Joshua 14

These are the areas of land that the people of Israel received as their own in Canaan. Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of Israel handed them out.

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.

Note"Received as their own" translates a Hebrew legal term (nachalah) for a permanent family holding passed down through the generations. It is not property left by someone who died; it means a portion allotted and held for good. Eleazar was Aaron's son and Israel's chief priest at this time.

2Their share of land was decided by lot, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. This was for the nine tribes and the half tribe.

2By lot was their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe.

NoteCasting lots meant drawing marked stones or sticks to settle a question. The point was that no human negotiator chose who got what; the outcome was treated as the LORD's decision and so could not be contested.

3Moses had already given land to the other two tribes and the half tribe on the east side of the Jordan River. But he gave the Levites no land of their own among the rest.

3For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them.

NoteThe two and a half tribes east of the Jordan were Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, who had asked Moses for that grazing land (Numbers 32). The Levites were the tribe set apart for duties at the sanctuary; they were supported by the offerings brought by the other tribes rather than by farming a territory of their own.

4Joseph's descendants had become two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. So the Levites were given no share of the land itself. They received only towns to live in, with the open pasture around them for their livestock and their property.

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.

NoteThis explains the arithmetic. Levi received no territory, which would leave eleven; but Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, each counted as a full tribe, so the land was still divided twelve ways. The pastureland was a belt of open ground around each Levite town, held in common for animals and equipment.

5The people of Israel did just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

5As the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.

6Then the men of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.

6Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.

NoteGilgal was Israel's base camp near Jericho. "Kenizzite" marks Caleb's clan, which appears elsewhere as an Edomite group (Genesis 36:11) absorbed into the tribe of Judah, so Caleb may have been an outsider by descent and an Israelite by adoption. "Man of God" was a standard title for a prophet. Kadesh-barnea was an oasis in the desert south of Canaan, the staging point for the mission Caleb describes next.

7I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me out from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land. I brought a report back to him honestly, just as I saw it.

7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.

NoteThe mission is told in Numbers 13. Twelve scouts, one per tribe, went into Canaan for forty days; ten came back saying the land could not be taken, and only Caleb and Joshua said otherwise. The people sided with the ten, and that refusal is why the generation spent forty years in the desert.

8The men who went up with me made the people lose their courage and be afraid. But I followed the LORD my God completely.

8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.

9That day Moses made a promise on oath. He said, 'The land where you set your foot will surely belong to you and your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God completely.'

9And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.

Note"The land where you set your foot" was a standard legal expression for taking legal possession of ground, not a claim about the exact patch Caleb happened to walk on.

10Now look, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, for these forty-five years since he spoke that word to Moses, while Israel traveled in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old.

10And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake 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.

NoteThe forty-five years covers thirty-eight more years of desert wandering after the scouting mission plus roughly seven years of fighting in Canaan. Caleb was forty at the mission (verse 7), which makes him eighty-five now.

11I am still as strong today as I was on the day Moses sent me out. My strength is the same now as it was then, for war and for going out and coming back.

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.

Note"Going out and coming in" is a Hebrew idiom for active service, especially leading troops out on campaign and bringing them home again. Caleb is claiming he can still command in the field.

12So now give me this hill country that the LORD spoke about that day. You heard then that the Anakim lived there, and that the cities were large and walled. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and then I will drive them out, just as the LORD said."

12Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest 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.

NoteThe Anakim were a people remembered as unusually tall and formidable; the scouts' report about them in Numbers 13:33 is what frightened Israel off. "Walled" cities were towns ringed by defensive walls, which meant they had to be besieged rather than simply attacked, the reason the scouts thought the land unconquerable. Caleb is asking for the hardest territory, not the easiest.

13So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his own land.

13And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.

NoteA blessing here is a formal spoken act, part of confirming the grant, not just a good wish. Hebron sits in the high country about twenty miles south of Jerusalem; it was where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried, and it later became David's first capital.

14That is why Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite from that time until now. It is because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, completely.

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.

15Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

15And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.

NoteKiriath-arba means "town of Arba," named after the man. The phrase translated "greatest man" can mean greatest in rank or greatest in size, and the Hebrew leaves both open. "The land had rest from war" is a recurring formula in these books marking the end of a campaign and a settled period afterward.