THOUGHTS ON CALEB

Part 1: Introduction

Recently, when I was thinking about Caleb (the one in the Bible), I sensed the Holy Spirit asking me a question, “Have you considered the price Caleb had to pay before he could possess his inheritance in the Promised Land?” It was one of those questions that doesn’t require an answer … I knew He was wanting to show me something, so I began to look back over the accounts of Caleb found mostly in Numbers 13 & 14 and Joshua 14 & 15. As I did so, I began to connect with Caleb in a new way, and I saw things about him that I had not seen before.


The first mention of Caleb is when Moses chose him as one of the twelve spies who were to be sent into the Promised Land to check it out firsthand and bring back a report. He was chosen to represent the tribe of Judah, so he was probably already a recognized leader or, at the very least, he was well-respected among his people.


We find out later that he was 40 years old at this time, so Moses did not choose him because of his youth; he was probably chosen mostly because of his wisdom and maturity (which is obvious from the report he gave when the twelve returned from spying out the land). We also can infer, even though there is no mention of a wife, that he was married at some point in his life, because there are two daughters who show up later in Joshua.


He was also obviously a man of great faith. For example, he saw so much potential in the Promised Land that by the time he returned from spying out the land he had already picked out the place he wanted for his inheritance (the hill country he asked Moses for later). And even though he recognized that the people were fierce and that there were giants living there, he was also fully confident that God would go before them and deliver the land into Israel’s hands. He was ready right then to enter the land to conquer and possess it!


Sadly, ten of the spies were not cut from the same cloth as Caleb. They saw how fierce the people were who lived in the land and how big the giants were; and even though they admitted that the land itself was very desirable, they embraced fear instead of faith and convinced the people of Israel that they could not possibly succeed if they tried to enter the land. It was at this point that Caleb began to pay the price that would be required of him before he could finally have the place he so desperately wanted.


Now someone may ask if I believe that God was the one forcing Caleb to pay this price. The answer is, “No!” I believe that it was a price imposed upon him by circumstances beyond his control; circumstances set in motion by others. Did God use these circumstances to do something in Caleb’s life in the process? Absolutely! The promise we have in Romans 8:28 is that God causes all things to work together for good to those love Him and are called according to His purpose!


Now, back to the price Caleb had to pay. So far, I have seen his bill broken down into seven different installments that were invoiced to him over the next forty-five years. Each of these installments will be examined in the subsequent issues to be published here. I will do my best to post a new one every three to four days if possible; maybe more often than that if I’m feeling my Cheerios. Of course, knowing me as well as I do, it is entirely possible that some postings will fall outside of that window! Since this is my first attempt at blogging, I guess we’ll just have to see how it plays out, won’t we?



NEXT: THOUGHTS ON CALEB, Part 2