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Joshua 14

KJV · Chapter 14/24

1And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.

2By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe.

3For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them.

4For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.

5As the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.

6Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh–barnea.

7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh–barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.

8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God.

9And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God.

10And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

11As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

12Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.

13And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.

14Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.

15And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath–arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Caleb, at 85 years old, asks Joshua for the hill country of Hebron, fulfilling the promise made 45 years earlier for his faithfulness in spying out the land.

Explanation

Caleb was one of the twelve spies sent by Moses decades earlier, but the only one besides Joshua who brought back a report of faith rather than fear in the face of the giants of Canaan. His declaration at 85 years old - 'I am as strong this day as I was on the day Moses sent me' - is a remarkable testimony of vigor sustained by faithfulness to God over a lifetime of waiting. He asks not for easy land but for the very region of the Anakim giants, showing that the faith he held decades earlier remained intact in old age. The application is clear: God's promises have no expiration date, even if they take a whole lifetime to be fulfilled.

Fun facts

  • Hebron, the city Caleb receives, had previously been called Kiriath-arba ('city of Arba'), named after one of the greatest Anakim warriors of the region.
  • Caleb belonged to the tribe of Judah by adoption/covenant, being originally of Kenizzite lineage, a people associated with Edom - a reminder that faithful foreigners were fully incorporated into God's people.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Joshua 14:1Now the account turns to telling how the land west of the Jordan was distributed, with Eleazar and Joshua leading the process together with the heads of families of each tribe.
  2. Joshua 14:2The division is made by lot, exactly as God had commanded through Moses, among the nine and a half tribes that still had no land.
  3. Joshua 14:3The text recalls that Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had already received land on the other side of the Jordan, and that the Levites still had no territory of their own.
  4. Joshua 14:4Since Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, they count as two separate tribes; the Levites, instead of land, receive only cities to live in with pasturelands around them.
  5. Joshua 14:5The division follows exactly the instructions God had given Moses, without deviation.
  6. Joshua 14:6Before the general division begins, Caleb comes to Joshua at Gilgal to claim an old promise, made back in the time of Moses.
  7. Joshua 14:7Caleb recalls that he was forty years old when he was one of the spies sent to scout out the promised land, and that he gave a faithful report at the time.
  8. Joshua 14:8Unlike the other spies, who discouraged the people with fear, Caleb kept his confidence in God even as a lone voice.
  9. Joshua 14:9The promise Moses made to Caleb at Kadesh-barnea, right after the mission of the twelve spies, is fulfilled only here, forty-five years later. Caleb cites the date precisely because he spent his whole life waiting for this specific piece of land.
  10. Joshua 14:10Caleb points out that forty-five years have already passed since that promise, and that he is now eighty-five years old, but God has kept him alive until this moment.
  11. Joshua 14:11Even at his advanced age, Caleb insists he still has the same strength he had decades earlier, ready to fight and to conquer.
  12. Joshua 14:12At eighty-five, Caleb asks for exactly the hill country where the Anakim live, described elsewhere as giants. He does not choose the easiest part of the inheritance, he asks for the most contested one, as proof that he still trusts the same promise that sustained him since his youth.
  13. Joshua 14:13Joshua grants the request, blesses Caleb, and gives him the city of Hebron as his personal inheritance.
  14. Joshua 14:14Hebron is recorded as belonging to Caleb because of his faithfulness to God, unlike most of the generation that doubted.
  15. Joshua 14:15Hebron’s old name was Kirjath-arba, named after one of the leaders of the Anakim, the people of giants who lived there before.

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