One of the exciting stories many of us have grown to love is the story of Joshua and Caleb: the two spies who returned to Israel with a good report. One thing you may not have known is that Caleb in this classic duo was a gentile. In Numbers, we read, “…Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite…” (Num. 32:12).
The Kenizzites were an Edomite tribe, of the descendants of Esau. In fact, when God made a covenant with Abram and promised the land to Israel, the Kenizzites are specifically mentioned:
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” Genesis 15:18-21
The Lord made a promise to Abram’s descendants, to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, who was renamed Israel, and he promised the descendants of Abraham, namely the children of Israel, the land including the land of the Kenizzites.
So how is a Kenizzite helping the Israelites take possession of the land of the Kenizzites? God told Moses to choose twelve men to spy out the land that God promised to the children of Israel. He chose one man from each of the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Ephraim, he chose Joshua and from the tribe of Judah, he chose Caleb.
Apparently, Caleb was a gentile who had so enjoined himself to the Jews, that he was one of only two spies who came back with a good report of the land. When the twelve spies returned from surveying the land, the Bible says:
And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large… Numbers 13:27-28
When Caleb heard the other ten spies provoking the people of Israel to fear, he said:
“Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out… Numbers 13:30-32
As the people of Israel heard the reports from the spies, they decided to rebel against God and shrink back in fear. Yet even then, two spies pleaded with the people to believe the Word of the Lord.
And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Numbers 14:6-9
But the people did not listen to Joshua and Caleb. And the Lord judged the people, and they were sentenced to wander through the wilderness for forty years. The Lord swore that that generation would not enter in to see the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants forever. As the Lord spoke and made known his judgment, he gave one glaring exception:
Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Numbers 14:30
None of the Israelites who were alive when they rejected the Word of the Lord lived to see the land that God promised to them except one Jew and one gentile: Joshua and Caleb. Forty years later, when the Israelites finally went in and conquered the land of Canaan, the land promised to the children of Israel forever, Caleb reminded Joshua of what God had promised him. While he spoke to Joshua, he said something that we can all learn from:
“But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God” (Joshua 14:8).
Caleb called the Jewish people his brothers and he also held firmly to the promises of God.
Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war. Joshua 13:14-15
Caleb conquered the land that came to be known as Hebron, the very place where Abraham settled and built an altar to the Lord (Gen. 13:18).
When Jews and gentiles come together, we are able to do great exploits for God!
