Who is Caleb in the Bible?
Caleb appears first as one of twelve men sent ahead to inspect Canaan, and last as an eighty-five-year-old asking for the hardest piece of land in it. Between those two moments lie forty-five years that Scripture sums up in one repeated phrase — that he followed the Lord fully.
The man and his record
A short summary of his life runs from the spying mission to the conquest of a giant-held city:
Morrish Bible DictionarySon of Jephunneh; he was one of those sent to spy out the land, and, counting on the power of God, he made an encouraging report. When 85 years of age he claimed the territory on which his feet had trod, and which God had promised him. Though the Anakim were in possession he was victorious and inherited Kirjath-arba, or Hebron... He is a type of the Christian who by faith practically occupies and enjoys the place given to him by God, in spite of all there is to oppose him.
The Anakim were the people living there — famously tall men, whom the spies compared themselves to as grasshoppers.
Why his report differed
Ten of the twelve measured the enemy against themselves. Caleb measured them against God.
W. W. FeredayHow disgraceful therefore their unbelief when they spoke of their enemies as giants, and of themselves as mere grasshoppers in their sight! "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." Had they measured the Canaanites by the God who brought them out of Egypt they would have spoken differently, but God was not in their thoughts.
His confidence had nothing to do with his own resources:
The Christian's FriendThe soul of Caleb rested entirely on the grace and power of God, which had caused them to triumph at the Red Sea, and had kept the spies in searching the land. The same grace and power could alone lead them into possession of the land. On this, and this alone, he reckoned.
God's own verdict on him
When Israel refused to go up, God singled Caleb out as having "another spirit" and following Him fully.
The Christian's FriendThis reveals how grateful to the Lord's heart Caleb's faithful testimony had been... He also exemplified the spirit of devoted discipleship in an evil day; he followed fully, and this became his distinguishing characteristic — a characteristic which Caleb himself delighted to accept and recall.
When Caleb later says the same thing about himself, it is not boasting, because others said it first:
W. T. P. WolstonDo you know what Caleb said? "I wholly followed the Lord my God" (Joshua 14:8). Oh, you say, he was conceited. No, no, he was consecrated, not conceited... If you get three witnesses like the Lord, Moses, and Joshua, to testify to your devotedness, you will do.
Forty-five years of waiting
The nation's unbelief cost Caleb four decades of desert life he had done nothing to deserve. His reaction is the remarkable part.
The Bible TreasuryThe difficulties in the way of its conquest and possession only stimulated the courage and determination of Caleb. He had waited forty-five years for the opportunity. Meanwhile faith had worked in him, producing patience, strength, and patriotism, so that he had not a hard word to say of his people who by their unbelief had kept him so long out of his inheritance.
The claim at Hebron
At eighty-five he asked for the mountain, not the easy valley. His careful wording — "if so be the Lord will be with me" — has been read as strength, not hesitation:
William KellyAccording to his faith so was his strength now, though forty-five years were added to the forty; and in his confidence, still as simple-hearted as ever, he asks for the mountain to be given him of which Jehovah spoke in that day... Nor do the words, "if so be Jehovah will be with me," etc., imply the least doubt of His presence and help in making God his hope, but a devout and fitting expression of his own distrust of self.
His background — and what he passed on
Commentators differ on Caleb's origin. He is called "the Kenizzite," and some read that as meaning he was not an Israelite by birth at all:
H. L. RossierThus Caleb, who by his origin really had no right of citizenship in Israel, received this right within Judah by virtue of his faith and was incorporated into the family of Caleb the son of Hezron.
Others reject that reading, holding that the relevant verse only means he was not a chief of Judah but received a special portion. As a father he was generous: when his daughter Achsah asked for water for her dry land, he gave her both the upper and the lower springs. Yet his line also carries a warning:
George C WillisA good dog wholly follows his master, and is absolutely loyal to him. Perhaps it was this "spirit" (Num. 14:24) in Caleb that so greatly influenced his daughter. But godliness is not inherited, and, sad to say, we find Nabal, a man who was harsh and evil in his doings, of the "house of Caleb."
Summary
- Followed — one phrase defines him. He followed the Lord fully, and God, Moses and Joshua all said so before he ever said it of himself.
- Reckoned — his courage was arithmetic, not temperament. He measured giants against the God of the Red Sea; the other ten measured them against themselves.
- Waited — forty-five years in a desert he never earned, with no bitter word toward the people whose unbelief kept him out.
- Claimed — at eighty-five he asked for the mountain the giants held, resting on "if the Lord will be with me": distrust of self, not doubt of God.
- Received — the outsider by name got Hebron, and gave his daughter springs. But godliness is not inherited; Nabal came from the same house.