Josué 14
Wayne Barber · Citado em PreceptAustin
Josué 14
Barber - Today as we get into chapter 14, God is working in mighty power, all of His almighty power in the lives of the Israelites. Why? Because they’ve returned to obeying Him. Now that they are yielded to Him and His will, their enemy is completely helpless; helpless before them as they possess the land that God has given to them. God has just absolutely crippled the enemy. The enemy has no power. God told them in chapter 1, very clearly, “No man will be able to stand before you. No man can take from you what I have given to you, if you’ll consider every step holy unto Me.” Remember that in chapter 1? And what a beautiful picture this is to you and me. As we possess the life that Christ has given to us, as we learn to say yes to Him, and we take every step and make it holy unto Him—when we’re yielded to Christ, and when we’re saying yes to Him—we experience His power. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Our enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil. And all of our enemies, the spiritual enemy that we come up against, is immediately defeated when we say yes to Christ. We saw this last time. It is confused. It is crushed. It is consumed in an instant. When we say yes to God, sin has no power in our lives. Victory is never us trying to overcome sin; victory is Jesus who has overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil (ED: AND SAYING "YES" TO HIS SPIRIT). It’s Him living in us, overcoming us. Once Israel listened to God, the last part of chapter 10, chapter 11, and chapter 12 is simply a blow-by-blow account of them possessing the land God said was theirs. It’s history. When a believer gets into a yielded position, when a believer says yes to God, the rest of his life is history—it’s victory, after victory, after victory and this begins to be our testimony to others. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary - Verses 1-5. The Israelites must occupy the new conquests. Canaan would have been subdued in vain, if it had not been inhabited. Yet every man might not go and settle where he pleased. God shall choose our inheritance for us. Let us survey our heritage of present mercy, our prospect for the land of promise, eternal in the heavens. Is God any respecter of persons? Is it not better that our place, as to earthly good or sorrow, should be determined by the infinite wisdom of our heavenly Father, than by our own ignorance? Should not those for whom the great mystery of godliness was exhibited, those whose redemption was purchased by Jesus Christ, thankfully refer their earthly concerns to his appointment? Inheritance (05157)(nahal) means inherit, get possession of, take as a possession, to receive, to take property as a permanent possession. TWOT says it "basically signifies giving or receiving property which is part of a permanent possession and as a result of succession. Sometimes the idea of succession is absent but the "possessing" carries with it a connotation of permanence (e.g. Ex 34:9; Pr 14:18)." It can refer to the actual taking of the Promised Land, whether it was the entire land of Canaan as a gift from God (Ex. 23:30; 32:13); a tribal allotment (Josh. 16:4); or a familial portion (Josh. 17:6). In addition to the taking of Canaan, God declared that Israel's remnant would possess the lands of Moab and Edom (Zeph. 2:9). It can also refer to the division and distribution of the land of Canaan to the tribal units (Josh. 14:1). This verb is further used of God acquiring possession of Israel (Ex. 34:9; Zech. 2:12[16]); and the nations as His own private property (Ps. 82:8). In the causative form, the verb denotes the giving of a possession (Deut. 1:38; 3:28); or inheritance (Deut. 21:16). Uses of Nahal in Joshua - Jos. 1:6; Jos. 13:32; Jos. 14:1; Jos. 16:4; Jos. 17:6; Jos. 19:9; Jos. 19:49; Jos. 19:51 GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 14 1. These are the countries, &c. The historian having, in the preceding chapter, given an account of the disposal of the countries on the other side of Jordan, comes now to state the allotments made to the remaining nine tribes and a half in the bounds of Canaan proper. The directions which Moses had formerly given, Num. 33:50–56, respecting the mode of making this distribution, are now to be punctually observed. Previously to entering upon the account of this division, the writer premises two or three things which fall in here more properly than any where else, as that the Levites were not comprehended in the grant made to the tribes; that the tribe of Joseph was reckoned as two; and that Caleb had given to him at his request a certain tract of country which had been before promised by Moses. The heads of the fathers of the tribes. That is, heads or chief men among the fathers of the tribes. These were twelve in number, including Joshua and Eleazar. They had been before expressly appointed by Moses, Num. 34:19. This was done that every tribe, having a representative of its own, might be satisfied that there was fair dealing, and might consequently abide more contentedly by its lot. QUESTION - Who was Eleazar in the Bible? ANSWER - Eleazar ("God is helper.") was one of four sons born to Aaron, Moses’ brother and high priest of the Israelites. Eleazar is featured often in the account of the Israelites’ wanderings in the wilderness. Like his father and brothers, Eleazar was consecrated as a priest in service to the Lord (Exodus 28:1). Eleazar and his brother Ithamar remained faithful in their service, but Eleazar’s other brothers did not. Nadab and Abihu “offered unauthorized fire to the LORD” in the desert of Sinai (Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 3:4). Because they did not respect the Lord and honor His commands, God destroyed both of them with fire. Through Moses, God commanded Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar to refrain from mourning. They had been consecrated with oil and were to remain at the tabernacle on pain of death. God also gave them instructions to never drink alcohol when the time came to enter the tent of meeting and told them how to present the food offerings. These men and their families were allowed to eat the leftover food offerings, provided they followed certain rules (Leviticus 10:12–15). Eleazar eventually became the chief of all the Levites, the Israelite tribe God had set apart for priestly service, and he was put in charge of the workings of the tabernacle (Numbers 3:32; 4:16). While the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, Eleazar was responsible for offering sacrifices on behalf of the people (Numbers 19:1–8). When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram gathered 250 men and rebelled against Moses, God ordered Korah and the 250 men to burn incense before Him. God then judged Korah and his followers by sending fire to consume them (Numbers 16:35). Eleazar was given the grisly job of sifting through the ashes to gather the censers the men had used to burn the incense. The censers were to be melted down, hammered into sheets, and used to overlay the altar in the tabernacle. In Numbers 20:22–29, on the day of Aaron’s death on Mount Horeb, Moses had taken both Aaron and Eleazar up the peak to transfer Aaron’s priestly garments to Eleazar. This gesture was a ceremonial confirmation that Eleazar was taking over for his father as high priest. Eleazar continued as high priest for the rest of his life, serving the Israelites as a mediator, adviser, and intercessor before the Lord. Eleazar commissioned Joshua as Moses’ successor and later helped with such matters as the division of land when the Israelites finally took possession of Canaan (Numbers 34:17; Joshua 14:1; 19:51). Eleazar had a son named Phineas, who also served the Lord faithfully (see Numbers 25). Eleazar eventually passed away and was buried in Gibeah, the land that had been given to his son Phineas when the Israelites settled in the Promised Land. The high priest was chosen from Eleazar’s line for seven generations, until the time of Eli, who was of the house of Eleazar’s brother Ithamar. During the time of King Solomon, Zadok was appointed as the high priest, returning that office to the family of Eleazar (1 Kings 2:35). There are seven other men named Eleazar found in the Bible, although none quite as noteworthy as Aaron’s son. Some were Levitical priests, one was of the same line as Jesus, one was known for having married and divorced a foreign wife, and one even fought the Philistines “till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword” (2 Samuel 23:10). You can read about each of these other men named Eleazar in 1 Samuel 7:1; 2 Samuel 23:9–10; 1 Chronicles 11:12; 23:21–22 and 24:28; Ezra 8:33; 10:2 and 25; Nehemiah 12:42; and Matthew 1:15.GotQuestions.org Joshua 14:2 by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. lot: Nu 26:55,56 33:54 34:13 Ps 16:5,6 Pr 16:33 18:18 Mt 25:34 Joshua 14 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Joshua 18:8 Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh.” Joshua 19:51 These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land. Numbers 26:55-56 “But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. “According to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups.” Numbers 34:13 So Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you are to apportion by lot among you as a possession, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes." Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD. METHOD OF ALLOTMENT OF THE LAND - BY LOT by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe - Note first that this description alludes to the fact that Joshua obeyed God's "prescription" for distributing the land. The 2.5 tribes are taken care of in Joshua 13 and now we move to the western side of the Jordan River for allotting the land to the remaining tribes. In effect there are actually 10.5 tribes at this point, but his apparent difficulty is explained below in Joshua 14:4. While the lot was apparently the final determining factor (as it was indicative of the will of the LORD, cf Pr 16:33), we know that there were other criteria as described in Numbers, specifically in proportion to their population,... Numbers 26:53-56 “Among these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. 54 To the larger group you shall increase their inheritance, and to the smaller group you shall diminish their inheritance; each shall be given their inheritance according to those who were numbered of them. 55 “But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 “According to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups.” Numbers 33:54 ‘You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. What was the lot Joshua and Eleazar used? We simply do not know. They could have cast dice or black/white rocks or they could have used the Urim and Thummim which was kept in the breastplate of the High Priest, in this case Eleazar (cf Nu 28:30). This might explain why he was on the allotment committee. Compare this passage... Numbers 27:21 “Moreover, he (Joshua Nu 27:18) shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his command they shall go out and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” Madvig - For Israel the use of lots left the choice completely in the hands of God (see comment on Joshua 7:14). The old refrain "as the Lord had commanded through Moses" is repeated again to drive home the point that obedience is the key to God's blessing (The Expositor's Bible Commentary Volume 3)
Josué 14
Barber - He was willing to wait until God was ready for that promise to be fulfilled. This is where I’m headed today. Look at this man who was willing to wait upon the Lord. What God promises, God is faithful and just to accomplish it in our lives, but now listen—in His time. We must understand that God will speak to our hearts and promise us, but we must also understand it will only come about when God is ready to bring it about. These times, you may not understand where I’m going today. It comes when you’re in the land already. You’re already possessing the life. It comes when you’re in those times of being in the Word and you’re just absorbed with God and His word and His spirit is just so surrounding you. And God, off of the pages of scripture, takes a verse—never out of context in the sense that it will never violate what’s said there—but He’ll take that verse and He’ll burn in into your heart, and God will give you a promise. God will so speak it to you that nobody can take that from you. Now, He will bring that to pass only when He’s ready to bring that to pass. David was the king of Israel long before he ever actually took the throne....Being satisfied with God—just God Three things are involved with this divine patience that we see in Caleb that we can grow from today. First of all, it involves being satisfied with God, just God. That’s what it involves. You and I will never have patience in this life to wait on the promises of God until we come to the place that we’re just simply satisfied with God.....Now in our text here, they haven’t divided the land with the nine and a half tribes, and what’s happening is an interlude. And Caleb is coming to Joshua with a very special request. In verse 6 he’s reminding Joshua of a promise that God made to both of them. He doesn’t speak yet of the specific promise that God has made to Caleb and this has been 45 years. He reminds Joshua of the promise that God said “You and Caleb will absolutely possess the land. You will go over into that land.” J
Josué 14
Barber - the unbelief of the ten spies robbed that generation of the blessings God stood ready to give them. In this we are reminded of an incident in the life of the Lord Jesus. He could do no mighty work in Nazareth because of the unbelief of the people (Mark 6:5+). The experience of Caleb may also answer (at least in part) the question of why we see little of God’s activity in our churches. The unbelief of the spies did not negate God’s promise to His people, but it did deprive an entire generation of their enjoyment of their inheritance. Unbelief limits God’s power and robs us of His blessing.(Joshua: A Devotional Exposition) but - This Term of contrast. is like a light shining brightly in the darkness. Don Anderson - Whenever Caleb committed himself to something, it was 110%. He certainly was not content with mediocre effort of a half-hearted endeavor. The word could be translated "to show full obedience to God," "to follow the Lord fully." "Put the hammer down and let's go!" "All out!" O how much we need men today who are like Caleb, just to hear the prayers: O God, take me, break me, and make me. (ED: SOUNDS LIKE THE PRAYER OF EVAN ROBERTS "LORD, BEND ME" WHICH HE SOON DID AND SET AFLAME THE WELSH REVIVAL!) Make no mistake about it. For Caleb it was a very costly decision. It cost him three things at least: 1 . It cost him FRIENDSHIPS. He had to stand against the will of his companions and against the will of the people . 2 . It cost him SUFFERING . He was rebuked by the people, and they were ready to stone him in Numbers 14:10. 3. It cost the RELINQUISHING OF HIS OWN WILL. He followed the Lord in every area of his life I followed the LORD my God fully (male) - NRSV = "“yet I wholeheartedly followed the LORD my God”; NJB = "whereas I myself scrupulously obeyed Yahweh my God” Caleb is not boasting, but simply recounting the truth of this event. This godly attribute of Caleb is highlighted in this chapter again in Joshua 14:9 and Joshua 14:14. THOUGHT - Note that fully (male) is a KEYWORD in this chapter, and in fact should be a "keyword" in the life of every believer. Note that each of the 3 uses in this chapter are integrally related to the verb "followed" which in the Septuagint is epakoloutheo which means to follow closely, as in another's footsteps and should describe every "follower" of Christ "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow (epakoloutheo) in His steps." (1Pe 2:21+) And just as Jesus learned obedience - Heb 5:8), His followers should do the same, which is exactly what Caleb did when he "followed the LORD fully." O, to have this chiseled on our tombstones beloved. Wayne Barber - Now that is a powerful phrase. In this phrase comes the key to waiting upon God. The phrase “served the Lord fully,” or “followed the Lord fully, or wholly,” is a powerful phrase. God uses this phrase several times to describe Caleb. Numbers 14:24,“But my servant, Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered and his descendents shall take possession of it.” In Deuteronomy 1:36, “Except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it. And to him and to his sons, I will give the land on which he has set foot because he has followed the Lord fully.” In this phrase, followed the Lord fully, is the key as I said. It means literally in the Hebrew, “He was fulfilled to walk behind Jehovah.” He was fulfilled. The word fulfilled means filled full—to the brim. Nothing else was needed in his life. That’s the most beautiful thing; he needed nothing else. Let me ask you a question as we go through this today. What does it take in this life to fulfill you? What does it take? All it took in Caleb’s life was to stay behind the Lord and do whatever God told Him to do. That fulfilled Caleb. Whether God ever made the promise come about or not—it didn’t matter to him, God just said of him, “He served Me fully.” He was totally fulfilled to walk behind Jehovah. Caleb was fulfilled to walk behind Jehovah. It says he had a different spirit. In contrast to whom? Well, certainly in contrast to those other 10 spies years before and even along the way. They were rebellious. They chose not to believe God. They needed more than just God. They weren’t fulfilled with just God. They had to have the other stuff that goes with it. His lifestyle was so apparent that even God said he fully followed Me. How would you like on your tombstone to say, “He fully followed God.” Would that not be incredible! The word of God brings that out about Caleb. God, Himself, said this about Caleb. We live in a day when people have to have so much else than just Jesus. Anything but Jesus it seems. Anything but the word of God; anything but the will of God. I need more and more. How convicting this was as I was studying, I’m telling you! How much of what I have in life is really needed? How much is needed to fulfill Wayne? And it brings us to a sobriety. It brings us to a sanity of what Christianity is. They say in Romania when Jesus is all you have, that’s the only time you discover He’s all you ever needed. All that fulfilled Caleb was to stay behind Jehovah. Just doing what he said, walking in His will. It wasn’t what God did for Him, it was who God was that satisfied Caleb. If we’re going to be patient in possessing the promises God has given to us, we are going to have to come to the place where we are satisfied with God and God alone. Therefore, we don’t have strings attached. We don’t have agendas that we are getting God to do for us. We’re just enjoying Him. A person who is not fully following God, I’m telling you, is a person who has never become satisfied with just God and God alone. That’s why we obey our flesh. That’s why we go other ways, because we’re just not satisfied with Him. The result in Caleb’s life was powerful. It not only affected Caleb, but the promise said, “You will possess the land and you’re children.” It’s incredible how this fell this week and not next week. Next week is Father’s Day. Dads, just let me say to you—and all of us have been there. Many of us have our failures, just like Israel. I’m there. I can’t point a finger—but I tell you what, it tells us if we get our hearts right with God. We come to the place that we’re just satisfied with Him. And I want to tell you something, that spills right into your children. Not only will you possess the promise God has given to you, but your children will possess what has been said to you. Phillip Keller on follow the LORD - In summary, "To follow the Lord" implied seven specific attitudes: (1) To love God and serve Him in total allegiance.(2) To be set apart at personal cost to serve God. (3) To relinquish one's own personal aims and ambitions for the welfare of others. (4) To play the part of a servant in ministering to God and His people. (5) To readily accept God's arrangements without question or complaining. (6) To gladly comply with His commands no matter how difficult or absurd they might seem. (7) To simply step out in fearless faith to do whatever God's will might be. On the surf ace these seem simple and straightforward. In actual execution they demand the ultimate, total surrender of a man's will, emotions, mind and spirit to God. Because there are so few of us totally available to God's purposes in this way, seldom does His Spirit indwell a man or woman in such stupendous measure to become a formidable force in the world. (Joshua: Man of Fearless Faith) Caleb was a man of conviction - Henry Ford had the conviction that millions of cars could solve our transportation problems. He created the first assembly line for production and the rest is history. Samuel Morse had the conviction that electricity would carry a message over a wire in spite of being mocked and scorned. He held to his convictions, erecting a wire between a hotel in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. A United States senator heard the first words … “Behold what God hath wrought!” It is amazing what the Lord can do and will do with a man or woman of God with conviction. (Mattoon) Fully (04390)(male) means to fill or to be full, to complete, to fulfill, to finish, to satisfy. Male is used of something full in both the spatial and temporal sense, in Caleb's case in a figurative sense. It describes wholehearted obedience and commitment. GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 14 8. I wholly followed the Lord. Heb. מלאתי אחרי יהוח millëthi ahari Yehovah, fulfilled after the Lord. Arab. ‘I perfected my obedience before the Lord my God.’ On the import of this expression, see Note on Num. 14:24. The energy of the expression is well preserved in our version. The words give the idea of a traveller, who, intent upon following his guide, so treads in his steps, as to leave hardly any void space between. As he had obtained this testimony from God himself, it was not vain-glory for him to speak of it, especially as this was the main ground on which he had become entitled to the object of his petition. It is not pride, but simply a tribute of due acknowledgment, to declare what a gracious God has done for us and by us. It was peculiarly to the honor of Caleb that he maintained such an unbending fidelity to God when his brethren and associates in that service, except Joshua, proved so faithless and faint-hearted. ‘It adds much to the praise of following God, if we adhere to him when others desert and decline from him.’ Henry. H A
Josué 14
Barber - Learn to trust His timing Well, secondly, not only does this divine patience talk about being satisfied only with God, but secondly it involves learning to trust His timing. God knows, when He speaks the promise, what He said. I mean, he said it. But He also knows when to bring it about. He’s got to prepare us. He’s got to get us ready to receive that which He spoke to our hearts. Remember what we learned back in chapter 1 that God doesn’t give all that He has for you all at once. He doesn’t do that. That’s not the Christian life. You experience what you’re able to experience. He continues to grow you and expand you so that you began to experience more and more of the Christ who lives within you. Caleb is in the land, but has not yet possessed what is his. He’s in the land. I mean, he’s possessing what God says was his in the sense of the nation, but he hasn’t yet come to that place of what God has promised to him. Forty five years have gone by, and Caleb has believed God all the way through; continued to follow Him; totally satisfied with God, promise or no promise....we can’t trust God’s timing, because we can’t trust Him. But when we learn to trust Him, and then just serve Him for nothing, because He’s worth it, then that trusting is enabled in our life and we can wait upon the Lord. He’s promised us something and if we haven’t yet experienced it, we can wait on His timing because we know who He is. We’re satisfied by Him. And what we learn is that God’s delays are not denials. When God has promised us something, God does not mean, because He delayed, He’s denying us that promise. No, sir! Donald Campbell makes an excellent point noting that "45 years is a long time to wait for the fulfillment of a pledge, a long time for faith to live on a promise. Yet Caleb did wait through the weary years of the wilderness wanderings and the demanding years of the Conquest. Caleb had strong faith in the promises of God. They sustained him in his difficult times." Caleb’s remarks provide information for determining the length of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. Caleb stated (v. 7) that he was 40 years old when he went to spy out the land. The wilderness wanderings lasted 38 years, thus bringing Caleb’s age to 78 at the beginning of the Conquest. Caleb then said he was 85 at the end of the Conquest. So the Conquest lasted 7 years. This is confirmed by Caleb’s reference (v. 10) to God’s sustaining grace for 45 years since Kadesh Barnea (38 years of the wanderings plus 7 years of the Conquest). (The Bible Knowledge Commentary Old Testament) THOUGHT - Caleb remained faithful to God and should be our example to emulate that we too will remain faithful to God, not only at the start of our walk with Jesus, but throughout our entire life! We must never allow ourselves to rest on our past accomplishments or reputations. The following psalm could have been Caleb's "theme song"... Psalm 91 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” 3 For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. 5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. 8 You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. 9 For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. 11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. 12 They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down. 14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. 15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.” Phillip Keller - Caleb took no credit to himself for his long life and sturdy endurance. He knew full well that it was the generous care and strong protection of God Himself which had sustained him all these years. Joshua 14:1-15; Numbers 13:1-6, 30 TODAY IN THE WORD In a recent survey approximately 900 business managers were asked: ""Would you continue to work if you suddenly came into enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life?"" Nearly 40 percent of the managers said they would quit. About 26 percent said they would stay in their present jobs. Interestingly, a similar survey in 1955 among business professionals found that only 14 percent said they would quit their jobs. Given the chance, would the Israelite warrior Caleb have taken the easy road to retirement? Not a chance! Not when he was ready at age eighty-five to kick the Amalekites off the land God had promised to him forty-five years earlier (Nu 14:24). According to Joshua 14-15, he successfully did so. Talk about finishing well! If Caleb were alive today, he might have his own workout show on cable TV--""Fitness After Eighty."" But we don't need to know Caleb's diet or exercise routine to learn the secret of his vigor. Caleb was a spiritual powerhouse, a man who followed the Lord with the fervor of a teenager. Caleb first appears in the biblical narrative as one of the twelve Israelite spies Moses sent from Kadesh to check out the promised land. He and Joshua brought back a good report, saying the land was bountiful and ready for conquest by God's people. But the other spies gave a different report; Joshua and Caleb were outvoted ten to two. So much for democracy! The faithless Israelites turned back at Kadesh and wandered in the wilderness for another forty years. But God did not turn His back on Caleb. That's because Caleb never turned his back on God. Caleb and Joshua were the only two men of their generation to survive those years of wilderness wandering. When the conquest was nearly complete and the land of Canaan was ready to be divided among the Israelite tribes, Caleb approached Joshua to claim his inheritance. TODAY ALONG THE WAY What earnest Christian wouldn't love to have the epitaph that he or she had followed the Lord wholeheartedly? God has not made the path of wholehearted discipleship a mystery. If we seek Him, we will find Him. Joshua 14:1-15:19 TODAY IN THE WORD Billy Graham knows something more than the courage of battle or victory over oppression. His legacy is of moral courage, winning spiritual battles in an age of immorality. He said, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” Caleb had that kind of courage. It's hard not to smile when reading his words. He's 85 and still as strong as ever. Bring on the Anakites! The conversation between Joshua and Caleb must have been a sight to behold. Joshua was probably about one hundred years old (24:29). No one else in the entire country would have been within twenty years of those two venerable leaders. And Caleb brings us back in time to when he and Joshua were the lone voices of courage among the spies. That courage hadn't dwindled in either of them, and it's so refreshing to hear confident words of faith from men who had walked with God for decades. Notice that Caleb doesn't want his portion to be any of the lands conquered thus far. He specifically requests an inheritance in the land that is protected by fortified cities. He wasn't content just to have faith in God, he wanted to put his faith in action. If you were to read past Joshua and into the first chapter of Judges, you'd see Caleb's story from chapter 15 repeated almost verbatim—Caleb delivered on his promise to drive the Anakites out from the land. But in the other battles recorded at the outset of Judges, Caleb is the only one mentioned who drove out the enemy from the land he inherited (Judg. 1:20). Every other tribe in that passage failed to rid the land of their opponents. An interesting note awaits us at the conclusion of chapter 14. The land changed names because Caleb drove out the descendants of the man for whom it was originally named. Despite all the land Caleb received, a finer reward was the compliment he received in verse 14: “He followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.” No inheritance can ever take the place of such a legacy. TODAY ALONG THE WAY - Caleb's example is an inspirational reminder of purpose for believers of all ages. Retirement was definitely not in Caleb's vocabulary. That isn't to say that retiring from a vocation is unbiblical or undeserved. Rather, following God with courage and confidence is a lifelong pursuit. And for those far younger than Caleb was in today's reading, remember that the end goal of life is not to rest from all labor but to serve Him wholeheartedly for as long as we can. GEORGE BUSH Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Joshua - Chapter 14 10. Hath kept me alive. Heb. החיח אותי hehëyâh othi, hath vivified me. See on ch. 6:25. According to our previous interpretation, it implies that he was kept alive, when, in the ordinary course of things, he would have been dead; that it was in despite of the tendencies of nature to decay and dissolution that he now stood among the living in so much health and strength. His present existence was a kind of resurrection from the dead. The longer we live, the more sensible should we be of the special upholding hand of Providence in prolonging our frail and forfeited lives. These forty and five years. Of which thirty-eight were spent in the wilderness, and seven in the prosecution of the wars in Canaan. Wandered in the wilderness, Heb. הלך hâlak, walked. As a punishment for their unbelief and rebellion. Lo, I am this day four score and five years old. Heb. ‘a son of fourscore and five years.’ Caleb was now, with the exception of Joshua, not only the oldest man in all Israel, but was twenty years older than any of them; for all that were above twenty when he was forty, had died in the wilderness. ‘It was fit, therefore, that this phœnix of his age should have some particular marks of honor put upon him in the dividing of the land.’ Henry. Joshua 14:11 "I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. De 31:2 34:7 Ps 90:10 Ps 103:5 Joshua 14 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Deuteronomy 34:7 Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. Psalms 90:10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. AND OCTOGENARIAN WHO FEELS LIKE A 40 YEAR OLD! An octogenarian is a person between 80 and 90 years of age. Age eighty-five and still going strong - would it be that all of us could say this at that age (or even at 75 or 65!)