"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
Caleb
A hero of faithNow then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to 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 helping me, I will drive them out just as he said. Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. Joshua 14:10-13
Joshua 14 tells how the city of Hebron was assigned to Caleb. At first glance one could ask why that was considered significant enough to be recorded in such detail. The answer is probably that the writer wants to present Caleb as a hero of faith at a time when the Israelites were being drawn into idolatry by the people around them. Caleb also deserves a special place in the Joshua story because he is an example of obedience and faithfulness to God.
When Moses sent the 12 men to do a reccy of the land of Canaan, ten reported back that a military campaign was doomed to failure, with only Joshua and Caleb dissenting. Caleb was different, as we read in God’s assessment of him in Numbers 14:24, ‘my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly’. The fact that he followed God wholeheartedly is mentioned three times in Joshua 14 (v 8, 9, 14). His survival through 45 years of turmoil as well as his health and strength are presented as a consequence of God’s blessing on him.
That Caleb has not lost the fire in his belly is shown in verse 12. Rather than asking for a nice retirement villa by the sea, he asks for the hill country where the giants were still to be found and the cities were well fortified. Caleb seems to be saying: ‘The more difficult the better because God will keep his promises’. Perhaps, sensibly, Joshua just gave him one city!
Many aspects of this story are hard for us to relate to our own Christian life but there are things we can learn from it. We can note the longevity of Caleb’s faith. It is one of the sadnesses of my life to think of people who started well in the Christian life but fell away. I watch a lot of athletics, a sport where it is all about how you finish – not how you start. We can also be challenged by the statements that he followed God wholeheartedly.
Follow Caleb’s example and take God’s promises and turn them into prayers.