Joshua Chapter 14

In Joshua chapter fourteen we find Caleb’s part in the inheritance before we go on to the actual division of the land among the tribes. The first verse of the chapter is enlightening for we see that the land is divided up by Eleazar the priest and by Joshua the son of Nun. In other words our part in God’s inheritance is given us by the New Testament scriptures, for Eleazar the priest is the direct descendant of Aaron the high priest who gave us the words of Moses the man of God. Therefore any questions we may have regarding the inheritance will be answered by studying the New Testament to see what our part and our portion should be. To the tribes of Israel the inheritance is divided by Joshua the son of Nun, for it is the man Joshua who distributed the land for inheritance unto them, and not Joshua in his role of Overcomer. We need only note also that the Levites have no inheritance among the tribes, for the Levites represent our speaking in the assembly and they serve the altar, as we saw in Numbers etc. Thus chapter fourteen is principally directed to the inheritance of Caleb, after brief explanations in the opening verses regarding the tribes, and God would direct our attention therefore to Caleb’s inheritance before showing us the division of the land. But because Eleazar the priest is mentioned in verse one before Joshua the son of Nun, we gather that we are meant to turn to the New Testament scriptures at this point and find there the answers that we seek, for before we can see clearly what our inheritance consists of we must see what our Lord inherited, and see His part in it all, and this of course is now portrayed for us by Caleb, rather than by Joshua.

Caleb is very similar in many ways to Joshua, and also to Moses. Indeed, standing before Joshua, Caleb is able to speak of “thee and me,” as two who had acted alike in the matter of spying out the land for Moses. Again, Caleb is able to say, “I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me,” reminding us of Moses whose eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. If we have followed through Exodus to Joshua we then can see that Moses portrayed Christ for us, that Joshua portrayed Jesus for us particularly in regard to the Cross and the resurrection as the great Overcomer, and that Caleb portrays the Lord who has entered into rest. It is to Caleb that the bride comes for the wells of water. It is Caleb who first enters into the inheritance given by God. And it is Caleb who inherits Hebron. Yet Caleb receives the inheritance from the hand of Joshua. This is borne out by our study of the New Testament. Our Lord is the firstfruits of resurrection, the first to ascend into heaven, the first to sit at the right hand of God, the first to see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, the first to enter the inheritance. We need in every instance, if we are to follow Christ closely, to see that He went this way before us. We need to see that He was the first to enter the inheritance if we are to be sure of our part in it. He is not only the Omega, the final answer, but the Alpha of our existence. God does not put us into the inheritance and then let us search around to see if Christ is in it—God shows clearly that Christ first inherited all things, that we may then receive them as gifts from the hand of Joshua. Thus Caleb beautifully portrays this role in our chapter.

But though it requires Moses, Joshua, and Caleb to show us these glimpses of Christ who should come after them, yet the pictures are all of the same pattern. Caleb enters first into the inheritance of the people of God with the words, “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day.” Joshua may give us the clearest picture of Jesus overcoming at the Cross and in the resurrection, yet in Exodus we saw Moses ascend into the mount of God that flamed and smoked to show us that it was at Calvary that Christ met and kept all the law in doing the whole will of God, and now we see again that even in the inheritance it is to the mount that we look first, and Caleb shows us that our Lord’s part in the inheritance is still the mount of Calvary. Our Lord in fact claims the mount as His own. Even if we were today to be physically crucified for Christ’s sake we still may not claim that mount, for it is His alone. Only our Lord can ever inherit the mount, and only our Lord can claim Calvary as His particular possession. It may be seen to be part of the total inheritance of God’s people, but it is His alone who claimed it for His own. It is His even “unto this day, because that He wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.” None but He ever “wholly followed,” and none but He can claim that mountain. In Exodus it was mount Sinai because it was there that God fully revealed His will for His people, but in Joshua it is mount Hebron because it is now part and parcel of the total inheritance of the people of God. We see nevertheless that it belongs to our Lord in a peculiar way.

“And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba: which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.” Greatest among the Anakims was Arba, and if we are faced with these giants we yet may see that the greatest of them all was faced by our Lord in the mount. But now the warfare is over, the battle won, the mount taken, the land has rest from war. Caleb has taken the mount for an inheritance for ever, and entered into rest. By the one Sacrifice our Lord has ended for ever the animosity and has now reconciled us to God by His blood. The mount where once He had to face the greatest of the Anakims is now the mount of God, the place of worship, the mount of rest and peace. Except we see this we dare not venture into the inheritance. The work of the Holy Spirit is not to lead us away from Calvary unto some mountain-top experiences where the Cross seems remote and unreal. Far from it. We need to see at every turn of the road that Calvary is the theme of the inheritance as well as the central point of the wilderness, that the Passover Lamb of Egypt is not forgotten in the excitement of entering the promised land, but that the Holy Spirit leads us on by revealing to our hearts more and more of the Sacrifice of Christ. Just as in Genesis we see that the two trees in the garden of Eden show us two sides of the Cross, so in Revelations the vision is of a Lamb that has been slain seated on the throne of God. Christ entered into rest first. The picture here is of the Lord receiving the mount as an inheritance from the man Jesus. “And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunnah Hebron for an inheritance.”