Beginning of the End: Caleb Asks for the Most Difficult Place

 Caleb and Joshua were the only ones among the original twelve spies who had brought a good report of the Land of Promise, encouraging the people to go up and take it in the name of the Lord. Caleb now reminded Joshua of the promise then made, as the reward of his faithfulness: “Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord.” He therefore requested that Hebron be given him as his territory. This had been the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and here, in the cave of Machpelah, they were buried.

Hebron was the headquarters of the dreaded Anakim, whose impressive appearance had terrified the spies and destroyed the courage of all Israel. This was the place that Caleb, trusting in the strength of God, chose for his inheritance.

“Behold, the Lord has kept me alive,” he said, “these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses ...; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

His claim was immediately granted. “Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance,” “because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.” Caleb had believed God’s promise that He would give His people possession of Canaan. He had endured the long wandering in the wilderness, sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty. Yet he did not complain, but praised the mercy of God that preserved him in the wilderness when his fellow Israelites were claimed by death. He did not ask for a land already conquered, but the place that, more than all others, the spies had thought impossible to subdue. The brave old warrior wanted to give the people an example that would honor God and encourage the tribes to conquer the land that the earlier generation had considered unconquerable.

Trusting in God to be with him, he “drove out the three sons of Anak.” Then, having secured the land for himself and his family, he did not settle down to enjoy his inheritance but pushed on to further conquests for the benefit of the nation and the glory of God.

The cowards and rebels had perished in the wilderness, but the righteous spies ate the grapes of Eshcol.1                                                                                                                                                   Those who did not believe had seen their fears fulfilled—they had declared it impossible to inherit Canaan, and they did not possess it. But those who trusted in the strength of their Almighty Helper entered the beautiful land. Through faith the ancient faithful ones “subdued kingdoms, ... escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (Hebrews 11:33, 34; 1 John 5:4).

Another claim revealed a spirit very different from Caleb’s. The children of Joseph, the tribe of Ephraim with the half tribe of Manasseh, demanded a double amount of territory. The area designated for them was the richest in the land, including the fertile plain of Sharon, but many of the main towns in the valley were still held by the Canaanites, and the tribes didn’t want the struggle and danger of conquering their inheritance, and wanted an additional portion in territory that was already conquered. The tribe of Ephraim was one of the largest in Israel, as well as the one to which Joshua himself belonged. “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit,” they said, “since we are a great people?”

But the firm leader’s answer was, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.”

Their reply showed the real reason of their complaining. They lacked faith and courage to drive out the Canaanites. “The mountain country is not enough for us,” they said, “and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron.”

If the Ephraimites had had the courage and faith of Caleb, no enemy could have stood in their way. Joshua firmly confronted their desire to avoid hardship and danger: “You are a great people and have great power,” he said; “you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.” With the help of God they did not need to be afraid of the chariots of iron.

Now the tabernacle was to be taken from Gilgal to its permanent location, Shiloh, a little town in Ephraim near the center of the land, and easy for all the tribes to reach. A part of the country in this area had been thoroughly conquered, so the worshipers would not be attacked. “Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there.”

The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years until, because of  the sins of Eli’s family, it was captured by the Philistines.