O Lord, I wonder if we have really thought about the words we just sang, Your blood has washed away my sin, Father’s wrath completely satisfied, once we were Your enemies and now we have been seated at Your table, Jesus, thank You. We give thanks for so great a salvation, for this indescribable gift. May we never grow tired, may we never grow weary, may we never grow complacent in view of such good news. Now we ask, as we come to Your Word, that You would send out Your light and Your truth, O Lord. Let them lead us. May they bring us to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling place. Speak, O Lord, and give us ears to hear. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please turn in your Bibles to Joshua, chapters 13 and 14, page 188 and 189 in the pew Bibles in front of you. Please do open your Bible, or some of you have a device and you can look at it that way. But you’re already here, not going anywhere I trust, so you might as well open up your Bible, might as well look at it, as we try to understand what God’s Word has to say to us today.
Let me remind you where we are, where we’ve been, in this book. Joshua 1 through 12 is the conquest, break it up into some other discrete parts and different aspects of the conquest, but the first half of the book Joshua leading the people through various battles into the Promised Land, conquering and so they can truly say, though as we’ll see in a moment, it’s not all been completely conquered, they can truly say that the land is at rest and they are now inhabitants of the land. That’s chapters 1 through 12.
Now we turn the page into the second half of the book. Chapters 13 through 21 are the division of the land. Chapters 22, 23, and 24 at the end are covenant renewal and wrap-up, but the major section here in this second half is the division of the land. Let’s be honest, even for the most zealous Bible reader among us, these are hard chapters to read through a lot of names and places that don’t make a lot of immediate sense to us.
But just remember – as dull as this can seem, and I hope after these weeks together they won’t be dull any longer – but as dull as it can seem at first, just remember how attuned you would be if this was the description of your inheritance. If someone was reading out the will of a very wealthy, rich grandparent, and God is the richest of them, decreeing to each one your allotment, where you are to live, what you are to inherit. So surely they did not receive this as dry and dull.
Let me remind you there are 12 tribes. These were the 12 sons of Jacob – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, then Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. So 12 sons of different women, but the 12 sons of Jacob. But remember, Levi is going to be the priestly clan, so he’s not going to get his own allotment of land but rather various cities and pasturelands, and that makes sense because you need Levites nearby to help you with the worship of God, you need Levites scattered throughout. So they don’t get their own territory, they get various cities.
So that means there’s 11 tribes. So where does the 12th tribe come in? Well, that’s Joseph, instead of just Joseph, the tribes are to his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Reuben was the firstborn, and given in that culture, the firstborn should have received the promise and the blessing and a double portion of God’s provision, but Reuben sinned by sleeping with his father’s concubine.
So you can think about the promise and the blessing, both of which were to go to Reuben are then split so that the promise goes to Judah. You might think of it as the blessing going to Joseph, or in this case, his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. And what we’ll see in these chapters over the next couple of weeks is that most of the allotment, at least in terms of verses, is detailed with respect to Judah and then to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The land division is going to focus on them because Judah received the promise, Joseph received the blessing.
What we have here, look at chapter 13. You all have your Bible open so you can see this. Chapter 13, first land still to be conquered, and then the inheritance east of the Jordan. So this is technically not Canaan but for two and a half tribes, they already received from Moses in Numbers 32their allotment. So they’re coming across from east to west across the Jordan, and two and a half tribes said, “Well, this looks like really good land,” and Moses said, “Okay, the Lord has given you permission. You can have this land, not technically Canaan, on the other side of the Jordan so long as you send your fighting men to conquer the land. You can’t get out of this business of fighting and conquering the land.” So two and a half tribes over there, that means that are nine and a half tribes that are yet to receive their allotment.
Now just look quickly at what we have in these chapters. We’re actually just going to read chapter 14. So 13 is reminding us of the allotment from the east side of the Jordan, Moses already did that in Numbers, but here it is reviewed. Then chapter 14 we’re going to be introduced, or reintroduced, to Caleb. More on that in a moment. Caleb is going to be held out as an example of what God’s people are supposed to do as they have taken possession of the land and yet there are still some people to drive out. So chapter 14, Caleb as an example.
Then turning the page you can see the allotment for Judah in chapter 15. Then you look over 16, the allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh, that goes two whole chapters. So I told you three chapters for Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh, and then you look at chapter 18, allotment of the remaining land and you can go through and if you tick off in your head the other seven tribes, the inheritance for Benjamin, inheritance for Simeon, chapter 19, then Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and then Dan.
Chapter 20. You can see the heading “cities of refuge.” These were certain cities that were designated as a part of their judicial system that you could go if you, especially if you, someone thought you were guilty of murder and they were going to avenge the blood that they thought you were guilty of, you could go to a city of refuge where you would be safe and await the Lord’s verdict.
Then chapter 21, the cities for the Levites.
So that’s what we have here in these chapters, 13 through 21. It really makes a lot of sense. It’s quite orderly. You might even say it’s Presbyterian in how orderly it lays it out from tribe to tribe, city to city.
Now go back. That’s the lay of the land, pun intended. Now go back to chapter 14. Let’s read in particular this story about Caleb. Chapter 14.
“These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes.”
Now just pause right there. We don’t usually make decisions based on drawing lots unless you’ve got to flip a coin for overtime or something, but they understood this is how God was going to direct them at this moment in redemptive history, that this was not something Moses had devised, this was not Joshua’s plan, this comes directly from God so you can’t complain to your leaders. This is God telling you where you’re going to live.
Verse 3.
“For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance. The people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.”
Now we come to our theme for this morning, this wonderful story of Caleb. I know there are some men named Caleb in this congregation. You should be very honored and you have a lot to live up to.
Verse 6.
“Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old 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. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.””
You ready for this, 85-year-olds?
“I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.””
“Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.”
This is such a great story. I love Caleb. I love this story. I love what this story has to teach us. Many of us are familiar with the other story that’s alluded here, the story of Caleb in Numbers 13 and 14. We’ll say more about that in just a moment. But this story is just as good and maybe even better, and this story is here to present Caleb as a positive example for God’s people in the Promised Land.
When you’re reading your Bible, before you jump to ask the question, “What does this mean to me?”, before you start thinking, “Where am I in this text?”, even before you start to ask, “Where is Jesus in this text?”, those are good things to look for, before all that, especially some of these narrative texts, you want to step back and say, “Well, what is this doing in the purpose in this section in this book? Why is this here?”
I think it’s pretty clear that this is here to present Caleb as a positive example for God’s people in the Promised Land. Why do I say that? Well, because it’s leading off this whole section. Chapter 13 is recapping the eastern lands, now we’re coming to the division of Canaan proper. So there’s a reason that the author is starting with Caleb.
There’s also, as we’ll see in the next couple of weeks, there’s a contrast with Ephraim and Manasseh, that the way in which the land is allotted for those tribes of Joseph and this man from Judah, there’s going to be a difference.
Also, look at the very last verse we just looked at, verse 15: “And the land had rest from war.” This is the same exact line we had at the end of chapter 11. Chapter 11:23 – “And the land had rest from war.” So that was the end of the conquest and now here again this is telling us if you want to have the rest that God means for you in the Promised Land, if you want that, you ought to do what Caleb did. Caleb is the positive example to drive out the remaining people in the land so that the land can be at rest.
Also notice something. This is the beginning of the allotment of the Promised Land and it starts with Caleb. Now keep your finger there and flip over to the end of chapter 19. Did you just notice a few minutes ago when we zipped over this section, do you see the very last person whose inheritance is mentioned? Well, it’s not by accident. Verse 49, we have the inheritance for Joshua.
You remember the two spies, only two spies Caleb and Joshua, who came back and gave a good report and said, “We can take this land.” Only Caleb and Joshua have remained from that original generation with Moses.
So we’re meant to see her again bookending this division of the land, we’re going to start with Caleb, we’re going to end with Joshua. These were the two faithful men.
Then as if this wasn’t all obvious enough, notice three times in this passage. Go back to chapter 14. Three times we are told just what sort of man Caleb is. Look at verse 8, the end of verse 8: “Yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.” End of verse 9: “Because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.” Then again verse 14: “Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.” It’s right there for all of us to see. Three times it’s given this designation that Caleb is a man who wholly followed the Lord. So he is being held up as a positive example.
Now most immediately it’s for these tribes that they were supposed to look at what Caleb did, that’s what they should have done, though many of them didn’t, but it’s also an example for us. Here is what it looks like as disciples to wholly follow the Lord.
So what makes Caleb, in chapter 14, such a compelling figure? What made him such a great example for the Israelites in the Promised Land? Why is he still someone worth imitating today?
Two reasons. His waiting and his fighting.
So first. He waited on the promises of God. Second, he fought for the Lord based on those promises. That’s what we see here in chapter 14, these two things, which applied to them and apply to us. Caleb is a great example because of his waiting and because of his fighting.
So number one – Caleb waited on the promises of God.
So many of you have heard this story before – if not, that’s okay, you can learn it here this morning – that when Israel was meant to enter the Promised Land Moses sent out 12 spies, one from each of the tribes. The Lord said go up into the Negeb, that’s the southern part of Israel, because they’re coming from Egypt, which is in the south, so go up through the south into the hill country. They spied out the land and in Numbers 13:22 it says, “They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron.”
Remember that? Hebron. That’s where they went, the hill country. Why did they go to the hill country? Because you can look down into the valley. You can see out into the expanse and you can get a good view of the Promised Land there up in the sort of south central region, up in Hebron.
So they went up there and it says they came to Hebron and then they saw the Anakim. Now this verse here at the end of Joshua 14 reminds us, in case we’ve forgotten, who are the Anakim? The Anakim were the giants in the land. The name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba, Arba being the greatest man. So it used to have this ancient name named after these giants. So the spies, after 40 days, come back and 10 of the 12 spies say it’s amazing, the land is flowing with milk and honey, the fruit of the land is tremendous.
I remember all my years in Sunday school just seeing these pictures of these men in sort of like loincloths, just carrying a bushel of grapes that were like ginormous grapes, that they brought back from the Promised Land.
But 10 of the spies said the cities are fortified, the people up there are massive, we can’t do it. But we read Caleb quieted the people. So Caleb said, “Hush, hush, hush. You of little faith. Look, we’re able to overcome them. God is with us. We can do it.” But you know the story – the people rebelled. Their hearts melted. They refused to enter the Promised Land and God punished them by wandering for 40 years.
Now it had taken them about two years to get to that point, so they probably wandered another 38 years, which is why we said several weeks ago that this conquest probably took about seven years, because Caleb says here he’s been waiting 45 years. So 38 years of wandering, seven years of conquest, now 45 years. He went out as a spy at 40 years old, now he is 85 years old.
You might have thought that at the end of Numbers 14 that was the last we would hear of Caleb. What a great story. In fact, when we tell the story of Caleb, that’s usually all we say about him, is he was one of the two faithfully spies who said we can go inherit the land. We forget about here in Joshua 14 and 15 the rest of the story.
So Joshua and Caleb are having this conversation here at the beginning of chapter 14. He says, “Now, Josh, can I call you Josh?” “Sure.” “You remember what Mo,” maybe, probably not, “Moses told us? You remember? Both of us. We were there. And specifically, Joshua, you remember the Lord said that this land on which we were standing would one day be mine?”
And sure enough, that was the promise, Numbers 14:24, here it is: “But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land in which he went and his descendants shall possess it.” So there, back in Numbers 14, the Lord said, “Here’s Caleb. He has a different spirit.”
Just incidentally, I wonder whether it could be said of us, as you live and breathe and have your being in a fallen world, do people look and say, “Well, that one, he has a different spirit”? We don’t like to stand out, but we should.
Caleb had a different spirit. He was not cut from the same cloth of those other 10 cowardly, rebellious spies, so the Lord promised one day this land on which you are standing I will give it to you, and that was 45 years earlier. He had been there in the hill country, standing on Hebron, waiting all those years for Hebron.
Do you remember how important Hebron is? Why is that the place that for 45 years, okay, it’s the place where he stood and he looked out, but it’s more than that. Genesis 13 – it’s the place where Abram stood after he parts ways with Lot, there at Hebron, and it says in Genesis 13 he settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. That’s where Abram lived.
Then in Genesis 23. Sarah died and Abram does this whole bargaining, he says, “No, no, I’m going to pay you a fair price,” and he buries Sarah in the cave of Machpelah, which is there in Hebron.
Genesis 25. Abram is buried at Hebron. Later in Genesis we find Isaac and Jacob are buried at Hebron. Rebekah and Leah are buried at Hebron. This is the place.
It’s a little like Princeton Cemetery if you’re a Presbyterian. You know who’s buried there? Archibald Alexander, Samuel Davies, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, B. B. Warfield, John Witherspoon. If you’re a Presbyterian, make plans to be there on Resurrection Day. Whoo, that’s the place to be.
Hebron. That’s where we saw the Promised Land, that’s where we stood, Joshua, with our own two feet. That’s where Abram made his home, that’s where Abraham is buried, and Sarah and the patriarchs and the matriarchs. There. Give me Hebron.
At this point in Israel’s history, there is no Jerusalem to speak of yet. Hebron may be the most hallowed ground in all of Canaan, and Caleb has been waiting 45 years. That’s a long time. It was only a couple of years ago that I passed over. I’m now 47. What have I been waiting for since I’m 2 years old? Can’t remember. The next number of years it’ll probably still be waiting for the Bears to have their next Super Bowl victory, that’s when I was in third grade so that’s coming up on 40 years.
45 years is a long time to wait. Caleb is an example of waiting, hoping, trusting, depending on the promises of God. That’s a long time, some of you have been waiting four and a half decades.
George Mueller prayed for decades for five friends to be converted, and we’re told that the last of those five friends was converted some 50 years after Mueller started praying. He had died once the final one was converted, but he put those five men down and he prayed them into the kingdom.
It’s hard to wait. It’s one of the things I’m very bad at, so are many of you. Waiting.
We don’t know what God has promised. He may not give us these specific promises, but there are lots of great and glorious promises in the Bible. Promises that God will not leave us or forsake us. Promises that He will be a good Father to us all our days. So brothers and sisters, God is not going to waste your pain. If you feel like you’re in the wilderness this morning, He will put those years of wilderness wandering to good use.
Isn’t it the case, suffering always hurts, but what makes suffering feel unbearable and difficult is to think that there’s nothing in it. It’s random. It’s pointless. Like maybe God has forgotten you, that there’s no purpose in it.
Well, Caleb believed all of those years and now he’s coming to Joshua 45 years later. I don’t know. Did Caleb have some moments where he wondered if this day was ever going to come? Maybe. But now he stands before Joshua and he says, “It’s time. Give me Hebron.” How could he do it?
Well, it’s the same thing that he did when he was a younger man at 40. Caleb always had his eyes on God. Not that he was blind to the challenges, it’s not that when they looked out at the Promised Land that Caleb covered his eyes and he says, “I don’t know. I don’t see Anakim.” No, he saw them, but he saw God. The other 10 spies kept their eyes only on the problems, only on the obstacles, only on what they should be afraid of and they took their eyes off of God.
Caleb as a younger man, Caleb now as an older man, same thing. Yes, those giants are big; God is bigger. Yes, they’re strong; God is stronger. So he waited all these years, believing that God would give him Hebron.
Number two. So waiting, and fighting. Caleb fought for the Lord based on those promises. See, it’s not that Caleb said, “All right. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Ready to get my inheritance.” No, he’s held out here as an example because there was still some fighting left to do. Now we have to understand, we’ve already seen in chapter 10 and chapter 11 Hebron is one of those cities and regions that has already been detailed has having been conquered so he doesn’t have to go and redo the conquest.
We’ve been told that the Anakim had mostly been driven from the land, in chapter 11:22, so this is the problem that the Israelites find themselves. Enough has happened that they’ve conquered all these lands and these regions that it can accurately be said that they inhabit the land, the land is at rest, and yet there are still battles to be fought, still some of the old people to cleanse out. If it’s not being too spiritual, you might say that redemption, justification has taken place and there is yet sanctification. There is some hard work left to cleanse out the old man.
Go back to chapter 13. Look at verse 2 – This is the land that yet remains, all the regions of the Philistines and the Geshurites. It’s counted as Canaanites, it lists the land there belonging to the Philistines. Or if you go further to verse 13, “yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.”
Verse 13 is sadly the story of many of our lives. It seemed probably like a small thing at the time. It’s just given a little, by-the-way footnote almost, “and they didn’t drive out all the people of the land.” The Israelites might have thought, “hey, we got the land, we’re doing great, we didn’t get them all out but it’s ours.” If you know the rest of the Old Testament, you know this will be their problem for another 1000+ years as these people lead them into idolatry and are the cause of them being covenant breakers. Right there, verse 13, seemed like a little area of compromise. Do you have that in your life? Just a little area of compromise? Just a small area of disobedience? You figure we’re still going great. When that multiplies, when compound interest comes on that disobedience, it can mean our downfall.
So Caleb understands that there is fighting, that Hebron still is home apparently to some giants. That’s why we’re given the ancient name at the end of verse, chapter 14, Kiriath-arba, the land of Arba. Arba is the greatest man among the Anakim. It’s too bad his name was not Kiriath-andre for he could have been Andre the Giant. That would have been easy to remember.
There are still giants. In chapter 15, Lord willing next week, we’ll see what Caleb does to drive out by God’s grace these remaining heroes in the land.
But go back to chapter 14 and look at verse 12 in particular. This is an amazingly request. He says, “So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive the out just as the Lord said.”
This is Caleb, 85 years old. Now let’s do a little math. Joshua is going to live to be 110, so the Lord’s giving people longer life than we’re used to, so let’s say at 85 that Caleb is coming into the last quarter of his life. So just to make it a little bit more managed, maybe for us this is Caleb is in his 60s.
Won’t ask you if you are in your early 60s, but this is the story for you. I told my wife Caleb is the patron saint of middle-aged men. He is. You’re not young. I still am DeYoung, ha ha ha, but I’m not young. I’m like Steve Martin; I’ve had gray hair forever, I’ve always looked, so I’m not, no one says, “Are you a college student?” No, that hasn’t happened for a long time.
So you know you’re not the young person in the room, usually. You’ve seen some things. You’ve been around the block. You’ve got some experience. But you still have some energy. Still got some zest and you say to the Lord, “What would you have me do?” Maybe this text is here to help some wives understand their husbands, not that the wives, you can also give this Caleb speech, it’s good for you, too, but in particular it may be for men at times. I know all the stereotypes, you get your car or your motorcycle, or worse things.
Caleb says, “By God’s grace I still have strength.” Now, listen, most of everyone when you get to be 85, you’ve slowed down. It’s just how it happens. So we’re all going to have a time, if you live long enough, you’re going to slow down, you’re not going to be able to do everything you once did, so this passage is not here to reverse the natural effects of aging. There always comes a time, if the Lord gives us long enough life, that we have to slow down and we can’t do everything we once did.
But here’s Caleb. Maybe he’s in his early 60s by our reckoning and he says, “God has given me a wonder of wonders. I’ve still got energy. I still feel strong. I’ve still got ideas. So would you send me into the hill country. Send me up there to Hebron.”
If anyone could have rested on his laurels, surely it was Caleb. I mean, he must be a living legend by now. He’s one of two faithful spies. He’s almost, along with Joshua, the only one left from that originally generation. It was the punishment of everyone else, you have to die. Only he and Joshua, maybe if the Lord spared their families with them, who could say, “You remember when?” Only Caleb and Joshua could have that nostalgia. Remember when Moses…? Oh, yeah, we were there. Remember when he did… Remember when we walked through the Red Sea… Oh, I remember that. Just a couple of old guys at the coffee shop, just sharing their war stories. But they had them and they were good stories.
Caleb must have been a living legend. Surely this was the time to sit back and enjoy his reward. But no. He says, “Joshua, I’m ready to keep fighting.” Not fighting for the sake of fighting, but to finish the work the Lord had given him to accomplish. He says, “I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’m sharp. I’m not ready to slow down yet. Let me take that hill.”
If you have strength, whatever age you are today, if you have energy, if the Lord has blessed you with good health, and I know that it is the experience of many with old age and sometimes sadly in younger age, that our health deteriorates and we can only do what our bodies allow us to do. But in so far as you have strength, would this be your prayer? Would you have the spirit of a Caleb?
You may retire from your current vocation. You may move to be near kids and grandkids. But so long as there still are giants in the land, you do not get to retire from the fight. If you think, “Surely, I could not be strong enough to pick up a sword and go into battle,” that may be so but you could pick up the sword of the Spirit. You know things and you’ve learned things. The goal, friends, is not to hit your 60s with enough in the bank so you can golf for 20 years.
Easy for me say, I don’t like golfing. Run for 20 years. Hobbies, good. Outside, good. What did Mark Twain say? Golf is a long walk spoiled.
So, fine. But that’s not the purpose of your life. That’s not what God gives to you.
As I said, he may be the patron saint of middle-aged men and women as they come to the second half of their life, or maybe to the last quarter of their life, and they say, “Give me some Anakim to fight.” If I can throw in an obligatory Lord of the Rings reference, it may be Frodo or Bilbo in the Shire saying is there yet an adventure. Where’s Smaug? Send me in the mines of Moria, send me to Mount Doom.
Caleb is ready to fight the fight of faith to finish the work that the Lord had given to him. That’s why he’s an example for the Israelites in their day and for each of us in our day. Waiting and fighting. And I bet for most of us, one of those is harder than the other.
Waiting. Okay, I’ll keep waiting. God, you’re going to do it and the fighting seems scarier. Or there’s a lot of us just the opposite. Tell me where to do, I want to fight, fight, fight. But the waiting is hard. Both of these, when to wait and when to fight.
I want you to notice one last thing about Caleb, one last thing, because we’ve been talking about God’s grace at work through Caleb, but I want you to notice it was also God’s grace that Caleb was in this position in the first place. So notice what is said as a kind of formal, legal declaration at the beginning and the end of this section. Verse 6: “And Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him,” that’s how he’s introduced. And then in the very end, almost legal stipulation, verse 14: “Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite.”
Why is that important? Who were the Kenizzites?
Let me read to you from Genesis 15. This is way back when God makes the covenant with Abram, the smoking firepot and the dream, and then He says, “To your offspring I give this land.” This is God speaking to Abram, making the promise fulfilled all these hundreds of years later. He says, “To your offspring I give this land,” looking out at the Promised Land, “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
Do you see that? The Kenizzites were originally people of that land. Caleb does not come by blood from an Israelite family. Jephunneh was a Kenizzite. Now we’re not told when this happened because clearly when he’s sent out as a spy, he’s sent out as a representative of Judah, and here he is leading the way, he is of the tribe of Judah, so clearly by the time we get to Caleb’s life, he’s fully enveloped, and he is a part of the clan of Judah.
But somewhere in his family history it traces back the Kenizzites, and who are the Kenizzites? They were just like the Girgashites and the Hittites and all the rest. They were people of the land. This was a Canaanite lineage.
Think of the famous people in the book of Joshua. Okay, set aside Joshua. He’s the namesake. We got it. But if you were to think of other famous people in the book of Joshua who are given names, you might think of Achan, well, that’s a bad example, he stole the devoted things, but the good examples. If you were to think of named people in Joshua who are good examples, probably comes to your mind Rahab, Caleb, and then maybe if you think about a group of people who are named and famous is the Gibeonites. Rahab, Caleb, the Gibeonites. None of them were by ethnic heritage Israelites. Not originally.
Do you see what God is doing in this story which is so much conquest, conquest, conquest. He is highlighting these pillars all throughout the book. It started with Rahab. We saw how her family was able to be saved. The Gibeonites, even through their deception, God was merciful and He included them among God’s people, and now we see just this tantalizing little hint. We don’t know how it happened, but at some point the Kenizzites were brought near and folded into the people of God. They were all outsiders who have come to be included in the family of God.
So if you are hear this morning, hearing about Caleb this great man of faith and his waiting and his fighting, and you think, “I don’t even know if I’m a Christian, I don’t know anything about God. I’m not any sort of courageous leader among God’s people.” Well, Caleb’s family did not start out that way either. They didn’t even start out belonging to God’s people. But Jesus has made a way for anyone and everyone to join God’s family by faith.
It’s the same way that the Kenizzites must have come and said, “We believe in Yahweh the God of Israel.” And Jephunneh came in or his father or grandfather came in so that now Caleb is counted as much of a Jew as anyone. We who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So Caleb is here as an example for God’s people. Three times we saw he wholly followed the Lord. He believed the promises of God. It’s not enough just to say you believe the promises of God and you’re waiting for the promises of God, he acted upon the promises of God and then perhaps the best news of all, he himself had been brought near by the promises of God.
So it can be for each one of you.
Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank You for this story, this great story of Caleb. Give us Your Holy Spirit for we have what Caleb did not have, we have the Spirit in fullness. We can see more of the Promised Land than Caleb did because we have the Scriptures fulfilled, written down. We know Jesus and the cross. So lead us, help us to be men and women of faith in the first half of our life, in the second half of our life, when we come to the last quarter of our life, help us to run the race and keep fighting the fight. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.