“Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.” (Joshua 14:6-8)
In Dr. Paul Brand’s book, "In His Image," he writes about his mother. She was seventy-five years old and still walking miles every day, visiting the villages in the southern part of India, teaching the people about Jesus. At seventy-five, she fell & broke her hip. After two days of just lying there in pain, some workers found her & put her on a makeshift cot & loaded her into their jeep & drove one hundred and fifty miles over deep rutted roads to find a doctor who could set the broken bones. But the very bumpy ride damaged her bones so badly that her hip never completely healed. He said, "I visited my mother in her mud-covered hut. At age seventy-five, with a broken hip, unable to stand on her own two legs, I suggested that she retire … She turned around & looked at me & said, `What value is that? If we try to preserve this body just a few more years & it is not being used for God, of what value is that?’" So she kept on working. She kept on riding her donkey to villages until she was ninety-three years old. At age ninety-three she couldn’t stay on her donkey anymore. She kept falling off. But she didn’t stop preaching. Indian men would carry her in hammocks from one village to another. And she continued to tell people about Jesus Christ until she died at age ninety-five.
We pick up our series today with a man who was determined to fight the good fight until he drew he last breath. Caleb was in a fight against his giants to the finish and God was going to enable him to finish well.
I. HE WAS CALLED TO THE PROMISES OF GOD (VV.6-7)
A. The Legacy of Caleb
It may surprise you to find out that Caleb was not an Israelite. He was the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite (v.6). Genesis 36 reveals that Caleb was a descendent of Esau and therefore born into a family that was an avowed enemy of Israel. If that was not bad enough, he had been given a name that no good Jew would ever have. The name Caleb means “dog” in Hebrew. In Semitic culture, dogs were considered unclean. Deuteronomy 23:18 says, “You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.” However Caleb got the name he did, it would not have endeared him to the people of Israel.
Somewhere in Caleb’s life, however, a great change had been made in his life. At sometime he had joined himself to Israel and embraced the one true God. Though he was a Gentile and an outcast he became a child of the promises of God. In Hebrew culture, if you joined Israel you were adopted into one of its tribes and your family name was added into their genealogy. It was though you had always been a part of God’s family. 1 Chronicles reveals that Caleb was adopted into the tribe of Judah. Judah was the tribe from which one day would be born the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that two other famous Old Testament Gentiles Rahab and Ruth were also adopted into that same tribe of Judah. Caleb was a man whose heart had been changed (v.7). Because his heart was changed, Caleb became a man who trusted in the person and promises of God rather than man. Verse six reveals his dedication to the person and promises of God.
B. The Lessons Caleb Teaches Us
There are many lessons we can learn from Caleb as Christians. We too were outcasts from the people and promises of God before we became believers. “Remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands — that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11-12).
We too have been adopted into the family of God through the final one in the line of Judah. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). “You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16).
Because we have been adopted we too have become followers of the promises of God (see Romans 8:17). An evidence that a person has been saved is that they by nature believe God!
II. HE HAD A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE (VV.8-9)
A. Because He Had A Different Spirit
When a person comes to know the person of God and believe the promises of God it changes their perspective on life. Caleb had a new perspective because God gave him a different spirit. Numbers 14:24 records that the reason Caleb chose to believe God when he and the other spies went into the Promised Land forty-five years earlier was because he had a different spirit in him. Caleb’s assurance of who he was in God and what God had promised him became the compass of his life. Caleb knew there could be no half-hearted following of God. He would follow God with his whole heart (v.8).
B. Because He Had a Different Standard
Caleb’s perspective on life was also changed because God had given a different standard to live by. He learned, as we should that there are only three standards by which any of us can order our lives. These three are found in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4.
External Standards (What others say we need to be and do) – “it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court”
Internal Standards (What I say I should be and do) – “I do not even judge myself”
Eternal Standards (What Christ says) – “He who judges me is the Lord”
III. HE HAD UNFAILING PERSEVERANCE (VV.10-15)
A. Conceived in the Promises of God.
Caleb’s perseverance was conceived in the promises of God. His understanding of who he was in God and what God had promised became the compass of his life and that gave him perseverance (vv.10-11). For forty-five years Caleb had held on to that compass in spite of numerous obstacles and delays. That perseverance made Caleb ready to give all he had even though he was eighty-five years old.
One of the wonderful things about God is that he only asks us to give what He has given us. He gives us a new heart and then asks us to give that back to whom wholly. President Eisenhower told this tale, "An old farmer had a cow that we wanted to buy. We went over to visit him and asked about the cow’s pedigree. The old farmer didn’t know what ’pedigree’ meant, so we asked him about the cow’s butterfat production. He told us that he didn’t have any idea. Finally, we asked him if he knew how many pounds of milk the cow produced each year. The farmer shook his head and said, ’I don’t know, but she’s an honest old cow, and she’ll give you all the milk she has!"
B. Completed in the Promises of God.
Caleb understood that God only asks for what He has given you. But give Him all that He has given you!
Perseverance is completed in the promises of God (vv.12-15). Caleb’s faithfulness meant he had to fight the giants that stood between him and where God wanted him to be. On the mountain that God had promised him were the Anakim (v.12). They were fierce giants that lived on the very place that God had promised Caleb years before.
Caleb’s battle and inheritance were at Hebron (v.14). Hebron is where God made His covenant with Abraham and where Israel was first called the people of God. Hebron means “fellowship” in Hebrew. Remember, a giant is anything that stand between us and where God wants us to be. Caleb learned a valuable lesson at Hebron. Often our greatest fellowship with God is found at the place of our greatest trials. Where the giants loom the largest, God is most real if we trust Him. Fellowship with God is not beyond our giants; it is while we are fighting our giants in His strength.
Have you had the same change occur in your heart that did in Caleb’s? That can only come by being adopted into the spiritual tribe of Judah – trusting in Christ alone as your Lord and Savior. Have you made the person and promises of God the compass of your life? That is all that will enable you to persevere in faith. There will be giants to fight, even at the place of your fellowship with God; but God will fight those giants for you if you let Him!
