Caleb
Caleb, the son of Jerahmeel, was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to investigate the land of Canaan. Ten of the spies frightened the Israelites by reporting that the cities were fortified and giants lived in the land. Caleb also saw the fortified cities, but reacted in faith rather than fear. He along with Joshua advised Moses, Aaron and the Israelites, "Let us go up at once and occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it." The people listened to the ten spies’ discouraging report instead. Because the Israelites didn’t exercise faith they had to return to the wilderness for 40 years of wandering. As a reward for their faith only Caleb and Joshua, of all the adults, remained alive to enter the Promised Land at the conclusion of the 40 years.
After the Israelites acquired the land Caleb helped divide up the land among the tribes. He was 85 years old when the land was finally conquered. Hebron was given to Caleb as an inheritance from God. Caleb drove out the three gigantic sons of Anak who were living there.
Lessons from the life of Caleb:
- The majority opinion is not an accurate measure of right and wrong.
- We need to express faith in God’s promises, in spite of apparent obstacles.
- Understanding what a great God we serve will give us an appropriate boldness.
- Often to agree with the majority is to disagree with God.
- In our search for right we need to start with, "What does God say about this?"
- For courage and faith to be effective we must combine words and actions.
Caleb’s story is found in Numbers 13-14 and Joshua 14-15. He is also mentioned in Judges 1 and 1 Chronicles 4:15.
| REFERENCES | |||
 |
|
|
|
|
|||
