Caleb
“Give me this mountain.”
One of only two out of twelve, and the man who, at eighty-five, conquered the hardest mountain with his own hands.
Caleb was a spy from the tribe of Judah. When Moses sent twelve men to scout Canaan, he was one of them. After forty days of scouting, ten of the twelve returned and cried out to the people: 'There are giants there. We looked like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.' While the people wept and complained against Moses, Caleb tore his clothes and cried out: 'Do not be afraid. The land is exceedingly good. The LORD is with us.'
But the people didn't listen to that one voice. The result was forty years in the wilderness. That entire generation died there, and only two men — Joshua and Caleb — lived to set foot in the promised land. From Caleb's own point of view, those forty years were unjust. Through no fault of his own, he had to remain in the wilderness forty more years because of others' unbelief. Yet Scripture records not a single complaint from him. He stayed the course to the end.
When the conquest of Canaan was nearly complete, he stood before Joshua and said: 'I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me... give me this hill country.' The hill country he asked for, Hebron, was the hardest ground of all — the land of the giant Anakim. While other tribes received the plains and fertile land, he deliberately claimed the mountain that was hardest to conquer. And he actually did conquer it. The land of the giants he had seen forty years earlier as a young spy — now taken by an eighty-five-year-old's own hands. A young man's resolve that never got swept up by the majority's fear stayed unbroken, all the way to an old man's final conquest.
One of just two among twelve spies who said, 'We can surely take it.' At eighty-five, still saying, 'Give me this hill country.' A lifelong adventurer.
Defining Moments
The events that made this person who they were
The one whose report differed from the other ten spies
After scouting Canaan, ten of the twelve spies cry, 'There are giants there — we can't go in.' Caleb calms the people and says, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.' One man standing apart from the majority.
Following faithfully through forty years in the wilderness
Besides the two spies (Joshua and Caleb), that entire generation died in the wilderness. Through no fault of his own, he stays in the wilderness forty more years because of others' unbelief — yet he stays the course without complaint.
At eighty-five, asking for the hill country of Hebron
After the conquest of Canaan, he tells Joshua, 'I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me... give me this hill country.' A decision to take on the hardest ground himself — the land of the giant Anakim.
Personality
The colors revealed through their story
A steadiness that keeps his own vision in front of the fear of the majority
When ten of twelve waver, he continues to say what he saw. Someone who answers the same way even under the pressure of the crowd.
Faithfulness without complaint, all the way to the end
He spent forty extra years in the wilderness through no fault of his own, yet never complained even once. A depth that never makes another's unbelief the excuse for his own faithfulness.
In old age, still taking on the hardest ground himself
At eighty-five, he asks for the hill country instead of the plain — Hebron, where the giant Anakim lived, rather than a safe place. A resolve that never dulls with age.
★ Strengths
- Boldness unshaken by majority fears
◐ Shadow
- Frustration with the cautious
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