Caleb

MEMORY VERSE: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” —Philippians 4:13

NUMBERS 13:30-32; JOSHUA 14:6-12

CALEB was a ruler in the tribe of Judah, and was noted for his faith in God’s promises. (Num. 13:6) He was selected by Moses as one of the twelve representatives of the Israelites who were commissioned to enter Canaan as spies. This was by the instruction of the Lord. Surprisingly enough, ten of the spies brought back the report that it would be impossible for the Israelites to conquer the Canaanites, and they advised against trying. But two of them—Caleb and Joshua—reported differently. They wholly followed the Lord, and put their trust completely in him. As Paul wrote in our memory text many hundreds of years later, they knew that with the Lord’s help they could accomplish anything which it was his will for them to accomplish.

The people of Israel became excited upon hearing the majority report of the spies, but “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”—Num. 13:30-33

The Israelites were in a difficult position. They had followed Moses into the wilderness with the expectation that they would soon be dwelling in Canaan, the Promised Land. But now a majority of their representatives reported that it would be impossible to enter Canaan and conquer its inhabitants. What would they do? The difficulty was their lack of faith in their God, who had appointed Moses to be their leader and deliverer.

Through the leadership of Moses, the Israelites had already witnessed a number of outstanding miracles. They should have known that their God could help them conquer the Canaanites, but their faith failed them. They rebelled against Moses, and came close to stoning Joshua and Caleb to death because they had reported that with the Lord’s help Canaan could be occupied. The Lord then said to Moses, “How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.”—Num. 14:11,12

Moses talked with the Lord about this, and asked his forgiveness of the Israelites. The Lord answered Moses, saying, “Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.”—vss. 22,23

But the Lord promised Caleb that he would receive an inheritance in Canaan. About five years after the Israelites entered the land under the leadership of Joshua, Caleb reminded him of the promise which the Lord had made to him forty-five years earlier, when he was forty years old. Moses’ promise to Caleb was, “Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inhertance, and thy children’s forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God.”—Joshua 14:9

Joshua complied with this promise to Caleb, but of course it still remained for him to conquer the Canaanites who dwelt in his portion of the land. But, as he told Joshua, he was still strong and healthy, and ready for the undertaking. The Lord had wonderfully blessed him because of his faithfulness.

QUESTIONS

Who was Caleb, and for what is he noted in the Scriptures?

What was the result upon Israel of accepting the majority report of the spies?

Did Caleb receive the special reward for his faithfulness which the Lord had promised him?

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