Joshua and Caleb and the faithfulness of God

What’s it like to be the last one? When you’re so old there’s no one left for you to ask, “Remember when?”

In recent years, we’ve seen it happen as the last veterans of World War 2 slowly fade away. The reunions get smaller, and then they stop. A few stooped men are left alone to think of long ago.

Memories are powerful, more so when they are shared. And that’s what we see in Joshua 14. Perhaps this isn’t the final meeting of Joshua and Caleb, but it’s the last time that Scripture brings them together. It’s near the end of the road for these two old men, these brothers-in-arms. Imagine the memories as they look in each other’s eyes!

At first glance, verses 6-15 don’t seem to signify much. We can sum them up in just a few words. Israel is in Canaan, which is now being divided among the tribes. Caleb is old but full of energy, and he asks Joshua for a specific place as his inheritance. He tells Joshua that old age won’t stop him from fighting for the land God promised him. Joshua blesses his request, and Caleb leads a successful fight, winning the hill country near Hebron for his own.

That’s the basic story, and Caleb’s grit and faithfulness stand as a rebuke to many who quit too soon. But this isn’t just an inspiring story about one old hero, it’s about two old soldiers who are seeing long-awaited promises fulfilled.

Chronologically, the story falls near the end of the book of Joshua. Based on Caleb’s recounting, it’s been about five years since Israel crossed the Jordan – long enough for the people to have fought and won many battles.

Among their victories was the battle for Hebron, the place Caleb now asks for. Chapter 13 began with Israel dividing the land west of the Jordan. God had commanded that these divisions were to be made by a land lottery, and Joshua is now able to comply.

The lottery is announced at the start of chapter 14, but the author interrupts himself to speak about one man and his inheritance.

Caleb’s first words to Joshua are gripping. Listen. “You know the word which the LORD said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.”

Did you hear him repeat the word “you”? He is inviting Joshua to go back in time, back to when they had just returned from spying in the land of Canaan. That was long ago and in a different world. Caleb is now 85, and Joshua is “old, advanced in years.”

In the coming verses, Caleb will tell his own story, but it’s clear from these words that the promise he is claiming was given to Joshua as well.

They had been the two faithful spies who scouted Canaan for 40 days. They had traveled from south to north and back again, in constant danger of being discovered. They had returned to the people and given a good report of the land. They had believed that God was able to give it to them, and they had wanted to start the invasion immediately.

But the others rebelled, and the nation almost stoned Caleb and Joshua to death— a crisis which neither could have forgotten. God intervened with His glory cloud to spare them, but they were forced to wander in the wilderness until their unbelieving relatives had returned to dust.

Standing now at Gilgal, near the ruins of Jericho, the old friends were the only ones left from their generation. They were the founding fathers. They were surrounded by an entire nation whose parents and grandparents had died in the desert.

They were the only ones who knew the story firsthand— of millions of Israelites, Joshua was the only one to whom Caleb could say, “You know the word which the LORD said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.”

Having sparked Joshua’s memory, Caleb kept reminding him of their shared story. He told how on that day God had rewarded his faithfulness with a promise spoken by Moses: “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.”

That was forty-five years ago, said Caleb, and God has kept me alive through it all. As he goes on, he says in effect, “now we are here, and I want my land.” At Kadesh, God had promised a special inheritance, but due to the sin of others, he had waited a very long time to get it.

Caleb’s words were true of Joshua’s life as well. They both had endured the desert’s dangers. They had watched as all the others had dropped, one by one, into the dust.

For forty years they had eaten manna from heaven. They had watched the building of the tabernacle, been shocked by the sudden deaths of Nadab and Abihu, seen Korah and his rebels swallowed by an earthquake, and heard the news of Miriam’s leprosy. In the end, they had seen Moses climb Mt. Pisgah, never to return.

Years ago, when the spies had returned from the land, and the nation was terrified by reports of giants, it was Caleb who had spoken to quiet the people. He was the main hero of Numbers 13. A few verses later, Joshua is mentioned first, but Caleb had been first to speak.

After this event, Caleb disappeared from history until this meeting. In the intervening years, he has been silently faithful while Joshua has risen to the top. Caleb crossed the Jordan with the people, but God exalted Joshua (Josh. 4:14). Caleb marched around Jericho, but it was Joshua whose fame spread through the land (Josh. 6:27).

Although he’s been hidden in the shadows, he’s not grown jealous over Joshua. But his words indicate that he feels it’s time to speak for himself. Having heard that Israel is about to receive the land by lot, it’s as though he rushes up to Joshua to make sure his promised piece of ground isn’t given to someone else.

Does he also think that Joshua doubts his ability to fight? Does he fear that Joshua will keep him from battle to protect him from the danger of combat? Whatever his motive, he argues strongly for his case.

“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.”

Joshua listened to his friend and gave his blessing. Caleb then led the younger generation to victory by driving out the same enemies that had terrified his own. His lifelong confidence in God was vindicated, and he was given possession of the hill country of Hebron – the hills of Abraham.

After this story about Caleb and his inheritance, the story resumes with details of the tribal land allotments. Unlike Caleb, who obtained his property by promise and by choice, all the rest was assigned by lot—except for that of Joshua.

Nearly five chapters contain long lists of towns and territories, but the final verses of chapter 19 give the only other account of an individual receiving his inheritance. After all the lands had been assigned (except for the cities of the Levites), Joshua finally received his. “According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked for, Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim.”

The stories of Caleb and Joshua receiving their lands are bookends to the long lists of tribal borders and boundaries.

Caleb settled in the hill country of Judah, and Joshua in the hill country of Ephraim. It’s not clear if they ever met again. By the close of the book, Joshua has died, but it seems as that Caleb still lives (Josh. 14:14).

Never again would men from Ephraim and Judah be so close, but in these verses we see God keep His promises to two faithful men, men who had endured and who fought to the end.

Too often, the stories in our day are ones of compromise and quitting. We see too many men abandoning their posts or steering their ministries into the rocks of doctrinal drift and moral failure.

Thankfully, we still have some old Joshuas and Calebs among us.

Where are you now? Where will you be at 85?

There remains a rest for the people of God. May we fight all the way to the finish. Our inheritance is waiting.