Reflections on Joshua 14

Joshua 14 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Nine and a half tribes still did not have any land, although two and a half tribes had already received land east of the Jordan River. Moses had divided that land among them, and he had also said that the Levi tribe would not receive a large region like the other tribes. Instead, the people of Levi would receive towns and the nearby pastures for their sheep, goats, and cattle. And since the descendants of Joseph had become the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, there were still nine and a half tribes that needed land. The LORD had told Moses that he would show those tribes how to divide up the land of Canaan. When the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of the families and tribes of Israel met to divide up the land of Canaan, the LORD showed them how to do it.
   
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6. One day while the Israelites were still camped at Gilgal, Caleb the son of Jephunneh went to talk with Joshua. Caleb belonged to the Kenaz clan, and many other people from the Judah tribe went with Caleb. He told Joshua: You know that back in Kadesh-Barnea the LORD talked to his prophet Moses about you and me.
   
7. I was forty years old at the time Moses sent me from Kadesh-Barnea into Canaan as a spy. When I came back and told him about the land, everything I said was true.
   
8. The other spies said things that made our people afraid, but I completely trusted the LORD God.
   
9. The same day I came back, Moses told me, "Since you were faithful to the LORD God, I promise that the places where you went as a spy will belong to you and your descendants forever."
   
10. Joshua, it was forty-five years ago that the LORD told Moses to make that promise, and now I am eighty-five. Even though Israel has moved from place to place in the desert, the LORD has kept me alive all this time as he said he would.
    
11. I'm just as strong today as I was then, and I can still fight as well in battle.
    
12. So I'm asking you for the hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You were there. You heard the other spies talk about that part of the hill country and the large, walled towns where the Anakim live. But maybe the LORD will help me take their land, just as he promised.
    
13. Joshua prayed that God would help Caleb, then he gave Hebron to Caleb and his descendants.
    
14. And Hebron still belongs to Caleb's descendants, because he was faithful to the LORD God of Israel.
    
15. Hebron used to be called Arba's Town, because Arba had been one of the greatest of the Anakim. There was peace in the land.
    

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    The previous chapter made a transition from war to land allotment. The first portion of land to be addressed was the land to the east of the Jordan River that had already been promised to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh. Chapter 14 picks up with the allotment of the land west of the Jordan to the remaining 9 and 1/2 tribes. This was handled by lot which was guided by God. According to Jewish tradition this was done by drawing the name of a tribe from one urn while simultaneously drawing the boundary lines of a territory from another.
    
    The high point of this chapter is the account of Caleb's allotment. Caleb was of the tribe of Judah and one of the twelve scouts sent into Canaan 45 years earlier. Only he and Joshua gave a positive report, and because of this the Lord spared him to receive an inheritance in the land and promised the land to him that he had walked on as a scout. That land happened to be the area in which the Anakim lived who were giants. It is ironic that these were the people whose territory the scouts had entered to check out Canaan. They then assumed that all the people of Canaan were like the Anakim and further assumed the task to be impossible. But not Caleb or Joshua who had their eyes on the Lord.
    
    Caleb's faith remained strong 45 years later as the land was being distributed among the tribes. Now 85 years old, Caleb stepped forward as Joshua was about to begin the allotments to remind him of the promise he had been given about receiving the land upon which he had set foot as a scout. In making his request Caleb claimed to be as strong as he had been at age 40 when he scouted the land. He was ready to take on the Anakim who lived in the land he was about to possess. He knew the Lord would enable him to be victorious over them. Joshua blessed him and gave him the territory he had been promised which included the city of Hebron.