Caleb (Numbers 13:6; Numbers 13:26–33; Numbers 14:6–10; Numbers 14:20–25; Numbers 14:30; Numbers 14:38; Numbers 26:65; Numbers 32:12; Numbers 34:19; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6–15; Joshua 15:13–19; Joshua 21:12; Judges 1:10–15; Judges 1:20; 1 Chronicles 4:15; 1 Chronicles 6:56)

Son of Jephunneh, Who Wholly Followed the LORD

Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the man of Judah among the twelve spies, who stilled the people and urged them to go up, was spared with Joshua when the rest died in the wilderness, and at eighty-five asked for Hebron and drove out the sons of Anak.

Caleb first appears in the list of men Moses sent to spy out Canaan: “Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh” (Numbers 13:6). When the spies returned and reported that the people of the land were strong and the cities fortified, “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). When the congregation wept and wished to return to Egypt, he and Joshua rent their clothes (Numbers 14:6). Of him the LORD said, “my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it” (Numbers 14:24).

Forty-five years later, at Gilgal, Caleb came to Joshua and said, “I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me” (Joshua 14:10-11). He asked for the hill-country where the Anakim were, and “Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance” (Joshua 14:13). Caleb's own words, Moses' oath as Caleb recalls it, and the narrator all say that he “wholly followed Jehovah” (Joshua 14:8–14).

The accounts in Joshua and Judges tell that Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak, offered his daughter Achsah to the man who took Kiriath-sepher, and gave her the upper and nether springs when she asked (Joshua 15:14-19; Judges 1:12-15, 20). The fields of Hebron and its villages were given to him for his possession (Joshua 21:12), and his sons are listed in 1 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 4:15). Scripture does not record his birth or his death, and no book of the New Testament names him.

Strengths

• Wholly followed the LORD
• Another spirit
• Stilled the people
• Faith before the Anakim
• Brought word as it was in his heart
• Strength in old age

Themes

• Wholly following the LORD
• Spies and the evil report
• Inheritance promised and received
• Hebron and the sons of Anak
• Kept alive forty and five years

Sent to spy out the land (Numbers 13:1–3; Numbers 13:6; Numbers 13:17–25)

At the LORD's word Moses sends a prince of every tribe to spy out Canaan; Caleb is the man of Judah, and the spies reach Hebron and the valley of Eshcol.

Stills the people at Kadesh (Numbers 13:26–33)

The spies show the fruit and call the cities fortified; Caleb stills the people and bids them go up, but the men who went with him bring up an evil report.

Rends his clothes with Joshua (Numbers 14:1–10)

The congregation weeps and proposes to make a captain and return to Egypt; Joshua and Caleb rend their clothes and plead with them not to rebel, and the congregation bids them be stoned.

Rends his clothes with Joshua

“And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron” (Numbers 14:2), and they said one to another, “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:4).

“And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land” (Numbers 14:6-7). They said, “Only rebel not against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and Jehovah is with us: fear them not” (Numbers 14:9).

“But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel” (Numbers 14:10).

The LORD's word concerning his servant Caleb (Numbers 14:20–38)

The LORD pardons the people but swears that none of them shall see the land, naming Caleb his servant who followed fully; the spies who brought the evil report die by the plague, and Caleb and Joshua remain alive.

The LORD's word concerning his servant Caleb

The LORD said, “I have pardoned according to thy word” (Numbers 14:20), yet “surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it” (Numbers 14:23-24).

To the congregation he decreed that their dead bodies should fall in the wilderness, “save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (Numbers 14:30), and that their children should be “wanderers in the wilderness forty years” (Numbers 14:33).

“And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land … even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Jehovah. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men that went to spy out the land” (Numbers 14:36-38).

Named again beyond the Jordan (Numbers 26:63–65; Numbers 32:11–12; Numbers 34:16–19; Deuteronomy 1:34–36)

At the numbering in the plains of Moab only Caleb and Joshua are left of those first numbered; Moses recalls to Gad and Reuben that they wholly followed the LORD, Caleb is named the prince of Judah to divide the land, and in Deuteronomy Moses recalls the oath that Caleb shall see it.

Asks for Hebron at eighty-five (Joshua 14:6–15)

At Gilgal Caleb reminds Joshua of what the LORD spoke at Kadesh-barnea, tells his age and strength, asks for the hill-country of the Anakim, and Joshua blesses him and gives him Hebron.

Asks for Hebron at eighty-five

“Then the children of Judah drew nigh unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that Jehovah spake unto Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning thee in Kadesh-barnea” (Joshua 14:6). He told of the spying: “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Jehovah my God” (Joshua 14:7-8).

“And now, behold, Jehovah hath kept me alive, as he spake, these forty and five years … and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me” (Joshua 14:10-11).

“Now therefore give me this hill-country, whereof Jehovah spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified: it may be that Jehovah will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Jehovah spake” (Joshua 14:12).

“And Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite unto this day; because that he wholly followed Jehovah, the God of Israel” (Joshua 14:13-14).

Drives out the sons of Anak; Achsah's springs (Joshua 15:13–19; Judges 1:10–15; Judges 1:20)

Caleb receives Kiriath-arba, which is Hebron, and drives out the three sons of Anak; he offers his daughter Achsah to whoever takes Kiriath-sepher, and when Othniel takes it he gives her the upper and nether springs.

Drives out the sons of Anak; Achsah's springs

“And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of Jehovah to Joshua, even Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak (the same is Hebron). And Caleb drove out thence the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak” (Joshua 15:13-14). Judges tells that Judah “smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai” (Judges 1:10), and “they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out thence the three sons of Anak” (Judges 1:20).

“And he went up thence against the inhabitants of Debir: now the name of Debir beforetime was Kiriath-sepher. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kiriath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife” (Joshua 15:15-17).

“And it came to pass, when she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her ass; and Caleb said, What wouldest thou? And she said, Give me a blessing; for that thou hast set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs” (Joshua 15:18-19). Judges tells the same account in nearly the same words, calling Othniel “Caleb’s younger brother” (Judges 1:13).

The fields of Hebron given to Caleb (Joshua 21:11–12; 1 Chronicles 4:15; 1 Chronicles 6:55–56)

When Hebron with its suburbs is given to the children of Aaron, the fields of the city and its villages are given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession; his sons are listed in 1 Chronicles.

Joshua (Numbers 14:6–9; Numbers 14:30; Joshua 14:13)

The other spy who remained alive; they rent their clothes together, and Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron.

Moses (Numbers 13:17; Joshua 14:6–9; Judges 1:20)

Sent him to spy out the land and sware that the land his foot had trodden should be his inheritance.

The LORD (Numbers 14:24; Deuteronomy 1:36)

Called him his servant who had another spirit and followed fully, and promised to bring him into the land.

Othniel (Joshua 15:17; Judges 1:13; Judges 3:9)

The son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took Kiriath-sepher and received Achsah to wife; he was later raised up as a savior.

Achsah (Joshua 15:16–19; Judges 1:12–15)

Caleb's daughter, offered to the taker of Kiriath-sepher; she asked her father for a blessing and springs of water.

Jephunneh (Numbers 13:6; Joshua 14:6; 1 Chronicles 4:15)

Caleb's father, by whose name Caleb is called throughout; the text says nothing more of him.

The sons of Anak (Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:20)

Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, seen at Hebron by the spies and driven out by Caleb.

Major sections

• Numbers 13–14
• Numbers 26:63–65
• Numbers 32:11–12
• Numbers 34:16–19
• Deuteronomy 1:34–36
• Joshua 14:6–15:19
• Joshua 21:11–12
• Judges 1:10–20

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