his inheritance of which he had brought so true a report (no doubt, see notes, the spies went diverse ways). And now, after years of hardship and toil, he gained it. So has Christ promised a reward to them who seek Him. They must join their brethren in the toil; they must ever be foremost in the conflict, and they may be sure that their Joshua will give them an everlasting inheritance in the mount of God.
IV THE REWARD THAT THE RIGHTEOUS SEEKS. Observe that Caleb does not seek a rich nor easy inheritance, but one full of danger. The Anakim, defeated over and over again, still lurked in the inaccessible recesses of the hill country, and their giant strength, protected as it was by the fortifications of these mountain fastnesses, made it a task of the utmost danger to dislodge them. This task the gallant old warrior asks for himself. "Let me," he says, "inherit the stronghold of the Anakim. Let me have the city of their chief" (see notes). Such a man was St. Paul. tits reward was the having preached the gospel without charge. (1Co_9:18) He desires no other. And so the true Christian, he who "wholly follows" Christ, will desire as his reward the privilege only of being allowed to do and dare all for Him.
V THERE IS A REWARD FOR THE GODLY IN THIS WORLD. Even the laws of the physical universe have provided a reward for virtue. A temperate life secures a hearty old age. The spectacle of Caleb, as ready for war at eighty-five as he had been forty-five years previously, may be a rare one now with our luxurious habits. But the principle holds good that men who live hard, work hard, and abstain from all over indulgence in their appetites, will as a rule preserve their physical vigour to an advanced age. This is a gospel which may not be very palatable to the sons of luxury, but it is true nevertheless. Common sense and Christianity are ever really allied, however much a narrow view of the former may seem to conflict with the latter. Luxury, sloth, excessive indulgence even in permitted pleasures, are fatal to the body as to the soul. Even the weakly may retain their energies to old age by care and self restraint. The strongest man will sink into an early grave who deems such things unnecessary. So true is it that "Godliness has the promise of the life that now is" as well as of "that which is to come". (1Ti_4:8)
VI THE TRUE SECRET OF SUCCESS. Caleb (see Jos_15:14-17) did not fail in his dangerous undertaking. But it was because he said, "if the Lord be with me." So is it always in our undertakings. He that is sure he shall resist temptation, because he is confident in himself, will find his confidence raft him in the day of trial. He who trusts in the Lord only, will emerge a conqueror from the struggle. In all things our support and trust must be in Him. It" we purpose a thing in our hearts it must be "if the Lord will". (Jam_4:13-15) If we have done anything by His help we must say, "Not unto us, O Lord, hut unto Thy name be the praise". (Psa_115:1) Had Caleb relied upon his unabated strength, or on his undaunted courage, he would have fared as Israel before Ai. But since he relied on the Lord his God, the three sons of Anak could net stand before him; the stronghold of Debir must needs open its gates to his daughter"s suitor.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE Vers. 1-5. The allotment of the tribes.
This record of the division of the land among the tribes is suggestive of principles that are capable of a wider and more general application, and also of one that is narrower and more individual. Note
I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT DETERMINES THE SPHERE AND SURROUNDINGS OF ALL HUMAN LIFE. This is indicated in the division being made by lot. Whatever the form of the lot may have been, its meaning was that the destination of each particular tribe should not be a matter of human judgment or caprice, but should be left with God. It was no mere reference of the issue to blind chance. The faith of the age was too simple and real for that. Joshua and the elders had too deep a sense of the presence and guidance of the living God. We pass from this mere tribal allocation to think how the same law holds good for all the nations of the world. St. Paul showed his freedom of spirit from the limitations of Jewish prejudice when he declared to the Athenians how God, having made of one blood all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth, "determined for them the times before appointed and the bounds of theft habitation". (Act_17:26) Christianity reveals a God who is the Father of all mankind, and not of one particular people. The true patriotism is that which acknowledges God"s interest alike in all the nations, and teaches us to cherish and use the gifts He has conferred specially on our own country for the common good. Again: the Providence that determines the lot of the nations has the same control over the individual human life. Every man"s position in the world is in some sense the fulfilment of a Divine purpose. It may seem to be the result merely of the fortuitous commingling of circumstance, or the capricious drift of man"s own choice. But we do well to see through all outward appearances the sovereign hand that guides the course of circumstances and determines the issue. It is God, after all, who chooses our inheritance for us. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord". (Pro_16:33) The recognition of the Divine Providence that is over us has many beneficial moral effects.
(1) It gives the sanctity of a higher meaning to life,
(2) provokes to thankfulness,
(3) rebukes discontent and distrust,
(4) restrains inordinate ambition,
(5) teaches that respect for the rights and interests of others on which the order and well being of society depend.
II THE HUMAN AGENCY BY WHICH THE PURPOSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS FULFILLED. The land is divided according to the will of God, but the people must go in and possess it for themselves. God will drive out the Canaanites that are still there, not without them, but "from before them. (Jos_13:6) The decision of the lot seems to have had reference only to the general local situation of the tribes; the actual extent of the territory in each ease was left to be determined by the discretion of Joshua and the leaders. There was no caprice in this Divine decision. Nothing God does is arbitrary or reasonless. It was, no doubt, determined according to the peculiar characteristics of each particular tribe, and in such a way as that its geographical conditions should be best fitted to develop its latent powers. Important practical lessons are suggested.
(1) However devoutly we may recognise the Divine Providence that is over us, we have to determine for ourselves the path of duty.
(2) The circumstances of life place possibilities of good within our reach, which it remains for ourselves to actualise.
(3) Every man"s life in this world supplies the needful conditions of moral education, if he have but wisdom to discern and skill to improve them.
III THE SEPARATENESS OF THOSE WHO ARE SPECIALLY DEVOTED TO SPIRITUAL WORK IN THE WORLD. This is indicated by the peculiar position of the tribe of Levi. To them was given no inheritance, "save cities to dwell in with their suburbs" "The sacrifices of the Lord God made by fire" (as also tithes and first fruits) "were their inheritance". (Jos_13:14) "The Lord God of Israel Himself was the lot of their inheritance". (Jos_13:33 Num_18:20-24) Their position thus bore witness to the sanctity of the whole nation as "a kingdom of priests" unto the Lord. (Exo_19:6) They were the representatives of its faith and the ministers of its worship. And their representative character was made the more effective by the fact of their cities being scattered throughout the tribes (Jos 21). This principle of separateness is illustrated
(1) In the various provisions by which the sanctity of the priesthood was maintained under the economy of the law.
(2) In the New Testament institution of a certain order of men who should be set apart not, indeed, as a hierarchy to whom mystic powers belong, but as the ministers of spiritual instruction and edification to the Church of God. (Eph_4:11, Eph_4:12, 13 1Co_9:13, 1Co_9:14)
(3) In the Apostolic teaching as to the unworldliness of spirit and life that becomes the followers of Christ. W. (Php_3:20 Col_3:1 Heb_2:3 Heb_10:34 1Pe_2:9)
Vers. 6-15. Caleb.
I THE CHARACTER OF CALEB.
(1) Independence. He and Joshua had stood alone in the almost universal panic. It is difficult to discern the right and he faithful to it when all around us go wrong. The sanction of the multitude is no justification for an evil course. Truth and right are often with the minority. (Mat_7:13, Mat_7:14)
(2) Truth. Caleb says, "I brought him word again as it was in mine heart." We are tempted to hide our convictions when they are unpopular. The true man speaks what is in "his heart," not the mere echo of the voice of the multitude. (Act_4:19, Act_4:20)
(3) Courage. Caleb had advocated the course which seemed to be most dangerous. He is now willing to receive for inheritance a possession from which he will have to expel the Anakims (ver. 12). Courage is a form of unselfishness and a fruit of devotion to duty.
(4) Unselfishness. Though Caleb had shared with Joshua the honour of being faithful and brave in the day of general failure, he has lived quietly ever since, seeking no peculiar honour, and now the brave old man asks for inheritance a mountain region infested with hordes of the fiercest Canaanites, and offers to conquer it for himself. Like Lot, we commonly choose the pleasant places, and are greedy of much reward for little service. Caleb thinks himself no martyr. It is happy to have the humility and unselfishness which not only ask for little but are satisfied with little.
(5) Whole hearted devotion to God (ver. 8). This is the secret of Caleb"s character. Devotion to God makes us independent of men, true in the light of His searching eye, brave with trust in His help, and unselfish in obedience to His will. Half hearted devotion fails of this. We must serve God wholly i f we would grow strong and true and brave.
II THE REWARD OF CALEB.
(1) Long life. He and Joshua were the sole survivors of the Jews who escaped from Egypt. The cowards perish. The brave are spared. For us the corresponding blessing is not long earthly life hut eternal spiritual life.
(2) Continued strength and opportunity for service. His strength remains (ver. 11). His inheritance makes new claims on his courage and energy (ver. 12). The lot of greatest comfort is not the lot of highest honour. The best reward is renewed ability to serve. (Mat_25:23)
(3) A possession, the advantages of which he had long since discerned. Caleb and Joshua had stood alone in opposing the unbelief of the people in prospect of the promised land. Now their position is justified. The reward of solitary defenders of the truth will come in the ultimate triumph of it. Those who now best appreciate the heavenly inheritance will enjoy it best hereafter.
(4) Rest. The land had rest, and Caleb must have shared the rest. The rest of heaven will be sweetest to those who have toiled and borne most on earth. W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE Ver. 6-14. Caleb and his inheritance.
Caleb is one of those Scripture characters in whom we feel a personal interest not measured by the amount of historical information given us respecting him. Scanty as the materials are, they present us with a moral portrait very real and life like and full of dignity. All that we know of him is greatly to his honour. The more so if, as some say, he was of Idumaean rather than Israelitish origin, adopted rather than born into the tribe of Judah. The courage and fidelity he displayed when, as one of the spies, he dared, with Joshua, to counsel the craven hearted people to go in and possess the land, (Num_13:30 Num_14:6, 10 Deu_1:36) are illustrated again now that almost another half century has passed. The old man has still the same spirit in him. While some of the tribes are so slow to move that Joshua has occasion to rebuke them for their lethargy, (Jos_18:8) he is eager to secure at once his promised inheritance, defying in the strength of God the formidable sons of Anal In several lights Caleb appears before us here as a worthy example. We see in him
I AN HONEST SPIRIT, FORMING A TRUE ESTIMATE OF ITS OWN VIRTUES AND CAPACITIES. He recounts with honourable pride the doings and distinctions of the past how he had been faithful to his own convictions in his report of the land, not following the evil example of the other spies, or fearing the anger of the people; how Moses had honoured him, and the vigour of which he was conscious even "this day" was his Divine reward. There is no vain boasting here. His grateful recognition of God disproves that. It is the frank acknowledgment of an honest mind. The true heart is conscious of its own integrity and need never shrink from avowing it. It is well that experience of the happy effects of fidelity to the path of duty should be recorded for the encouragement of others. There are times when we may properly "thank God that we are not as other men are." This may be done in the spirit of profoundest lowliness and self distrust. Self depreciation is often but a mock humility. We honour ourselves and God when we duly estimate the worth of the moral qualities with which He has endowed us and the moral victories He has enabled us to win. Let no man "think more highly of himself than he ought to think," but at least let him "think soberly, according as God has dealt to him the measure of faith". (Rom_12:3) Recognise the Divine origin of every virtue you possess, and it will never make you vain; be true to yourself and to your noblest impulses, and you find in yourself an unfailing source of satisfaction and rejoicing. (Pro_14:14 Gal_6:3, Gal_6:4)
II A BRAVE SPIRIT GATHERING FROM THE MEMORY OF THE PAST AN INCENTIVE TO NEW ENDEAVOUR. There was a moral unity in Caleb"s life. He had obeyed the voice of conscience and discharged manfully the sacred responsibility that was imposed on him forty-five years ago, and now he feels the recollection to be stimulating and strengthening to him. He has been lost to us through all the intermediate time, but we may be sure that his life in the desert, as a leader of the great tribe of Judah, had sustained the reputation of early days. And the dauntless spirit of his old age is but the result of habitual fidelity to the call of duty and of God. Such is the moral continuity of our life. So true is it that"Our deeds still travel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are.
Every victory of our better nature over the power of meaner motives lays the foundation for further and completer victories. Even the memory of it becomes an inspiration and a strength to us. The fruit of it is seen after many days. Accustom yourself to do the right and to "follow wholly" the path the Lord your God marks out, and there shall be stored up within you a fund of strength that will enable you to look calmly in the face of the most formidable difficulties to storm the strongholds of the Anakims and "drive them out.
III A DEVOUT SPIRIT LEANING ON GOD FOR THE FULFILMENT OF HIS OWN PROMISE. We gather from ver. 9 that God had given Caleb a distinct promise of the possession of that mountain in addition to the general promise recorded in Num_14:24. To the apprehension of faith every Divine word is a living seed that must one day bring forth the fruition of its own fulfilment, and the mercies of the past are pledges of future help and benediction. W.
Ver. 6-end. Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
Few characters finer than that of Caleb. If Moses was pattern of faithful leader, Caleb was of faithful follower. There are some things which suggest he was not an Israelite by birth. Kenaz the name of his father or brother, is an Edomite name, and the expression in Jos_14:14, "Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb... because that he wholly followed the God of Israel;" and that of Jos_15:13, "Unto Caleb he gave a part among the children of Judah," are expressions which suggest that he was associated with that tribe rather than sprung from it. Whether or not he was an Israelite in flesh, he was earnestly so in faith. If not by birth an Israelite, he is an instance of the converting power of truth, and of the way in which identity of heart and aim supersedes all diversity of nature. He was one of the twelve spies. Had there been other ten like him, the invasion of Canaan would have begun and finished forty years earlier. There was no delusion in his mind; he saw all his colleague saw the stature of the men, the walls of the cities, the difficulty and all but impossibility of the con. quest. But he saw what only Joshua saw besides him the presence and the power of God. And seeing that, he believed in the possibility of what seemed to others impossible. Consider some elements of instruction here.
I GOOD MEN ARE NEEDED FOR SECOND PLACES AS WELL AS FIRST. We cannot all be statesmen, rulers, missionaries. There are many more humble positions than exalted ones. Twelve spyships for one lordship. Good men are needed for all stations. Men who fear to do wrong, who fear to grieve God, and who have no other fear. Complain not of an obscure lot, of a slight opening for your powers; but do the duties of the lot, and avail yourself of the openings you have, and all will be well.
II Second, observe THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS. He believed in his prime, he believes in his old age. Ready to follow God"s leading then, ready now. "As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and to come in." There is, of course, a miraculous element in this persistence of physical strength and mental vigour at such an age. But it is only a miraculous extension of what is a blessed fact of daily experience. It is strange the vie inertiae of souls. Forty years ago some were faithless, and are so now; others believing, they are so now. There is a tendency for the unjust to be unjust still, and for the righteous to be righteous still. Motion or rest alike tend to be eternal Rise up and follow Christ, and you tend to follow Him on through countless ages. Forsake Him, and you tend to go on forsaking Him. This persistence of habit is nature; but the persistence of better habit is partly grace as well. God keeps the feet from falling, daily charms the spirit afresh, while each step of progress in a good path reveals new reasons for choosing and pursuing it. Do not despair. Of Christ"s flock none is lost. "They go from strength to strength; every one of them appeareth before God in Zion." We may not, like Joshua, see eighty-five, and long before the life ends our powers may wither; but grace will not wither.
III Observe THE USEFULNESS OF SUCH A LIFE OF PROGRESS. Eighty-five years of steady well doing! of right aiming and right action I of the boldness of faith. Joshua and He were left alive, as a sort of leaven to leaven the whole lump of Israel, and they did it. One steady, progressive life of goodness the same today as yesterday how invaluable in a village, in a church, in any community. If you would be useful, keep on. Remember Abraham Lincoln"s policy for the conquest of the secession it was to "keep pegging away." Seeming hopeless, it was crowned with success.
IV Lastly, observe, CALEB"S FAITH HAS A GRAND REWARD. A manifold reward.
1. In the contagiousness with which it spread. It infects his own family. (see Jos_15:17) It infects, as we have seen, many besides.
2. His faith has the opportunity of proving its wisdom. That city, which was impregnable, he took; and these Anakim, who seemed terrific, he mastered. Some men, some things, some forces may be stifled for want of opportunity. But God will always see that there is a candlestick for the light. An "open door" for the "little strength" which can enter it.
3. His faith gets an earthly inheritance of a noble kind. Hebron is his family"s for an everlasting possession. The shortest road to getting anything is deserving it. While the clever, the tricky, the greedy, the saving see only what they aspire to "afar off," the deserving go straight on and reach it. His property we can trace in the possession of his descendants down to the time of David. (1Sa_30:14) It is not sufficiently observed how essential to goodness the courage of faith really is. Let Caleb"s example commend it to us. 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 Caleb . . . said . . . the…
Jos_14:6-15
Caleb . . . said . . . the Lord hath kept me alive, as He said.
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Calebs reflection on the goodness and faithfulness of God to him
I. It is God that keepeth us alive. The Scriptures often remind us of this, and urge it as a motive to religious fear, gratitude, and obedience. They teach us that in Him we live and move and have our being: that in Him is the breath of every living thing and the spirit of all mankind; that He gave it at first and that He taketh it away. More particularly, God preserveth us from many accidents that would be fatal to us. He giveth His angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways.
II. The aged have peculiar reason to make this acknowledgment. When any arrive at old age, it is proper to do this, with peculiar seriousness and gratitude; considering that, like Caleb, they have been wandering all their days in a wilderness. Dangers surround us on every side. The aged cannot but often reflect upon this; what numbers they have survived! Their own infirmities render the acknowledgment of Gods preservation of them almost natural and peculiarly proper.
III. It is a great satisfaction to aged christians to reflect on their obedience to God, and the accomplishment of his promises to them. They recollect with gratitude and delight, that grace, which began, maintained and improved the Divine life in their souls, amidst innumerable temptations, from without and within; and though they have fallen into trouble, they have been prevented from making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. It is pleasant to them to trace up all these streams to the fountain; to consider them as the displays of rich and free grace; as the accomplishment of the promises of God, and proofs of His fidelity. Their mercies were sweet in the enjoyment, and are sweet in the reflection, when they consider them as founded on the covenant of grace, made with all true believers through Christ Jesus.
IV. The experience which aged saints have had of Gods goodness and faithfulness is a strong encouragement to them to hope and trust in him. Application:
1. Let us all re, member our constant dependence upon God, and learn those useful instructions which that is adapted to teach us.
2. What hath been said should be an inducement to young persons to follow the Lord fully. Instead of possessing the iniquities of your youth, you will have unspeakable pleasure in being able to appeal to God, with Hezekiah, that you have walked before Him in truth, and with an upright heart, and have done that which was good in His sight.
3. The example of Caleb is worthy the imitation of aged Christians. When, like Caleb, you are mentioning your age, your contemporaries, or what happened in the former part of your lives, let it be done with seriousness, with an humble and thankful acknowledgment of God. Further, let the remainder of your lives be faithfully devoted to Gods service. One important branch of this is humbly to relate your own experience for the instruction and consolation of others. (J. Orton.)
Calebs confession
We meet with old men who are continually asking us, with a slight twinkle in their eye, How old do you think I am? and the answer, of course, is meant to bring out that you never would dream that they were such veterans in years, they are so fresh, and sprightly, and springy. That is an evil thing, and would have been evil in Caleb but for this saving clause, Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive. That is the saving clause, my green and vigorous aged friend, with whom all things have prospered. See to it that boastfulness be not found in your heart. Let not that dead fly spoil your ointment, Do not give to yourself the credit and glory of your strength and prowess of body, and brain, and mind. Give all the glory where all is due. The Lord hath kept me alive. I want you to notice this also about Caleb. He says, I have wholly followed the Lord my God; and in the Hebrew that is quite a striking word--more striking than in the English. It is a pictorial word in the Hebrew, and describes a ship going out at full sail. Why, that is the very keynote of Caleb from beginning to end. He was the man he was, from the beginning to the end, because he was out and out--because there were no limitations and provisions with him. He was not a man who, as Paul would say, made provision for the flesh for the lust thereof; but having been called by God to His service, he made it his meat and his drink. He went in for God and His cause, like a ship in full sail. He flung every power of body, and soul, and spirit like a free sheet to the winds of Gods grace, and Gods Spirit, and Gods Providence. He let go. Young fellow, it is the ruin of you that you are holding back. You will never be a Caleb; you will never be a Joshua; you will never be a David--never, never--at this rate of it; hanging back and saving your life, and therefore losing it; taking so much of the programme because it fits you, and scoring out certain other items that you do not like. Go in for a full programme, if you would enjoy Christian life. (John McNeill.)
Joshuas grateful retrospect
A great Alpine climber was asked about the ascent of a high mountain, and said, I was very weary before I got to the top, and found the best plan was just to follow the guide in front of me. At the summit I turned round, and when I saw the grand view, and the dangers through which the guide had brought me, I felt I could have fallen down on my knees to thank him for having led me to such a wonderful place. (Our Own Magazine.)
I am as strong this day as I was.
Caleb--youth in old age
I. A life built on Gods promise. Five times in his short speech does he refer to the word which the Lord spake. The word of promise to Caleb dealt with two things--his prolonged life and his possession of the land whereinto he went (Num_14:24). For five and forty years he had kept this word hid in his heart, and now he puts out a hand, unweakened by age and long-delayed fulfilment, to grasp the realisation--a grand example of steady, persistent faith, which waits for the vision, though it tarry, and buoyantly welcomes it when it comes at last! A life thus filled with trust in Gods faithful word has ever present instalments of accomplishment, as brooks by the way, to keep its hope fresh. The prolongation of Calebs life was the pledge to him of the fulfilment of the remoter promise. Such a life is consciously surrounded with Divine operations, too plain to be ignored, and when looked at in retrospect, presents one solid and homogeneous mass of preserving providences, which are all summed up in saying, Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as He spake . . . while Israel walked in the wilderness. Such a life has hope burning as a guiding star to the very end. The hopes of age are few and tremulous, if they be limited to earth. When the feast is near an end, appetite is dulled, and there is little to do but to get up and go away. But if we set our hope on God, our hope is immortal. He keeps the good wine till the last.
II. A life which bears being remembered. We may freely admit that the tone of this retrospect savours of an earlier stage in the process of revelation than ours, and that, if this were a complete account given by a man of his life, we should miss in it the voice of humble penitence, which must always sound through a Christian autobiography. But still, a life of trust and following Christ, however imperfectly, does yield calm remembrances, which nothing else does, and for the lack of which nothing can compensate. If we would lay up for ourselves against old age the treasure of such calm and humble memories, we must in youth and manhood choose God for our God, and Lake heed to follow Him, though we may be singular; and to do it wholly.
I backward east mine ee
On prospects drear,
said poor, brilliant Robert Burns, whose youth of riotous pleasure burnt itself out before he was forty, and had been full of self-reproach and bitterness long before the end. Many a life which grasps at delight and spurns the slow-going puritanical ways of God-fearing, sense-coercing Christians, comes at last to be gnawed by memories sharp and poisonous like a serpents tooth. The only way to secure that at the end we may be able to say, I have fought a good fight, is to become Christs soldier. Recruits for His army are most surely enlisted in youth.
III. A life-preserving youthful vigour to old age. This old young man, as Thomas Fuller calls him, followed the Lord wholly; therefore he brought forth fruit in old age, and the aged tree was full of sap and green in all its gnarled branches. In a very true sense a man may keep himself young all his days. A youth and manhood of Christian sobriety and self-restraint, temperate, chaste, and free from the sins of youth, which rot the bones and lie down with their victims in the dust, is likely to conserve physical vigour, A life of Christian devotion and faith will keep its spring flowers blowing till late autumn, and blossom and fruit will hang together. The buoyancy, carelessness, hopefulness, cheeriness of youth are not far away from the aged heart, which lives by faith, and therefore dwells at ease, and is glad and secure, though the shadows of evening be falling.
IV. A life still eager at last for further enterprise. That is the true temper of the Christian soldier, seeking the hardest, not the easiest, work, and finding in danger an attraction. How nobly it has been exemplified in many a mission field, to which, whenever disease has smitten down one, two have been ready to go! An old Highland legend tells how his foster-brothers made a ring round the chief in a battle, and how, as each that shielded him with his own body fell, the foster-father cried, Another for Hector, and another strode into the fatal empty place. The annals of the Church are full of like incidents. The call for another to stand in some deadly breach for the sake of the elder brother has never been sounded in vain; and to-day American and English Christianity is showing that the old heroic fire burns yet, in the men who, on the Congo and elsewhere, have hazarded their lives for the name of Jesus, and been drawn to the field by its very dangers. (A. Maclaren. D. D.)
Calebs vigour of mind in old age
was equal to his vigour of body in youth. As his strength was in the day that Moses sent him, so was his strength then for war, both to go out and to come in: yea, he had waxed stronger and stronger, and, as is said of the righteous, brought forth fruit in old age. As all other graces, true faith increases in its exercise, and becomes mightier by conflict. They who are strong in faith when young, and have the word of God abiding in them, are not likely to become weak in faith when old. Interesting sight, to behold one grown old in the service of God, still a veteran in the ranks, with a resolution never to yield or return his sword, while an enemy remains unsubdued. One had thought it now time for this old warrior to leave the field, and quietly to enjoy his earthly portion; and had his mind been affected less with things future than things present, had he sought rest only in Canaan, and not rest in heaven, he would have so thought himself. It is a lovely sight, and what must command admiration from all, to see an old believer to the very last ready to testify his faith in God and hope of the promise by a sacrifice of ease, and even at the hazard of life. But they may well be inspired with the fortitude of unyielding valour, and fight even till they die, who are under the command of Jehovah and the banner of the Cross; for a crown of life and eternal triumphs await the slain--they shall rise and reign for ever in the kingdom of glory. The Christian, whose brightest portion lies beyond this world, must not wonder if, as age creeps on, new conflicts arise, and if at last, before he take possession of his eternal settlement, the Anakims, a people tall and great, should still be to be conquered. They are all an easy conquest through Him that hath loved us, so that he may say as Caleb (Jos_14:12). (W. Seaton.)
Give me this mountain.--
Calebs choice
1. In this choice we find a revelation of a sturdy character. There is a powerful individuality about the man who chooses a mountain as his ideal possession. It means climbing and hard work. I knew a veteran who, late in life, bought a rugged mountain, built his house in one of its hollows, cultivated a portion of its slope, and let his sheep wander for a living over the remaining portion. He was as happy in breathing the clear mountain air, and in climbing the mountain steeps, as Adam was in Paradise. There was wonderful congeniality between him and his surroundings. There was a great deal of rugged grandeur about him. To come into contact with that man was as bracing as to climb his mountain, and to breathe the pure inspiring air upon its summit. In Caleb we have a man of similar robust make--a man who not only chose the mountainous district of Hebron while others sought the plains, but also chose that mountain while as yet every crevice in its fastnesses bristled with foes of giant stature. Caleb was charmed with the thought of a possession which involved most of faith and heroism in making his own.
2. This choice further reveals to us the continuity of his character. It is the brave man who stood before Israel and the ten spies who brought depressing news of the land, and exclaimed, Let us go up at once and possess it, that now, forty years later, claims it as his privilege to drive the sons of Anak out of their last fastness. He had done enough to wear out half a dozen ordinary men. There seemed to be endless wear in him. This is the speech of an old soldier. You trace the same man, and he affirms--and gives proof of his affirmation subsequently--that he has the same vigour as of old. Throughout his life we trace one master-feeling, one supreme purpose, one distinctive personality. This unity running through life is one of the glories of a great character.
3. Calebs choice shows his hopefulness and faith. We are not so surprised that when forty-five years of age he should have taken such a bright view of things, as that now in prospect of such a difficult task he should say, If so be that the Lord be with me, then. This is not the if of doubt, but the if of great possibilities, of a large hope, and of a mighty faith (R.V.). It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive, &c. He is willing to risk all upon that may be. He bases all upon what the Lord had promised.
4. This choice shows Calebs wisdom. The mountain fastnesses of the land were the most difficult to win, but having been once won could best be held, and would finally become the greatest centres of strength. It is a general rule of life that what is hardest won is worth the winning most, and is the most lasting good when won. The strength of a life as well as of a country is in its mountain fastnesses and passes, and not in its broad and luxuriant plains.
5. The whole incident reveals the sacredness which Caleb and Joshua attached to a promise given by Moses forty years previously. Moses was dead, but the promise lived. Caleb repeated it, and Joshua honoured it.
6. Observe how the name of a comparatively unknown father is connected with the choice now made by a noble son. Caleb is usually designated as the son of Jephunneh. Jephunneh seems to have belonged to an Edomite tribe, the Kenezites, but all that we know of him besides is that he was the father of Caleb. All that we know, too, of Nun is that he was the father of Joshua. These were two noble sons who made their fathers famous. Young men, take note of that I How largely the fathers reputation is in the hands of his son! A wise son maketh a glad father. (D. Davies.)
Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb . . . because that he wholly followed the Lord.--
God rewards His faithful followers
I. What is implied in Calebs following the Lord wholly. Though this may imply a great deal, yet it cannot imply absolute perfection.
1. It implies that his heart was renewed. He had a filial, dutiful, submissive spirit, which the Scripture calls a perfect heart.
2. It implies that he paid an external respect to all the intimations of His will. If he had allowed himself in one sin, or habitually offended in one point, he would have been guilty of all. It is essential to the character of a good man to follow the Lord in all His precepts and appointments. This is the love of God that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.
3. This amiable character implies that he persevered in obedience under every trial and temptation. Such a sincere, uniform, and constant course of obedience, for forty or fifty years, fully verified the Divine declaration that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. But this is not all. God not only approved, but rewarded his obedience.
II. Why the Lord rewarded him for following him wholly.
1. Because his wholly following the Lord was a strong expression of his supreme love to Him. Obedience is the natural expression of love. Ye are My friends, says Christ, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Neither the hosts of Pharaoh, nor the absence of Moses, nor the defection of Aaron, nor the giants of Canaan, could cool his zeal or warp his resolution. He determined to endure unto the end; and unto the end he endured. He loved God sincerely and supremely, and he meant to express his love to Him, by uniform obedience, under the most trying circumstances. This God saw, approved, and rewarded, agreeably to His own declaration, I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.
2. Caleb greatly promoted the glory of God and the good of His people, by his uniform and persevering obedience. This rendered him one of the principal instruments in the hand of God of conducting His people to Canaan, and of executing His wise and gracious purposes respecting them. By walking with God, and observing His wise and holy providence, he became a man of great experimental and practical knowledge, which enabled him to be very useful in guiding and instructing an ignorant and refractory people. It is natural to suppose that he had a principal hand in forming the lives and manners of that generation, which was educated in the wilderness, and eventually prepared for the promised inheritance. And his great and extensive usefulness was a good reason why the Lord God of Israel should reward his signal services, agreeably to His own maxim, Them that honour Me, I will honour.
3. There was something very distinguishing in Calebs conduct. None but he and Joshua persevered in their allegiance to God. This singularity of his obedience not only displayed, but really enhanced, the worth of his virtue and piety, and laid a proper foundation for God to reward him with peculiar marks of His favour.
Reflections:
1. What great encouragement have all true saints to persevere in the ways of well-doing!
2. What great benefit may those, who follow the Lord wholly, derive from the evils and burdens of their wearisome pilgrimage! Caleb acquired a beautiful character, and a distinguished reward, by properly improving a series of great and complicated trials. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
3. How will saints hereafter admire the distinguishing grace of God by which they were conducted to heaven!
4. Does God speak respectfully of those who follow Him wholly, and graciously reward their faithful labours? Then we must justly conclude that we ought to honour those whom He delights to honour. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Following the Lord
I. What is included in the expression, wholly following the Lord? It is impossible to take the words in their strictly literal sense. There are so many slips, so many wanderings, so many shortcomings, that the strict perfection of obedience is unattainable by any of the children of Adam. But the expression is one which, nevertheless, can be applied to those who honestly and simply give themselves up through Divine grace to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
1. A realisation that the will of God is paramount.
2. A resting upon the Word of God as clear and authoritative.
3. A laying hold of the promises of God as sure.
II. The circumstances under which it is said of Caleb that he wholly followed God.
1. Caleb wholly followed God, though others who were in the same position of influence with himself deserted the side of God and of His truth.
2. Caleb wholly followed God, though the whole congregation feared to walk in the right way.
3. Caleb wholly followed the Lord in spite of opposition. The current of excited feeling set dead against him, and threatened to bear him down. And you will observe that it was not the mere opposition of abuse, insult, and prejudice; it assumed a far more dangerous form (Num_14:10). His life was perilled. Yet no degree of violence, however determined, could drive him from the position which he had been enabled to take up. Oh, what encouragement there is here for those who find themselves in the midst of difficulties and trial for the sake of the Gospel! Caleb was a man of like passions with ourselves. Naturally he had the same aversion to the will of God that others have; but in his case grace was strong, faith triumphed. And what a glorious sight it is to see, when you behold one thus meeting any storm of indignation, coldness, or scorn from man, rather than forsake the way and truth of the Lord Jesus! (C. D. Marston, M. A.)
Caleb the soldier
I. Calebs fidelity. Fidelity is one of the first properties of a soldier; and it were well that every good cause, and especially that of Christ, could boast of such fidelity as gallant men have often shown in the ranks of war. Mere boys have bravely carried the colours of their regiment into battle; and to save them from falling into the hands of the enemy they have been known, when they themselves fell, to wrap them around their bodies and die within their encrimsoned folds. An incident more heroic still occurred on one of those fields where Austria lately suffered disastrous defeat. When the bloody fight was over, and the victors were removing the wounded, they came on a young Austrian stretched on the ground, whose life was pouring out in the red streams of a ghastly wound. To their astonishment he declined their kind services. Recommending others to be removed, he implored them, though he might still have been saved, to let him alone. On returning sometime afterwards they found him dead--all his battles oer. But the mystery was explained. They raised the body to give it burial; and there, below him, lay the colours of his regiment. He had sworn not to part with them; and though he clung to life, and tenderly thought of a mother and sisters in their distant home, he would not purchase recovery at the price of his oath and the expense of a soldiers honour--he was faithful unto death. The property of a good soldier was eminently illustrated by Caleb.
II. Calebs courage. Courage, which has in all ages won the praise of poets and admiration of mankind, is a property for which our seamen and soldiers have been long and eminently distinguished. Descended from ancestors who met the Romans on the sea-beach, and those brave Norsemen who ploughed the stormiest oceans with their warlike prows, our countrymen have proved themselves worthy of their sires; and the repute of a courage which has been tested in many a hard-fought field has proved, under God, the strongest bulwark of our island-home. It is remarkable, and highly creditable to the resolution and bravery of our soldiers, that, notwithstanding all the wars in which they have engaged, no foreign nation flaunts a flag of ours as the trophy of its victory, and of our defeat. No British banner, so far as I know, hangs drooping in dusty folds from the walls of foreign castle or cathedral to make us blush; nor in that proud pillar the great Napoleon raised, whose bronze, formed of the cannon taken by him in battle, commemorates his victories, is there an ounce of metal that belonged to a British gun. I have heard indeed how cowards, probably drawn from the scum of the people, hung back when the bugler in the trenches sounded a new assault, and refused to cross ground so strewed with their fallen comrades as to resemble a field carpeted with scarlet cloth. Yet, whatever may be their defects, our soldiers have been commonly as much distinguished for their courage when the battle raged as for their clemency when the victory was won. For that courage, true, calm courage, which does not lie in insensibility to danger, nor in the violent animal passion which may bear a coward forward as a whirlwind does the dust, or a wave the seaweed on its foaming crest, Caleb presents the very model of a soldier. How bravely he bears himself when the other spies prove traitors! The source of Calebs courage, of a bravery so admirable and dauntless, is not far to seek. In him, as in those noble Christian soldiers whom I have mentioned, and in others also who have maintained their religion in the camp, courage, if it did not spring from, was sustained by piety. He had faith in God. Therefore he did not fear the face of man, though that man were a giant, nor of death itself. From the same lofty source, and none other, the soldier of the Cross, he who fights with foes more formidable than giants--the devil, the world, and the flesh, that trinity of evil--is to draw his courage. More of it may be needed to face the jeers of an ungodly world than a blazing battery of cannon. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Calebs history--piety portrayed and piety promoted
I. Piety portrayed: Caleb wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.
1. Genuine piety is the sublimest of all pursuits.
2. Genuine piety accords with the constitutional cravings and powers of the human soul.
II. Piety promoted: Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb. (Homilist.)
The inheritance of Caleb
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. On the whole, the preponderance of evidence is in favour of the opinion that Calebs 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 timer 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. 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. 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 inward 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. 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. 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. 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 three. That which constituted the highest glory of Moses was that he was so much at one with God. Gods 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 Gods 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. 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. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me, &c. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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, &c. 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 Calebs 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! In the spiritual war fare, 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 Living stone begging the directors of the London Missionary Society, wherever they sent him, to be sure that it was Forward; turning aside from all previous missionary 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. 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. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
Caleb the Kenezite
I. In all probability Caleb was a proselyte. In Gen_36:42, Kenaz is named as one of the Edomite dukes. In 1Ch_2:50, Caleb is called son of Hur. Many critics assume that this indicates that he was adopted into the family of Hur. This foreigner had the true faith of an Israelite. Sometimes those whose early years have been spent in heathenism, home or foreign, become noted in Christian circles for their moral virtues and foremost in every good work.
II. Caleb had the courage to be in a minority of two (Num_14:1-10). The secret of this courage was--
1. His faith in Gods promise.
2. That the Lord put His fear upon their enemies (Num_14:9).
3. His sense of the Divine presence.
III. Calebs whole conduct was consistent. I wholly followed may mean--
1. The full measure of his days.
2. The whole-heartedness of his life.
IV. At the end of his career he receives his reward.
1. A happy old age.
2. An unfailing faith in God.
3. The people acknowledge his faithful service.
4. The seed of Caleb received the benefit resulting from the fathers fidelity. (Henry Smith.)
Calebs inheritance
I. An old mans inheritance. Old age has its benedictions, its redeemed pledges, its inheritance. The faithful, tireless servant of God has his portion, though he has not gathered, sold, and joined field to field. Caleb had been seeking for a country, not scattering an estate.
II. An old mans request. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints; but the life approaching the grave with a weight of honourable service is alike cherished by the Lord. It must have been so with Caleb, His strength was as great for war as when he received his commission. The old man does not ask for land he may cultivate, on which to raise choice varieties of those grapes whose single clusters weary two men to bear them on a staff. He has led the life of a soldier His service for the Lord he thinks still lies in that direction. Those giants who frightened his comrades forty years ago have been on his mind ever since. The Israelites are not likely to become more warlike in this rich country where they can till the soil. He therefore proposes to take care of those enemies of God himself. When Herod the Great wished to rid the cliffs of Arbela of robbers, he caused Roman soldiers to be let down in cages to fight the outlaws in the mouths of their caves. Caleb did not ask for a Hebrew regiment to help him manage those sons of Anak. Hebron, that ancient city built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, ought not to remain longer in the hand of the infidel. Alien born or Hebrew, he cannot bear that Gods people should be defied in their inheritance. In after-years, when crusading knights took this city, it was not with more righteous purpose than that which stirred the heart of this ancient servant of Jehovah.
III. An old mans request. Calebs first work was to purify his inheritance. He got the iniquity out of it. He did not levy tribute on the brigands and live luxuriously on the income of robbery. This veteran was not a man of compromises. The enemies of God and righteousness could get no terms with him. His hands were not soiled with the revenue or the rents of a nefarious business. They did not close around the rewards of iniquity. Something of the spirit which in after-years stirred the heart of the Master as He drove the money-changers from the temple now rested on this old man. The spirit of reform was strong in him, and it had fuel to keep it burning, for it was fed by the Spirit of God and of righteousness. That mountain was not first cleared of timber, and lawns, parks, and terraces laid out and built on its slopes. There was perhaps no summer-house commanding a view of the distant Mediterranean, but there was some honourable estate to pass onward. There was a remainder which, according to Divine promise, would go to his descendants. It was cleared of the enemies of God. Whoever received it would get an inheritance without any bill of attainder against it for treason. Such a man as Caleb does not impoverish his estate, though he lessen it in behalf of righteousness. The bare mountain was to him a better property than a large rent-roll of criminal tenants. (W. R. Campbell.)
Calebs reward
Calebs reward illustrates the immense difference between a full and a partial following of God. It is the difference between the river and the sea. Both are water, and the river is all well in its way and is useful to man and beast in small services. The sea is something more than mere water, for it is infinite; and as we gaze upon it a sense of its immeasurableness comes over us as never is the case when we behold the largest lake or the Mississippi river. You cannot measure a wholly following servant of the living God, and you can too easily take the dimensions of a half-and-half Christian. You come to form an idea of about how much money he will give to a needy enterprise, about how much time to a pressing work, how long he will stay to push a fresh project in the kingdom, and what pleasures and business engagements he will surrender to help revival efforts. We get tired of these easy measurements. But take a Caleb, and you cannot tell what Divine energies are locked up within him to come forth when needed..
I. One with Calebs spirit sees clearly the good things which God has promised. He has sight and insight. Twelve good men go over the same country, but on the whole they see differently, and so report what they see. Ten, with a common-sense vision of the greatness of the foes, and making no allowance for hidden and supernatural factors, did not see things as they were. On the other hand, Caleb saw all that they did, but he had a power of seeing Him who is invisible, and so of seeing truly. The man who followed fully had a clear eye, a single eye, and his whole body was full of light. In this way he perceived the essential weakness and rottenness of confederated evil. All achieving men have the same vision, and so they persist and wait and return to the same attack until they win the day, and the people that once bade stone them bring out garlands for their graves.
II. Men of Calebs spirit, wholly following the Lord, have the power of standing alone. The mass move with the stream. The few stand like a rock. No one knows who has not tried it what it costs the soul of self-searching, fear, doubt, sorrowful parting with loved friends, and the crushing weight of popular disapproval. In one of his noblest odes Horace speaks in admiration of him who can resist the heated demands of citizens who call for evil things,
III. Those who are like Caleb have the patience of faith. It was a long and wearisome time before the word of God to His trusty servant was fulfilled--more than a whole generation. No doubt sometimes, for he was human, he wondered when God would arise and His enemies be scattered. Have you seen some new possession in the things of the Spirit? Repeat the promise. Though it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not tarry. We get tired and run away from our own prayers, so that when the answer comes some one else lives where we did when we prayed. Oh, let us seek the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ!
IV. Men of Calebs spirit have to fight the good fight of faith. Hebron was beautifully situated upon the hills to the south of Jerusalem, where even to-day there is a luxuriant vegetation and the grapes as of Eschol are gathered. From it one looks over a wide expanse of country, eastward, westward, northward, southward, towards Edom. There David was crowned and reigned seven years. It was a splendid reward after forty-three years delay. Perhaps on the great expedition with the spies Caleb marked the place and made a vow that, if the people entered in, he would have that abode, and the picture may have dwelt in his memory to cheer him in long years, just as the heavenly hills glow before the eye of Christian faith. But even at last the prize did not drop into his hands like a ripe apple. No; he must draw his sword and expel the sons of Anak who were in possession, for they also loved the high places. It costs to get the best, but it is wise economy to be satisfied with nothing less. Faith, the patience of faith, the fight of faith, the reward of faith--these come before us in this ancient story with the freshness of the Word of God. And now it remains to be said that there is a peculiar need of Calebs to-day, when great things are offered us in the providences of God and we have not far to go to enter into them. Make it personal. Sometimes the Spirit shows you while you are praying or reading or listening to others an attainment beyond all you have ever reached. It is your Hebron. No matter what the precise form of the blessing, if you have had it clearly set before you, it is a call to possess it by faith, just as Caleb went up to his reward among the hills of Palestine. All that your feet press is yours. Saints are more to blame for not walking upon the high places as children of the heavenly King than sinners are for not turning to God in penitence. Saints have great promises made to them and great helps offered them. Make it more general. Before the whole Church to-day there is a promised world to be won for Christ by prayer and toil. Our charter gives it to us for a possession, and the doors are wide for our entrance therein. Another field for faith is the deeper Christianising of the already Christian nations of the earth. Dr. Herren says in his little book, The Larger Christ: The realisation of heaven upon earth is more than a mystic ideal. It is the crowning fact of history. It is the solid reality with which God is displacing the insubstantial materialism underlying the rude social structures of human selfishness. It is the Divine errand upon which white-souled prophets have walked serene through a world ablaze with scorn. The pledge of God is behind it, and the victorious forces of the universe are allied in its behalf. The Bible is its written warrant and the Cross its seal which none can break. It may take us with violence, but it advances to conquer. And the saints shall judge the world! (Edward N. Packard.)
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Introduction to chaps. 15-19
The law of distribution
We come now in earnest to the distribution of the land. The narrative looks very bare, but important principles and lessons underlie it. These lists of unfamiliar names look like the debris of a quarry--hard, meaningless, and to us useless. But nothing is inserted in the Bible without a purpose--a purpose that in some sense bears on the edification of the successive generations and the various races of men.
1. There is something to be learned from the maintenance of the distinction of the twelve tribes and the distribution of the country into portions corresponding to each. In some degree this was in accordance with Oriental usage; for the country had already been occupied by various races, dwelling in a kind of unity--the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, Perizzites, and Girgashites. What was peculiar to Israel was that each of the tribes was descended from one of Jacobs sons, and that their relation to each other was conspicuously maintained, though their dwelling-places were apart. As in the case of the separate states of North America, or the separate cantons of Switzerland, it provided for variety in unity; it gave a measure of local freedom and independence, while it maintained united action; it contributed to the life and vigour of the commonwealth without destroying its oneness of character or impairing its common purpose and aim. It promoted that picturesque variety often found in little countries, where each district has a dialect, or a pronunciation, or traditions, or a character of its own; as Yorkshire differs from Devon, or Lancashire from Cornwall; Aberdeenshire from Berwick, or Fife from Ayr. As in a garden variety of species enlivens and enriches the effect, so in a community variety of type enriches and enlivens the common life. In the case of the Hebrew commonwealth the distinction of tribes became smaller as time went on, and in New Testament times the three great districts Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee showed only the survival of the fittest. A larger individuality and a wider variety would undoubtedly have prevailed if a good spirit had continued to exist among the tribes, and if all of them had shown the energy and the enterprise of some. But the wrong spirit came in, and came in with a witness, and mischief ensued. For distinctions in race and family are apt to breed rivalry and enmity, and not only to destroy all the good which may come of variety, but to introduce interminable mischief. For many a long day the Scottish clans were like Ishmael, their hand against every man and every mans hand against them; or at least one clan was at interminable feud with another, and the country was wretched and desolate. Among the twelve tribes of Israel the spirit of rivalry soon showed itself, leading to disastrous consequences. Many arrangements of our modern civilisation that conduce to our comfort when in good order become sources of unexampled evil when they go wrong. The drainage of houses conduces much to comfort while it works smoothly; but let the drains become choked, and send back into our houses the poisonous gases bred of decomposition, the consequences are appalling. The sanitary inspector must be on the alert to detect mischief in its very beginnings, and apply the remedy before we have well become conscious of the evil. And so a vigilant eye needs ever to be kept on those arrangements of Providence that are so beneficial when duly carried out, and so pernicious when thoughtlessly perverted. What a wonderful thing is a little forbearance at the beginning of a threatened strife! What a priceless blessing is the soft answer that turneth away wrath!
2. Again, in the allocation of the tribes in their various territories we have an instance of a great natural law, the law of distribution, a law that, on the whole, operates very beneficially throughout the world. In society there is both a centripetal and a centrifugal force; the centripetal chiefly human, the centrifugal chiefly Divine. Men are prone to cluster together; God promotes dispersion. In the early ages they clustered about the plain of Shinar; the confusion of tongues scattered them abroad. And generally, in any fertile and desirable spot, men have been prone to multiply till food has failed them, and either starvation at home or emigration abroad becomes inevitable. And so it is that, in spite of their cohesive tendency, men are now pretty well scattered over the globe. And when once they are settled in new homes, they require adaptation to their locality, and begin to love it. It is a proof of Divine wisdom that a world that presents such a variety of climates and conditions has, in all parts of it, inhabitants that enjoy their life. The same law operates in the vegetable world. Everywhere plants seem to discover the localities where they thrive best. There is always a place for the plant, and a plant for the place. And it is so with animals, too. The elephant in the spreading forest, the rabbit in the sandy down, the beaver beside the stream, the caterpillar in the leafy garden. Some of the great deserts that our imagination used to create in Africa or elsewhere do not exist. Barren spots there are, and miry places and marshes given to salt, but they are not many. The earth has been replenished, and the purpose of God so far fulfilled. And then there is a distribution of talents. We are not all created alike, with equal dividends of the gifts and faculties that minister in some way to the purposes of our life. We depend more or less on one another; women on men, and men on women; the young on the old, and sometimes the old on the young; persons of one talent on those of another talent, those with strong sinews on those with clear heads, and those with clear heads on those with strong sinews; in short, society is so constituted that what each has he has for all, and what all have they have for each. The principle of the division of labour is brought in; and in a well-ordered community the general wealth and well-being of the whole are better promoted by the interchange of offices than if each person within himself had a little stock of all that he required. The same law of distribution prevails in the Church of Christ. It was exemplified in an interesting way in the case of our Lords apostles. No one of these was a duplicate of another. And throughout the history of the Church the distribution of gifts has been equally marked. Chrysostom and Augustine, Jerome and Ambrose, Bernard and Anselm, were all of the same stock, but not of the same type. At the Reformation men of marked individuality were provided for every country. The missionary field has in like manner been provided for. India has had her Schwartz, her Carey, her Duff, and a host of others; China her Morrison, Burmah her Judson, Polynesia her Williams, Africa her Livingstone. The most unattractive and inhospitable spots have been supplied. Greenland was not too cold for the Moravians, nor the leper-stricken communities of India or Africa too repulsive. And never were Christian men more disposed than to-day to honour that great Christian law of distribution--Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, It was a great providential law, therefore, that was recognised in the partition of the land of Canaan among the tribes. Provision was thus made for so scattering the people that they should occupy the whole country, and become adapted to the places where they settled and to the pursuits proper to them.
3. Still further, in the allocation of the tribes in their various territories we have an instance of the way in which God designed the earth to minister most effectually to the wants of man. We do not say that the method now adopted in Canaan was the only plan of distributing land that God ever sanctioned; very probably it was the same method as had prevailed among the Canaanites; but it is beyond doubt that, such as it was, it was sanctioned by God for His chosen people. It was a system of peasant proprietorship. The whole landed property of the country was divided among the citizens. The extremes of wealth and poverty were alike checked and discouraged, and the lot eulogised by Agur--a moderate competency, neither poverty nor riches--became the general condition of the citizens. It is difficult to tell what extent of land fell to each family. The portion of the land divided by Joshua has been computed at twenty-five million acres. Dividing this by 600,000, the probable number of families at the time of the settlement, we get forty-two acres as the average size of each property. For a Roman citizen, seven acres was counted enough to yield a moderate maintenance, so that even in a country of ordinary productiveness the extent of the Hebrew farms would, before further subdivision became necessary, have been ample. When the population increased the inheritance would of course have to be subdivided. But for several generations this, so far from an inconvenience, would be a positive benefit. It would bring about a more complete development of the resources of the soil. The great rule of the Divine economy was thus honoured--nothing was lost. We in this country, after reaching the extreme on the opposite side, are now trying to get back in the direction of this ancient system. All parties seem now agreed that something of the nature of peasant proprietorship is necessary to solve the agrarian problem in Ireland and in Great Britain too. It is only the fact that in Britain commercial enterprise and emigration afford so many outlets for the energies of our landless countrymen that has tolerated the abuses of property so long among us--the laws of entail and primogeniture, the accumulation of property far beyond the power of the proprietor to oversee or to manage, the employment of land agents acting solely for the proprietor, and without that sense of responsibility or that interest in the welfare of the people which is natural to the proprietor himself. It is little wonder that theories of land-possession have risen up which are as impracticable in fact as they are wild and lawless in principle. Such desperate imaginations are the fruit of despair--absolute hopelessness of getting back in any other way to a true land law--to a state of things in which the land would yield the greatest benefit to the whole nation.
4. In the arrangements for the distribution of the land among the twelve tribes we may note a proof of Gods interest in the temporal comfort and prosperity of men. It is not God that has created the antithesis of secular and spiritual, as if the two interests were like a see-saw, so that whenever the one went up the other must go down. Things in this world are made to be enjoyed, and the enjoyment of them is agreeable to the will of God, provided we use them as not abusing them. In ordinary circumstances God intends men to be fairly comfortable; He does not desire life to be a perpetual struggle, or a dismal march to the grave. The very words in which Christ counsels us to consider the lilies and the ravens, instead of worrying ourselves about food and clothing, show this; for, under the Divine plan, the ravens are comfortably fed and the lilies are handsomely clothed. The characteristic of a good man, when he enjoys a share of worldly prosperity, is, that he does not let the world become his idol--it is his servant, it is under his feet; he jealously guards against its becoming his master. His effort is to make a friend of the mammon of unrighteousness, and to turn every portion of it with which he may be entrusted to such a use for the good of others that when at last he gives in his account, as steward to his Divine Master, he may do so with joy, and not with grief. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain 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 Jos_14:6. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite] “A…
CRITICAL NOTES
Jos_14:6. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite] “A very interesting question arises as to the birth and parentage of Caleb. He is, as we have seen, styled ‘the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite,’ and his younger brother Othniel, afterwards the first Judge, is also called ‘the son of Kenaz’ (Jos_15:17; Jdg_1:13; Jdg_3:9; Jdg_3:11). On the other hand, the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2 makes no mention whatever of either Jephunneh or Kenaz, but represents Caleb, though obscurely, as being a descendant of Hezron and a son of Hur (see, too, chap. 4). Again, in Jos_15:13, we have this singular expression, ‘Unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah;’ and in Jos_14:14, the no less significant one, ‘Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, because that he wholly followed Jehovah God of Israel.’ It becomes therefore quite possible that Caleb was a foreigner by birth, a proselyte incorporated into the tribe of Judah.” [Smith’s Bib. Dict.] See also Crosby’s remarks, in loc., on the similar conjecture of Lord Hervey. The thing that the Lord said unto Moses] Comparing Num_13:22; Num_14:24; Deu_1:36, with this plea offered by Caleb, it seems sufficiently clear that God had promised Hebron to Caleb for a possession.
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Jos_14:7. As it was in mine heart] “The expression evidently denotes sincerity, the heart being thus opposed to deceitful words. He acted honestly according to the command given him, without gloss or dissimulation.” [Calvin.]
Jos_14:9. Surely the land, etc.] Although Hebron is not named in any of the verses in the Pentateuch which refer to the mission of the spies it seems to have been mentioned to Caleb in the promise of Moses, the written history being only an epitome of that which actually took place.
Jos_14:10. These forty and five years] Thirty-eight of these were spent in the wilderness, and the remaining seven had been occupied in the conquest of the land. This is the most important of the chronological data afforded by the book.
Jos_14:12. This mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day] Shewing, as suggested under verses 6-9, that Hebron and its neighbourhood had been mentioned by name in the Divine Promise.
Jos_14:14. Unto this day] “The book of Joshua was therefore written while Caleb still lived.” [Crosby] This, however, is by no means certain; for there is, at least, the possibility of correctness in Keil’s remark: “In Jos_14:14-15, the author appends to some observations of his own, the narrative, which he has copied verbatim from the original documents.”
Jos_14:15. The name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba] “City of Arba.” Hengstenberg contends that the original name was Hebron, that Arba, with the Anakim, did not found the city, but conquered it, and that not till after the time of Abraham’s residence there (cf. Gen_23:2; Num_13:22). The land had rest from war] This is repeated from chap. Jos_11:23, shewing that the further division of the land was unaccompanied with any general conflict with the Canaanites who remained unsubdued.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_14:6-15
THE FIDELITY OF CALEB, AND ITS REWARD
Whether Caleb was a native of Israel or a foreign proselyte (cf. Crit. Notes, V.6), he was reckoned among the tribe of Judah. He was one of the foremost men in the tribe, and while his exaltation may have been greatly owing to his faithfulness as one of the spies sent out by Moses, there must have been a preeminence of some kind even to account for his selection on that important occasion. Perhaps he had already shewn some of those traits of the noble character which go conspicuously adorned his after-life. As Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah, the men of Judah came to support him in his request to Joshua. His privileges and honour would be their honour also. As the representative of Judah in the distribution of the land (cf. Num_34:19), it was the more desirable that Caleb’s grant of Hebron should not seem to be in any measure the outcome of his official position. In Caleb’s petition and its reception we may notice the following things:—
I. Earnest piety linked with a remembrance of God’s gracious words. “Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said.” These two features are each contributive to the other: the man who is truly pious will love to dwell on the words of the Lord, and the man whose memory cherishes Divine words will find them helpful to his piety.
1. God both suffers and encourages us to find a stimulus in the thought of personal reward. For forty-five years Caleb had dwelt with pleasure on “this thing that the Lord said.” The name and the thought of Hebron had become part of his very life. He could never forget these gracious words of the Lord. The wilderness could not hide them. The terrible plagues and judgments could not obliterate them. Every one of his companions above the age of twenty, excepting Joshua, had died since this “thing that the Lord had said” was spoken; let what would die, that lived on fresh as ever. And it is not wrong to dwell with joy on the rewards which God promises to us personally. This may not be the highest motive in service, but men are very human, and God’s kindness meets them where they are. The noble hymn of Francis Xavier is inspiring in its loftiness, but the key in which it is set is not within the reach of every voice, and probably of no voice at all times. It does us good to hear the holy strain:
“My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
Must burn eternally.
Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ,
Should I not love Thee well!
Not for the hope of winning heaven,
Nor of escaping hell;
Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord.”
Some have urged that this is the spirit in which we should always serve the Lord. Perhaps we should; but God is kinder than to reject our work when it proceeds from less exalted motives. “He knoweth our frame.” He makes us great by gentleness. The Saviour even urges us to serve in view of the crown which He promises: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” That was a very noble life from which proceeded the utterance, “The love of Christ constraineth me;” but it was the same life which at another time urged men on with the cry—“So run that ye may obtain.” Caleb did no wrong to treasure up “the thing that the Lord said” touching Hebron; even so the Saviour has no reproach for us when we find ourselves stimulated to service by the thought of the rewards which await us. So far from reproaching us, when Christ is about to depart from among men, He graciously puts among His last words these: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you.” That is the picture upon which the absent Saviour would have His apostles steadfastly look. This humanness of the Lord is very beautiful.
2. The man who is truly pious will equally remember the things which God says touching duties which are to be performed. Caleb had shewed himself ready to remember commands as well as promises. When he rendered such faithful obedience as one of the spies, his obedience was not merely to Moses, but to God who spake through Moses. He “followed the Lord fully.” To the memory of a man really pious, a command is as sacred as a promise. There is a sense in which God’s commands to serve Him are far more precious than even promises. They tell of complete forgiveness in a way in which it can be told by no assurance of pardon and by no promise of reward. When God condescends to give us something to do for Himself, we may well feel that He has quite blotted out our iniquity. Suppose Jonah had only been assured of forgiveness for his sin of fleeing to Tarshish, or that a promise of final salvation had been added to such an assurance. No gracious words in this direction could ever have told of complete pardon as it was told by the mercy which condescended to employ him again. What if another prophet had been sent in Jonah’s place? In that case, it seems to us, that Jonah’s sense of forgiveness could never have been quite satisfactory. The beauty of pardon is seen, not in any promise, but in the commandment which is written in the history: “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” So Peter may have felt a sweet sense of joy as he received that special message to himself to meet the Saviour in Galilee; but Peter’s sense of perfect pardon probably came, ultimately, far more through the commandment in which he was again bidden to do the work of his Master. It was in once more feeding Christ’s sheep and lambs that the sense of complete forgiveness would have entered into the apostle’s life. No mere assurance of pardon could have ever supplied the comfort that must have come through this re-employment. We have only to think of Peter with nothing more to do for Christ, to realize, as far as any one but himself could realize, his utter and lifelong misery. He who neglects precepts for promises is not wise. Caleb shews us how to remember both. “In keeping of Thy commandments there is great reward.”
3. The pious man will treasure up, no less, the commendations of the Lord. These words about “following the Lord fully,” or “wholly,” had also clung to Caleb (Jos_14:9). For forty-five years his memory had cherished them as too precious to be forgotten. Those who think that, in uttering on this occasion such words to Joshua, Caleb “talked of his own virtue in rather loftier terms than becomes a pious and modest man,” utterly overlook the true aspect of the words. God had said them (Num_14:24); that was what made them so dear to Caleb. His artless reiteration of them, taken in this light, so far from being immodest, is simple and beautiful. It is the language of the commended child, recounting gratefully from his heart his Father’s words of praise. How long will the children above remember the heavenly greeting—“Well done, good and faithful servant”!
II. The consciousness of personal faithfulness associated with trust in precious promises. Caleb walked before God with a deep concern to honour God. He had “stilled the people” in their rebellion, as far as possible; and when he could prevail no longer with them, he and Joshua had rent their clothes. He was faithful to the trust which had been reposed in him.
1. The faithful life has the greatest desire for the things which God promises. The life of an upright man will have its tastes in harmony with the things which God has to give.
2. The faithful life best knows the value of God’s promises. The man to whom truth and integrity are dear will know that these are much more sacred to Jehovah.
3. Thus the faithful life will most fully trust the promises. They will be deemed worth remembering not only for forty-five years, but throughout all the years in which such a life is spared. “The thing which the Lord hath said” will seem to be “ordered in all things, and sure.” It will be regarded as sure in days of adversity, no less than in days of prosperity and victory.
III. Godly manliness going with unselfishness and dependence. Caleb’s words have in them a frankness and outspokenness which make them attractive. He did not affect to hide the sin of his brethren; on the other hand, he called it by no harsh name. Here is none of the simpering of a false modesty, neither is there anything of the spirit of fault-finding. And as his words touching his brethren, so are his words concerning himself. He frankly said that he “wholly followed the Lord God” (Jos_14:8). The words are too brief and too matter-of-fact for egotism. A vain man would have made a sermon of what Caleb put into a sentence. Caleb felt that he had honestly sought God’s glory and Israel’s good on the occasion in question, and with a manly freedom from affectation he did not attempt to conceal that. We love him both for that which he said and for that which he did not say. We feel, as we read, that we are reading the speech of a man. The language of Caleb is further relieved from any appearance of a vain and weak egotism, if we remember that he was merely reiterating “the thing that the Lord said.” These words about following the Lord wholly are not Caleb’s words at all, but the words of Jehovah, which had been so thankfully cherished for so long a time. It might have seemed vain to utter thus merely his own judgment; it was but a grateful love to God, and a manly consciousness that this thing was true, which led Caleb thus to repeat the words of God. Over against all this strong and transparent manliness, it is very beautiful to observe Caleb’s unselfishness and childlike dependence. These giant Anakim he was perfectly willing to confront. He did not want a lot where there were no foes. Let others seek such an inheritance if they chose; this was a brave man, and he could fight; this was an unselfish man, and while his brethren fought with men, he, although eighty-five years of age, would fight with giants. So manly was this aged Caleb, and so unselfish. And yet this brave and strong man felt as dependent on his God as a little child on its father. He said: “If so be the Lord will be with me, then shall I be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.” Manly piety is great in its freedom from paltry affectation, great in its unselfishness, but greatest of all in its dependence upon God. Paul said: “When I am weak, then am I strong;” the converse is no less true—when we are strong, then we are weak. It is manhood in its noblest form that leans hardest upon God; and he who leans very much upon God is usually strong in a manhood altogether in advance of the manliness of him who is self-reliant.
IV. Gratitude connected with fidelity and trust (Jos_14:10-11). This man, who had been so strong to follow God, and who was so hale at the age of fourscore and five years, thankfully acknowledged that his vigour had been all of Jehovah. The Lord had kept him alive. His brethren had died in the wilderness; it was of the Lord that he had not died. His brethren had died for sin; Caleb seemed to recognise that it was of the Lord also that he had not sinned as they had done. True greatness and warm gratitude generally go together. It was the “great apostle of the Gentiles” who said so ardently, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
V. A sense of personal fitness united with hope. Caleb’s trust was wholly in the Lord, and yet he well knew that the Lord’s way was to work naturally. It needed a strong man to encounter such foes as these Anakim, and Caleb felt that he was strong, and hoped accordingly. However much faith may rely upon God as the only efficient worker, godly wisdom ever recognises this need of being in harmony with God’s methods. Had Caleb been infirm and feeble, probably not even his faith would have dared to hope for victory over these descendants of giants. While God must be “all in all,” there must also be a consciousness that we are what God can bless. It is thus that a man living in sin cannot dare to hope for salvation. The conscience knows better than to allow that God’s method is to save a man who is deliberately opposing such salvation. There is an unfitness of things which smothers hope at the birth.
VI. Personal worth crowned with permanent rewards.
1. Men reward personal worth. “Joshua blessed him.” Sooner or later, true merit is acknowledged everywhere.
2. God rewards personal worth. As among men, God recognises and honours fidelity and obedience. The Bible is full of such instances.
3. The great reward of the soul’s salvation is ever and only because of the merits of Christ. “My goodness extendeth not to Thee,” said the Psalmist. Our best deeds have much of impurity. In this matter we can rely only on Him “who did no sin.”
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_14:6-7. THE PLEASANT MEMORIES OF THE MAN WHO HAS BEEN FAITHFUL TO HIS GOD.
I. To remember the past is the lot of every man, irrespective of the man’s personal character. From the narrow margin of the time which is present, every man has two broad views which are continually inviting his contemplation. The one lies stretched out before him, the other behind him; one deals with the future, the other with the past. The view before us is made up to a very small extent by penetration based on experience. For the irreligious man it is composed very much more by desire, fancy, and imagination; while for the man who believes in the word of God it is wrought principally by faith. The view behind us is, for the most part, dim and obscure; but here and there, in every life that has reached maturity, there stand up in the distance behind it, clear and well defined as the rugged outline of the mountain, which, though past long since, shews no sign of vanishing, memories which are never forgotten.
And these memories of past life are independent of character. They are involuntary: they come whether men will or will not. Not only does faithful Caleb dwell upon the past, but the unfaithful man must think upon it also.
II. The remembrances of the righteous, while often supplying reasons for shame, afford, nevertheless, occasions for thankfulness and joy. A poet has written to us of “The Pleasures of Hope;” to the man who has been faithful to his God, there come no less powerfully the pleasures of memory. Not only all things, but all time “works together for good” to the man who loves God. Time to come is made bright with hope of grace yet to be given, and time past is illuminated with the light of victories won through mercy already bestowed. How thankfully would Joseph and Daniel and the three Hebrew youths each look back to the place of temptation where God had helped them to come off “more than conquerors.”
1. The remembrances of the righteous are some sorrowful and some gladdening. Caleb had this great triumph in which he had “wholly followed the Lord;” doubtless he had also to think upon many defeats which had to be contemplated with shame. It is thus with the best of men: they have here and there a victory of which to sing, and many failures and overthrows which they are compelled to mourn.
2. The remembrances of the righteous which are encouraging ever stand connected with the name and grace of God. “The Lord sent me” (Jos_14:7). Thus, too, in the next verse, Caleb intimates that the Lord had gone before him, and that he had but “followed” where Jehovah Himself had led.
3. The helpful remembrances of the righteous are made still happier by fraternal fellowship with others who have also been faithful. It did not detract from Caleb’s joy to remember that Joshua had been faithful too, and that he had also been commended by God. It added to the pleasure of this good man to be able to say, “Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee.” The joy of the pious man is not solitary and selfish. The angels sing together. The godly “rejoice with them that do rejoice.”
4. These happier remembrances of the righteous always stand well in accord with a good conscience. “I brought him word again, as it was in mine heart.” When Caleb came back to Moses, he spoke in integrity, and as he felt that he ought to speak. The shout of victory ever goes with the voice of God, and the voice of God goes no less with the teaching of conscience. True, men sometimes sin in ignorance and in unbelief, but, even then, darkness may be only the consequence of a previous abuse of light. He who always follows God with a good conscience, as the word of God is in his heart, will not often stray.
5. The remembrances of the righteous man sometimes contradict intervening seasons of depression. There may have been times when Caleb doubted if he should ever enter upon the promised inheritance. Job was accused of saying, “It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.” To not a few of the godly Jews of Old Testament times, as the Psalms repeatedly bear witness, it seemed a standing problem of difficulty that the ungodly should flourish, while the righteous should be driven to say, “Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain.” Elijah thought that he had served God almost fruitlessly, and that he only was left of those who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It may be that since his fidelity at Kadesh-barnea, some such moments of depression as these had come upon Caleb. If so, how completely would they have stood contradicted now, as he was about to enter upon his long-promised possession. There are hours and days with most of us when our faithful service seems a thing of nought. We are like children upon the sands at the sea-side, building here “a castle” and there “a fort,” which the next tide washes out altogether; so the tides of time wash over our feeble work for men and for God, and seem to obliterate the very marks of our building. We are driven to think our labour as having been “in vain,” and as having no more endurance than the house built upon the sand. But he who works for God, builds on a rock which cannot be shaken. To every faithful heart the day will come when happy memories will contradict entirely the depression sometimes suffered in seasons of adversity.
III. The remembrances of the ungodly will presently serve to make the retrospect of time as saddening as the prospect of eternity. In the pious man, both time and eternity will serve to provoke gladness, while to the wicked, neither the one nor the other can bring any heritage but pain. To such, the past must ever be full of shame and anguish, and the future dark with fear and despair.
Jos_14:8. “CALEB THE MAN FOR THE TIMES.”
It is a rough name that—“Caleb.” Most translators say it signifies “a dog.” But what mattereth a man’s name? Possibly the man himself was somewhat rough: many of the heartiest of men are so. As the unpolished oyster yet beareth within itself the priceless pearl, so ofttimes ruggedness of exterior covereth worth. A dog, moreover, is not all badness, though “without are dogs and sorcerers.” It hath this virtue, that it followeth its master; and therein this Caleb was well named; for never dog so followed his master as Caleb followed his God.… The name, however, has another signification, and we like it rather better; it means “all heart.” Here was a fitting surname for the man whose whole heart followed his God. He says of himself that he brought a report of the land according to all that was in his heart.
I. Caleb’s faithful following of his God. He never went before his God. That is presumption. The highest point to which the true believer ever comes is to walk with God, but never to walk before Him. Caleb followed the Lord; many others do the same, but then they could not win that adverb which is Caleb’s golden medal. He followed the Lord “fully,” says one text; “wholly,” says another. Some of us follow the Lord, but it is a great way off, like Peter, or now and then, as did Saul the king. In explaining this word “wholly,” I shall follow the explanation of good Matthew Henry.
1. Caleb followed the Lord universally, without dividing. Whatever his Master told him to do, he did.
2. Caleb followed the Lord fully, that is, sincerely, without dissembling. He was no hypocrite: he followed the Lord with his whole heart.
3. Caleb followed the Lord wholly, that is, cheerfully, without disputing. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do that which is unpleasant to them, are not His servants at all.
4. Caleb followed the Lord constantly, without declining. He persevered during the forty days of his spyship, and brought back a true report. Forty-five years he lived in the camp of Israel, but all that time he followed the Lord, and never once consorted with murmuring rebels; and when his time came to claim his heritage, at the age of eighty-five, the good old man was following the Lord fully.
II. Caleb’s favoured portion. His life was preserved in the hour of judgment. The ten fell, smitten with the plaguo, but Caleb lived. There be many who seek their life that lose it; and there be some who lose it for Christ’s sake, that find it to life eternal. Caleb was also comforted with a long life of vigour. At eighty-five he was as strong as at forty, and still able to face the giants. Caleb received as his reward great honour among his brethren. He was at least twenty years older than any other man in the camp, except Joshua. Caleb had the distinguished reward of being put upon the hardest service. That is always the lot of the most faithful servant of God. Caleb had the honour of enjoying what he had once seen. He had only seen the land when he said, “We are able to take it.” He lived not only to take it, but to enjoy it for himself. Caleb left a blessing to his children. He had many sons, but he fought for them, and carved out a portion for them all. If there is any man who shall be able to leave his children the blessing of the upper and nether springs, it is the man who follows the Lord fully. If I might envy any man, it would be the believer who from his youth up has walked, through Divine grace, according to his Lord’s commandments, and who is able, when his day comes, to scatter benedictions upon his rising sons and daughters, and leave them with godliness, which hath the blessing of this life and that which is to come.
III. Caleb’s secret character. The Lord said of him, “Because he hath another spirit with him.” He had another spirit—not only a bold, generous, courageous, noble, and heroic spirit, but the spirit and influence of God, which thus raised him above human inquietudes and earthly fears. Therefore he followed the Lord fully.… The real way to make a new life is to receive a new spirit. There must be given us, if we would follow the Lord fully, a new heart, and that new heart must be found at the foot of the cross, where the Holy Spirit works through the bleeding wounds of Jesus. We need the spirit of faith; that spirit which takes God at His word, reads His promise, and knows it to be true. Then a faithful spirit always begets a meek spirit, and a meek spirit always begets a brave spirit. It is said of the wood of the elder tree, that none is softer, but yet it is recorded of old that Venice was built upon piles of the elder tree, because it will never rot; and so the meek-spirited man, who is gentle and patient, lasts on bravely, holding his own against all the attacks of the destroying adversary. The true believer has also a loving spirit, as the result of Jesus’ grace. He has next a zealous spirit, and so he spends and is spent for God; and this begets in him a heavenly spirit, and so he tries to live in heaven, and make earth a heaven to his fellow-men, believing that he shall soon have a heaven for himself and for them too on the other side of the stream. Oh that the Holy Spirit would lead us to go to Jesus just as we are, and look up to Him and beseech Him to fulfil that great covenant promise: “A new heart also will I give them, a right spirit will I put within them.” [Met. Tab. Pulpit.]
Jos_14:9.—“THE PROMISE IS UNTO YOU AND TO YOUR CHILDREN.”
I. The inheritance those who follow God is the inheritance of promise.
II. The inheritance is promised to the man who is faithful, and yet is always by the grace of God.
III. The inheritance is not merely to the faithful follower, but to his children also.
IV. The inheritance, although it may be announced by His servants, is promised by Jehovah Himself, and is thus certain, however long it may be deferred.
Jos_14:10-12.—GRACIOUS KEEPING GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGED.
I. They who live, live by the keeping of God. “None can keep alive his own soul.” “He holdeth our soul in life.” Caleb had been preserved under circumstances common to men in general, and under such as were unusual.
1. He was kept alive, notwithstanding natural liability to decay and death. His physical strength may have been above the average; that strength was the gift of God. He was probably a man whose life owed much to discipline and regular habits; this disposition to a healthy mode of life had been cultivated by his godliness.
2. Caleb had been kept alive through the dangers of the desert and of the war. The danger of famine God had met by the manna and the quails. When thirst threatened to destroy, the Lord had given streams from the rocks. In the various conflicts in the wilderness, Jehovah had shielded this brave soldier, so that “not a single shaft could hit;” and in the battles in the land of Canaan itself, mighty miracles had constantly testified to the care and keeping of God.
3. Caleb had been kept alive when all saving Joshua and himself had died. Every other member of the host who was over the age of twenty at the time when Moses sent out the spies, had passed away in the wilderness. Each of these had died, according to the word of Jehovah. Well might Caleb say, “The Lord hath kept me alive.”
II. They who are kept by God are kept of God’s purpose, and well kept.
1. God does not keep men alive thoughtlessly and in unconcern. “The Lord hath kept me alive, as He said.” He purposes to preserve. Every living sparrow represents something which He has not yet suffered to “fall on the ground,” and which He has not “forgotten.” Every hair of every living head is something which He has “numbered,” and which still has its place in the count of God. But of those whom He protects as fearing and loving Him, it stands specially recorded, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.” Thus, too, it had been already said of Caleb as one of the host of Israel (Deu_32:10).
2. Those whom God keeps are kept perfectly. The wilderness not only fails to consume; it does not even weaken. Many years are equally impotent to work harm. “As I was in the day that Moses sent me,” etc. The dangers of the battle-field had also failed to reach him who was borne in the arms which had made him (cf. Isa_46:4). God had carried His servant even to old age, and nothing had impaired his strength.
III. They who are thus kept by God should reiterate it to the praise of God. “Behold, the Lord hath kept,” etc. Caleb was a monument reared and sustained by the hand of God, and in all that he was at that day, he wished men to read the Divine name and Divine mercy.
1. Caleb illustrates the beauty of gratitude. It is pleasant and comely to see this good man tracing the streams of life, health, and strength to their source.
2. Caleb reminds us of the frequency of ingratitude. It is to be feared that this spirit of thanksgiving is rather exceptional than common. True, there are many hearts which ascribe praise unto God for all which they have received, but what are these among the multitudes who render no thanksgiving whatever? After all, there is only here and there a star in the heavens reflecting back the light given of God; the firmament is mostly made up of clouds and darkness and night.
IV. They who have been long kept by God may well undertake great works in the name of God (Jos_14:12). Gratitude is little without trust. He who thanks sincerely for the past will trust reverently and unquestioningly for the future.
1. Faith has no hesitation because of the magnitude of work which is to be done in the name of God. Giants and walled cities need make no difference to the man who hopes that the Lord will be with him.
2. Faith is as confident in the immediate prospect of such work as in the distant prospect. Compare Caleb’s language in Num_13:30; Num_14:6-9, with the spirit manifested now that the task seemed directly before him. The language of true faith is not merely words; the whole history of the Church of God is thick with the names of men who have also been bold to act.
Jos_14:10-14.—LAUS DEO.
I. Many years of keeping by God, and ardent words of praise to God.
II. Ardent words of praise for the past, and great confidence in view of the difficult future.
III. Great confidence in God for the future, and the future works of faith fully equal to the present words of faith. (Compare Jos_14:12 with chap. Jos_15:14; Jdg_1:9-20.)
IV. Confident faith in God, and gracious rewards from God (Jos_14:13-14 )
1. The recognition of Caleb’s piety by Joshua 2. The possession of Hebron.
Jos_14:12.—DESIRING AND POSSESSING.
I. He who seeks should feel able to possess, and strong to occupy. Many covet lots in life which they can never take, which if they took they would be unable to hold, and which if they succeeded in holding they would never occupy usefully.
II. Ability to possess and occupy is not in itself a sufficient testimony that such occupation would be right. There are many who find their title only in their own power. With them, “right” and “might” are synonymous. They take, as Wordsworth says,
“For why? Because the good old rule
Sufficeth them; the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can.”
Caleb pleads his ability to occupy, but finds, nevertheless, a far higher title than this ere he seeks to do so.
III. He cannot be wrong in his seeking, who is guided by God, nor fail in possessing when he depends upon God. Caleb found his true title to Hebron in the fact that “the Lord spake of it in that day” as his. He found his power to conquer the Anakim in the assurance that the Lord would be with him. He who is thus guided, and thus helped, may well look to come into and occupy wisely a right and good inheritance.
THE ORIGIN OF THE PROMISE TO CALEB
Probably the fears of the ten spies were occasioned more by what they saw at Hebron, than by anything which they witnessed elsewhere in Canaan. In Num_13:22, we are told that they came unto Hebron, and a few verses farther on in the same chapter we have the record of their murmuring, in which, as the burden of their complaint, they are seen crying out about the walled cities and the Anakim. As Hebron is specially mentioned as the abode of the Anakim, the conjecture of Matthew Henry is not unnatural. He says: “We may suppose that Caleb, observing what stress they laid upon the difficulty of conquering Hebron, a city garrisoned by the giants, and how from thence they inferred that the conquest. of the whole land was utterly impracticable; in opposition to their suggestions, and to convince the people that he spake as he thought, he bravely desired to have that city, which they called invincible, assigned to himself for his own portion: ‘I will undertake to deal with that; and if I cannot get it for my inheritance, I will be without it.’ ‘Well,’ saith Moses, ‘it shall be thine own then; win and wear it.’ ”
If the promise of Moses was elicited under some such circumstances as these, we may reasonably suppose that the oath of Moses was confirmed by Jehovah in the conversation which followed, and which is partly recorded in Numbers 14. The allusion to Caleb in Jos_14:14 of that chapter might well be the occasion when the thing which “Moses sware” became also “the thing that the Lord said.”
THE APPROACH TO HEBRON FROM ENGEDI
“With Ziph the more desolate region ended. The valleys now began, at least in our eyes, almost literally to laugh and sing. Greener and greener did they grow—the shrubs, too, shot up above that stunted growth. At last, on the summits of further hills, lines of spreading trees appeared against the sky. Then came ploughed fields and oxen. Lastly, a deep and wide recess opened in the hills—towers and minarets appeared through the gap, which gradually unfolded into the city of ‘the Friend of God’—this is its Arabic name (El Khalil): far up on the right ran a wide and beautiful upland valley, all partitioned into gardens and fields, green fig-trees, and cherry-trees, and the vineyards—famous through all ages; and far off, grey and beautiful as those of Tivoli, swept down the western slope the olive groves of Hebron. Most startling of all was the hum through the air—hitherto ‘that silent air’ which I described during our first encampment, but which had grown familiar as the sounds of London to those who live constantly within their range—the hum, at first, of isolated human voices and the lowing of the cattle, rising up from these various orchards and cornfields, and then a sound, which, to our ears, seemed like that of a mighty multitude, but which was only the united murmur of the population of the little town, which we now entered at its southern end. They had come out to look at some troops which were going off to capture a refractory chief.… High above us on the eastern height of the town—which lies nestled, Italian-like, on the slope of a ravine—rose the long black walls and two stately minarets of that illustrious mosque, one of the four sanctuaries of the Mahometan world, sacred in the eyes of all the world besides, which covers the Cave of Machpelah, the last resting-place of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We passed on by one of those two ancient reservoirs, where King David hanged the murderers of his rival (2Sa_4:12), up a slope of green grass, broken only by tombs and floeks of sheep, to the high gates of the Quaranting, which closed upon us, and where we are now imprisoned for the next three days, but with that glorious view of Hebron before us day and night.” [Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine.]
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
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Caleb Granted Hebron for an Inheritance
Caleb Granted Hebron for an Inheritance
v. 6. Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal, this being the first interruption in the work of distributing the land; and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea, namely, in promising them a possession in the land of Canaan, Num 14:24, for the stand which they took over against the other spies after their return from their scouting expedition. The men presenting this petition were not representatives of the tribe of Judah in general, but only of the house of fathers out of that tribe which bore the name of Kenaz, a descendant of Hezron.
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v. 7. Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea, where Israel was then encamped, to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart, with a bold and confident spirit, which was not easily discouraged like that of the rest of the spies.
v. 8. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, the other spies discouraged the children of Israel by their unfavorable attitude; but I wholly followed the Lord, my God, rendered Him unconditional, cheerful obedience.
v. 9. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance and thy children’s forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord, my God. This account supplements that given Numbers 14, for it can be understood only of a direct promise made to Caleb, with special reference to Hebron and its vicinity, where the giants lived who had so terrified the other spies.
v. 10. and now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as He said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old, having thus been fully thirty-eight at the time of the departure from Egypt. In order to establish his claim, Caleb now mentions another factor.
v. 11. 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. He was as yet unaffected by the weakness of old age and was able to hold his own in battle even with the young men of the army.
v. 12. Now, therefore, give me this mountain whereof the Lord spake in that day, the mountainous region of Hebron; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, the giants who had filled the hearts of the scouts with fear, and that the cities were great and fenced, strongly fortified; if so be the Lord will be with me, that is his sincere wish and prayer, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. Since Joshua had not garrisoned these cities after his conquest of them, the Anakim had returned and built them again.
v. 13. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance, this city being named as the capital to which the entire neighborhood down to Debir belonged.
v. 14. Hebron, therefore, became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite, unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel, having trusted faithfully in the almighty power of Jehovah.
v. 15. And the name of Hebron before, when it was first founded, was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakim, the most renowned of their tribe. And the land had rest from war, affairs were now in such a condition that the division and the occupation of the country by Israel could continue. Those who are firm in tribulation and loyal to the Lord grow in His power, ever renewing and increasing their strength and receiving His blessings in rich measure.
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 This is a man's name. (See: How to Translate…
Jephunneh
This is a man's name. (See: How to Translate Names)
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Kenizzite
This is the name of a people group. (See: How to Translate Names)
I brought him a report again as it was in my heart to make
Here the word "heart" represents the thoughts. The phrase is an idiom that refers to a report that is given honestly. AT: "I brought back to him an honest report" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
tribe
Judah
Gilgal
Caleb
Moses
Kadesh
servant
report
heart
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 14:6 The Kenizzite people were not originally Israelites (Gen…
14:6 The Kenizzite people were not originally Israelites (Gen 15:19); how they became attached to Judah is unknown. • about you and me: Only Caleb and Joshua were faithful to God at the first opportunity to enter the land, so God promised them that they would possess it (Num 14:24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.