Caleb: The Spy
by Pastor Ronald Boelte
What or who do you think of when you think of a spy? If you're like me,
your first thought is 007, James Bond as seen on the movie screen. In real
life Caleb is one of the 12 spies Moses sends into the Promise Land. Their
job is to spy out Canaan; to see how to best enter the land and to make it
their own.
Joshua and Caleb are alone in bringing back an encouraging report about
the land. He is the one who encourages the spies to bring back some of the
fruits of this land as an encouragement and to show the fertility of
Canaan. Because of their good report, Joshua and Caleb, out of all that
came out of Egypt, would be allowed to enter the Promise Land. When the
country was finally divided, Caleb and Joshua received the portions that
had been intended for the other spies.
The often over looked fact of this story from the Bible is that the
wilderness journey did not take that long physically. In reality they
could have entered the Promise Land after only a few months. The fact is
that the wilderness journey is a punishment for those who refused to enter
the Promise Land when they first had a chance. The Lord's anger was
kindled against Israel and they were placed into a holding pattern until
all who had spoken against entering the land had died.
Caleb was forty when this event occurred and it was not until
forty-five years later that he received his reward for being one of the
faithful. At age eighty-five Joshua blesses Caleb and gives him the land
of Hebron as his inheritance. The Bible says that God blessed him because
"he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel."
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