Caleb and the Land He Received

Caleb (Hebrew: כָּלֵב) is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible. The spelling of his name is consistent with the Hebrew word for “loyal” or “faithful.” When Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, they came to the border of Canaan, the land God had promised them. Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan to report on the land, with each spy representing one of the twelve tribes. Ten of the spies returned with a negative report, saying that it was impossible to take the land and that the giants living there would crush the Hebrew army. Only two men—Joshua (from the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (representing the tribe of Judah)—returned with a positive report, saying that the Lord would hand Canaan over to the Israelites.

The Bible records that because of the ten spies’ report, the Israelites chose not to enter Canaan. Due to their disobedience to the will of the Lord, they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Among the adult men of Israel, only Joshua and Caleb lived to enter Canaan forty years later.

Before the Israelites, under God’s guidance, began to divide the land by lot, Caleb was the first to claim Hebron, the land that God had promised him forty-five years earlier. Caleb said to Joshua: “The Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years since He said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. See, I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous for battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but the Lord, as He promised, will be with me, and I will drive them out.” (Joshua 14:10–12).

Caleb’s request was not for personal gain but to bear witness to God’s faithfulness. Hebron was the most difficult place to conquer, as it was inhabited by the Anakites and had large, fortified cities. Although Caleb was eighty-five years old, his faith and strength were still the same as they were forty-five years earlier. Though the land still had giants, he was confident that “the Lord, as He promised,” would be with him to drive out the enemy.

Joshua, according to the Lord’s command, gave the land of Hebron (Kiriath Arba, the city of the ancestor of the Anakites) to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (Joshua 15:13). Caleb was able to receive this “unconquered land” as his inheritance because “he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.” Even though Hebron had giants, it was still captured by the eighty-five-year-old Caleb. The Holy Spirit used Caleb as a witness to all the tribes of Israel, encouraging them to likewise receive the “unconquered land” God had given them by faith.

Of all the men counted for battle who came out of Egypt and were twenty years or older, only Caleb and Joshua were able to enter Canaan because they wholeheartedly followed God. The distribution of the land to the Israelites began with Caleb and ended with Joshua. These two faithful old men bookend the process, serving as models of faith and obedience in the journey of receiving God’s promises.

Today, the Holy Spirit also uses Caleb as a witness to us, motivating us to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6) and to claim “all the fullness” we have in Christ by faith.