Joshua 14 explained: Caleb Claims His Promised Hill

Who divides the land (vv. 1-2)

A priest, Joshua and a leader from each tribe oversee the sharing out, so every tribe has someone of its own watching that it is fair. They cast lots, a kind of drawing straws that people then treated as letting God decide.

Keeping the count at twelve (vv. 3-5)

Two and a half tribes already had land east of the Jordan, and the priestly tribe of Levi got only towns and grazing land, not a territory, because their job was serving at worship. Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each counted as a full tribe, so Israel still had twelve shares.

Caleb remembers the spy mission (vv. 6-9)

Forty five years earlier Moses sent twelve men to scout the land. Ten came back terrified, but Caleb and Joshua urged the people to trust God, and Moses promised Caleb the ground he had walked on.

Still strong at eighty five (vv. 10-12)

Caleb asks for the very hills where the Anakites lived, a people remembered as huge and fearsome, whose walled cities had frightened the other spies. He hopes God will help him drive them out, so he is asking for the hardest ground, not the easiest.

Hebron given to Caleb (vv. 13-15)

Joshua blesses him and gives him Hebron, once called Kiriath Arba, meaning "town of Arba" after a leading Anakite. "Rest from war" means organized resistance had ended, though this was land taken from the people already living there, and later chapters show many were never removed.

Key verse: Joshua 14:14

Something to think about

Caleb waited forty five years for a promise and then asked for the toughest piece of it. What have you held onto for a long time, and what kept it alive?