CHAPTER 14

(1444 B.C.)

CANAAN DIVIDED BY LOT

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. (The words by lot had to do with the Urim and the Thummim; whatever these things were, they were kept in a pouch on the back of the Breastplate of the High Priest; some think they were two stones, with the word yes on one, and the word no on the other; however, that description is only speculation. Irrespective, it was the Holy Spirit Who parceled off the land and its boundaries, and did so through the means of the Urim and the Thummim.)

³For Moses had given the inheritance of two Tribes and an half Tribe on the other side Jordan (the east side of 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.

CALEB

⁶Then the Children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, You know the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and you 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 swore on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon your feet have trodden shall be your inheritance, and your childrens forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.

¹⁰And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spoke 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 (85 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. (Out of all of this, Calebs Faith shines like the Sun. His was a Divine Faith. Such Faith overcomes the world.)

¹²Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard 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. (Williams says, Giant sins entrenched on strong mountains are helpless before a Faith that is born of God. This fact may be experienced by any and all Believers, if they will but wholly follow the Lord as did Caleb.)

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. (The record proclaims that Caleb, because of his Faith in God, took possession of this mountain, and expelled the greatest of the giants, whose name was Arba. The result was that Kirjath-arba that is, the city of Arba became Hebron that is, fellowship, for thats what Hebron means! As well, where there is true Faith, there is rest from war.)