Day 1,040: Joshua 14- Vigorous Old People

These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. 2 Their inheritance was by lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes. 3 For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. 4 For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance. 5 The people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.
Caleb's Request and Inheritance6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. 8 But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
13 Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.

Meditation
I pray the Lord revives older generations of Christians to lead younger generations in claiming the power of God’s promises. I pray for vigorous older saints to steward their lives so the next generation and people from every nation will know God and the richness of His promises in Jesus, until they say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight and finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7).
 
Caleb was eighty-five years old when he finally went into the promised land. His exemplary character is emphasized in personal description (8) and by the narrator (14). Caleb’s wholehearted pursuit of God and his promises during his days of spying (Numbers 13) continues to burst forth in his passion to claim the inheritance of God’s promises (10-12). Caleb’s vigor comes from concrete confidence in God’s ultimate victory.
 
Interestingly noted, Caleb was of Kenezzite lineage (6). Kenezzites were descendants of Kenaz, offspring of Esau and associated with Edomites. This suggests the ancestry of Caleb is non-Israelite and that his family was at one time grafted into God’s people. As Rahab the gentile was saved by faith in God and incorporated into God’s kingdom (Joshua 2), so too this foreign bred boy is the first noted to claim the promises of the Kingdom. The greatness of God’s promises are for every generation and people from every nation.
 
With vigor, we need the older generation of Christians to steward God’s victory for the next generation and people from every nation.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about Caleb’s description and his passion?
 
-Why is it important to note Caleb was both old and from gentile ancestry when considering the call for seasoned saints to steward the victory of God and the power of His promises in Christ?
 
-Who are you stewarding God’s promised victory to and for? How can you walk forward in faith, trusting God will lead you in relationships of discipleship with others?
 
Key Verse
10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.