- 69-
- It seems that before the first lot was drawn in the camp at Gilgal, Caleb, the son of
Jephunneh, came forward with a special claim. It will be remembered, that of the twelve
princes sent from Kadesh only he and Joshua had brought "a good report of the land," in
the spiritual sense of the expression, as encouraging the people to go forward. And
when the Divine sentence doomed that rebellious generation to death in the wilderness,
Caleb and Joshua alone were excepted. Strictly speaking, no more than this might have
been implied in the promise by Moses, now claimed by Caleb: "Surely the land
whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance" (Joshua 14:9), since to have
survived was to obtain the inheritance.^136
But there seems to have been more than merely a promise of survival, although it alone
is mentioned in Numbers 14:24, 30. For we infer from the words and the attitude of
Caleb, and from the similar privileges afterwards accorded to Joshua (19:49, 50), that
Moses had, by direction of the Lord, given these two a right of special and personal
choice. This on account of their exceptional faithfulness, and as the sole survivors of the
generation to whom the land had been given. It was as if the surviving proprietors might
choose their portion,^137 before those who, so to speak, were only next of kin had theirs
allotted to them. Of this Caleb now reminds Joshua, and in words of such vigorous
faith, as make us love still better the tried old warrior of Jehovah. Appearing at the head
of "the house of fathers," in Judah, of which he was the head,^138 he first refers to the
past, then owns God's faithfulness in having preserved him to the age of eighty-five,
with strength and courage undiminished for the holy war.
From 14:9 we infer that, when the twelve spies distributed themselves singly over the
land, for the purposes of their mission, Caleb specially "searched" that "mountain,"
which was the favorite haunt of the dreaded Anakim. If this be so, we discover a special
meaning and special faith on the part of Caleb, when he, rather than Joshua, attempted
to "still the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once" (Numbers 13:30). In
that case there was also special suitableness in the Divine bestowal made then and there:
"Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance" (Joshua 14:9,
12).
But even if otherwise, the courage and faith of the old warrior shine only the more
brightly, as, recalling the terror formerly inspired by the Anakim and the strength of
their cities, he claims that very portion for his own. Yet his courage bears no trace of
self-sufficiency,^139 only of believing dependence upon the Lord. "If so be Jehovah will
be with me, and I shall drive them out" (ver. 12).
The claim thus made was immediately acknowledged, Joshua adding his blessing on
Caleb's proposed undertaking. But it was some time later that the expedition was
(^)