The Five Kings Joshua Conquered: A Type of Christ

16 But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.

17 And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.

18 And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them:….

22 Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.

23 And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon….

26 And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.

27 And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave wherein they had been hid, and laid great stones in the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day. (Joshua 10:16-18, 22-23, 26-27)

In Joshua 10 is told of the five kings that combined to fight against Joshua and Israel. The kings’ forces were discomfited and the kings fled and hid in a cave, and the Israelites were commanded to put stones over the mouth of the cave to keep them in there until the battle was over.  Once the battle was done, Joshua had the kings brought out, and he staged a foot-on-the-neck demonstration to show the Lord would help Israel conquer the land of Canaan. Then he had the five kings killed, hung in the trees until sundown, then thrown back in the cave and great stones laid in the cave mouth.

It seemed to me that what happened to the five kings was a sort of twisted type of Christ, though slightly out of order and in two parts.

First part:  Kings. Kept in a cave (like a tomb), with great stones to prevent them from getting out. With men set by to keep them there. And then they are brought out alive.

Second part: Kings hung on trees until sundown, then put in the cave with great stones over the cave’s mouth.

As you can see, the parts are out of order, so it isn’t a perfect type, but it is still recognizable how it anticipates the crucifixion, the entombment, and resurrection of Christ. And too, Joshua as the high priest orders all of this to happen, taking the part of the Jewish and Roman authorities who condemned Christ.

How long are ye slack?

I was surveying the Book of Joshua recently, and these verses stuck out to me:

1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you? (Joshua 18:1-3)

At this time, the Israelites had conquered a portion of the land, but not all, and 7 out of the tribes hadn’t yet received their inheritances. It seems there was a bit of delay in finishing the job. It is not clear from the text what the reason was—maybe provisioning became difficult for an extended campaign. Maybe the tribes who had received inheritances had lost their motivation to help others receive theirs. Maybe they were tired. Or maybe so much success made them take victory for granted, and they thought they could win anytime. (All that is speculation, of course.)

I think it is interesting that Joshua doesn’t ask about WHY they are slack. Instead, he asks, “How long are ye slack?” Asking that question helps pin down whether the intent to accomplish the task is really there or not. Because if procrastination is a cover for an intent to avoid it permanently, the answer is something like, “Uh…I don’t know.” But if the answer is a definite time frame, there are often valid reasons for delay.

Joshua’s question is a healthy goad to use on ourselves when we’re slacking off. We all delay something sometime when we know we should be up and doing, and sometimes we just need a good kick in the pants from on high.

Is there anything you’ve been delaying? I know a few things I need to work on. Can you tell how long you’re going to delay? Why not get on it now?

I also think Joshua really internalized the counsel from God to be strong and of good courage. There’s an expectation in his question that the Israelites are strong enough to succeed with the Lord’s help if they will just get going and act. He seems like he’s the kind of guy used to doing five impossible things before breakfast.

Religious Misunderstandings Ironed Out in Joshua 22

1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God.

4 And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.

5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents.

7 ¶ Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them,

8 And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

9 ¶ And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10 ¶ And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to.

11 ¶ And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.

12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.

13 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,

14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.

15 ¶ And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,

16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord?

17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord,

18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the Lord, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

19 Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord’s tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God.

20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

21 ¶ Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,

22 The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, (save us not this day,)

23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it;

24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:

27 But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord.

28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.

29 God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.

30 ¶ And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased them.

31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.

32 ¶ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God. (Joshua 22)

This is an interesting story with details that are best understood with reference to earlier stories in the Old Testament.

The chapter starts as the children of Israel have finished conquering the land of Canaan (or as much as they could conquer). Joshua lets the Reubenites, Gadites, and half of Manasseh go to their possessions on the east side of the Jordan river. (They had actually been the first ones to obtain inheritance, but on condition that they would continue to fight alongside the rest of the tribes until everyone had obtained land of inheritance.)

V1-8 is Joshua’s dismissal of these tribes with a charge that they remember to keep the commandments and love the Lord.

-Take diligent heed to the commandment and the law

-love the Lord

-walk in His ways

-keep the commandments

-cleave to Him

-serve Him with all heart and soul

I have to wonder if Joshua was worried these tribes would forget God on the margins of the land.

V9-10  The 2 ½ tribes build an altar by Jordan, and it is said to be a very great altar, perhaps very large, visible all over.

V11  Rumor of the great altar is spread all around, and it causes consternation and worry and indignation. Why? Because in Leviticus 17:8-9 is a commandments that those who don’t bring their sacrifices to the Tabernacle’s altar are to be cut off (excommunicated). The tribes on the west side of Jordan jump to the conclusion that the 2 ½ tribes on the east side built this altar for sacrifice in opposition to the commandment. They worry this altar is a sign of idolatry starting in the eastern tribes.

V 12-14  The news of the big altar at Jordan in defiance of the commandments causes the western 9 ½ tribes to get ready for battle. To them, this altar, if built by one man, wouldn’t have been permitted by the man’s neighbors, if they were righteous. Therefore, it was built by the whole people on the east, therefore that whole group must be corrupted and require an army to invade and put things right.  To make sure the evil is stamped out, they send Phineas, the son of Eleazar the priest.

Here’s some quick background on Phineas.  Phineas is the same guy who speared two idolaters in their tent for committing ritual prostitution with the Moabites (see Numbers 25:1-15). Phineas was commended for his zeal in that act, and so he is sent to make sure that no idolater escapes punishment.

Also with Phineas are sent 10 princes of the western tribes to talk with the eastern tribes, according to the commandment in Deut. 13:12-15, to inquire diligently and see if the whole place is given to idolatry and find out if the rumors are true or not. (If the rumors are true, then the army gets called in to destroy the people.) It is a fact-finding expedition before the boom is lowered.

V16-20  The fact-finding expedition lays out the accusations—that the eastern tribes have rebelled against God by building an altar. They express the general worries that the eastern tribes will bring a plague on the rest of Israel just like Peor and Achan did in their idolatry and greed, which caused others to die too. (Achan was a fellow who took spoils from the conquest of Jericho and hid them in his tent in defiance of the command that the spoil was to be consecrated to the Lord. Because of his disobedience, Israel lost badly in their next military engagement, and he had to be detected by lot.(Joshua 7))

It is notable that they temper the accusations against the 2 ½ tribes with the supposition that maybe the eastern tribes have built the big altar in an effort to sanctify their land (maybe they thought their land was unclean), but princes say if the eastern tribes think that, they can come back and live on the west side of Jordan so they can be in a holy land too. This shows the western tribes were trying to think about what honest, good motives the eastern tribes might have had for building that big altar. This would go a long way toward softening the confrontation. People always want to be thought of as doing what’s right, and expressing some sense of trying to understand others as having good motives helps keep peace.

V22-29 The eastern tribes are very strong in denial of idolatry. They call upon God to punish them if their hearts are wrong and they ask to die that day if they are false to God. This is very serious stuff.

Instead, they say they have built the altar to try to prevent future problems. They worry that the western tribes’ descendants would someday exclude the eastern tribes’ descendants from worshipping the God of Israel at the Tabernacle and thereby turn the easterners from following the Lord. Their solution was to build a big altar in the exact pattern of the Tabernacle’s altar of sacrifice to show both sides that the eastern tribes worshipped the same God, that they knew what was done in the temple, they knew how it looked, and their knowledge was their license to participate. The altar was not for sacrifice, but to look at.

V30-34 Phineas and the 10 other princes are pleased with the explanation, and they go back to tell everyone else. Phineas’s declaration is notable too:

“This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.” (v31)

In what way had the eastern tribes saved Israel from God?

1)    They had given a good explanation that saved everyone from a fratricidal war. Yay for peace!

2)    They had brought up an important issue—the dangers of disunity in the future that might arise from barriers of geography, in this case the river Jordan—and taken steps to avoid it, such that descendants of Israel would remember to not exclude some marginal groups, thinking they were unfaithful. Excluding the faithful with hasty judgments has eternal consequences and Israel didn’t want to make that mistake.

In what way did Phineas see that the Lord was among them?

He realized that the eastern tribes had acted to try to increase unity and faithfulness. Efforts to do that are inspired by God. Further, by trying to find out what was going on, the fact-finding group got to learn of those unification efforts, and thereby they learned how God was working among the margins to increase unity, as well as in the center.

Seeing it this way—as efforts to unify and prevent future error—is what pleased all the rest of Israel when they heard it. Efforts to unify in righteousness always please the faithful.

So what do we learn from this story?

--It is important to find out the facts before lowering the boom with punishment.

--For those who are tasked with confronting those who appear to have transgressed commandments, it is important to share how things look and also try to imagine how it might have been thought a good thing. Imputing good motives to people helps keep relationships constructive.

--Anticipating future problems and putting in place solutions to mitigate them is helpful.

--It would be wise to avoid thinking that members outside or far from major member population centers are any less faithful than those at the center.

--Willingness to explain one’s actions to others helps keep the peace. Sometimes we may think we don’t need to explain, but people want to understand and people be understood.

--Efforts to increase unity among the righteous are inspired by God.

I think this is a helpful story because today our church isn’t just a little area. It is a global church and we are spread out all over, speaking so many different languages. More than ever it is important to avoid making prideful assumptions that put down other members. The Lord wants us to be unified in faithfulness and righteousness in spite of the distances between congregations and language barriers, and His Spirit works to increase that unity. We strive for unity in doctrine, unity in worship, unity in faith, unity in good works.

Addressing the question of a God who apparently commanded genocide in the Old Testament

One of the arguments I’ve heard from people who object to Christianity is that they question the Old Testament stories that depict a God who commanded the Israelites to kill the inhabitants of the promised land in order to take possession.  They point to those stories and say, “I can’t believe in a God who commanded genocide.”  They essentially frame him as a cosmic Hitler.

I admit that when looked at in this light, the stories are disturbing.

However, there are two things I think need to be taken into account.

First, if one charges God with crimes against humanity and essentially put Him on trial, then along with our modern definitions of crime, one has to use modern standards of justice.  In order to be just in this trial, one has to consider the evidence for and against the thing God did. If God had good reason for using His people to wipe out the inhabitants of Palestine at the time of Moses/Joshua, then God was justified. But if the inhabitants were not evil, then God was not justified.

The tricky thing is, there is not much documentary evidence in the Bible about what kind of people the inhabitants were.  And there is some evidence in God's favor, but it is scarce.  Because of this scarcity, it is tempting to acquit the inhabitants and condemn God, but actually our court standards require us to presume innocence until proven guilty. So one must withhold judgment against both the inhabitants that were killed and against God who commanded their killing.

And that leads to an interesting point where one presumes innocence of both the inhabitants and the God who had them destroyed.  But this might lead one to ask oneself, “Who is likely to be more innocent—man or God?”

Second, it might be useful to imagine ourselves in God’s position at that time and consider the particular situation God was in and the goals He might have been working toward and the cultural situation of the peoples He had to work with.

So, imagine you are God.

Ready?

You have a group of people who believe in you, and they have been slaves for perhaps a generation, maybe two. You’ve delivered them from bondage so that they can serve you and become a better people. They have practically nothing. They know how to work hard, but their greatest labors have been coerced, so you’ll need to teach them about being internally motivated.  They also have a sad but understandable tendency toward disobedience and complaining that you’ve been trying to train out of them with 40 years in the wilderness.

Where are you going to settle these people of yours? Is there an empty land that is reasonably easy to cultivate? How will they survive in the time it takes to cultivate a season of crops if they have nothing? (You’ve been feeding them with manna all this time.) Where will they get the tools and seed to use, if they have practically nothing? How far will they need to travel to get to this land?

Is there a culture nearby who has enough charity and care for humanity that they will be willing to give relief to your people? Will they be able to tolerate the religious duties you have set your people?

Suppose, for argument’s sake, that there was such a people. Would there be any need to give your people the command to destroy?  No, of course not.  Your people would likely find refuge there and over a period of years find places to settle.

Now, suppose that the other cultures are hostile to everything you’re trying to teach your people.  Suppose there are serious problems with moral corruption, perversion, violence, and injustice.  (Suppose you tried all kinds of ways to reach these people before and they don’t listen.)  You understand the pressures to culturally assimilate, and the last thing you want is for your people to start learning those nasty practices. 

Destroying the inhabitants starts to look like a viable option.  (Naturally, there are a lot of additional factors that God would probably take into consideration, along with a large dose of mercy and forbearance, but I think we get the idea.)

But does it have to be your people who destroy the inhabitants?  Wouldn’t it be better to let the inhabitants destroy one another?  There’s a small problem with this.  Nature abhors a vacuum, and as soon as one culture destroys another, the land will be taken over by the victorious side, so it would still be occupied. 

Why not destroy the inhabitants with massive natural disaster, like Sodom and Gomorrah?  There’s a problem with that too. If the inhabitants get wiped off the map with natural disaster, it is likely their possessions and tools would be too, and you need to preserve that stuff to help your people get a leg up.

Why not hit the inhabitants with a deadly disease then?  Problem is, it’ll leave all their stuff covered in germs, and while your people are instructed in cleanliness and washing as part of the law you’ve given them, all it takes is one person carrying it and you’ve got a pandemic on your hands.

Commanding your people to destroy the inhabitants starts to look more viable..

But why not try to use lots of big miracles to convince the inhabitants to receive the Israelites?  Well, actually God did that.  The news of the Exodus miracles and all the subsequent miracles spread to the Palestine peoples, but instead of deciding to help the Israelites, the inhabitants were frightened and most preferred to fight.  One king (Balaak) even tried to have Israel cursed.

Ultimately, these considerations still may not be convincing to some, but as a person who believes in the God of the Old Testament, they help me remember several things:

--A decision of the kind God made is an incredibly heavy responsibility and would require full and complete knowledge. In a word, omniscience. 

--I don’t know all the factors leading to this particular command, but the ones I can imagine give me a hint of how God worked with the conditions of the time.

--The Bible doesn’t tell the full story. But I have faith that ultimately there will come a day when all the whys and wherefores of God’s doings will be explained.

Probably the most worrisome aspect of this discussion may be the implication that such a command might be given again.  But I think that unlikely.  That particular command was instruction customized to a particular set of conditions, much like God’s command to Noah to build an ark was customized to circumstances in his day.   

Since God is omniscient, no doubt He knew that future generations would not have a full record of the conditions that would make conquest by His people necessary. He knew He would be painted in black colors as an angry tribal God, but since He intended to bear the blame and fault for all mankind to give us all a chance to repent, He was not deterred by that. 

When Jesus taught the people during His mortal ministry, He declared Himself as Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament. Since He bore the sins of the Palestine inhabitants, He certainly had authority to say when their time was up. It is possible that He intended our sparse Biblical record to be a test to see if people could muster the faith to believe He was good even though it might look like He did something that would appear unjustified.

Joshua 6: Following Instructions and the Battle of Jericho

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As the Israelites get to Jericho, Joshua has a vision.  He sees a man standing with a sword drawn in his hand.  This must have been a threatening sight because Joshua felt compelled to ask the man whether he was on their side or not.  The man said, “Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come.”  The host doesn’t mean “crowd”; it means “army.”  Joshua might have bristled at this because he might have considered himself captain of the Lord’s army, but he realizes this is either Jehovah or a representative from Jehovah, so he falls down on his face with reverence for the divine manifestation.

The man tells Joshua next to take off his shoes because he’s on holy ground.  This is similar to when Moses was told to remove his shoes at the burning bush.

After that, the scriptures say the Lord tells Joshua the battle plan and what they are to do, so they are pretty sure the man was Jehovah. 

The Lord’s instructions are quite unusual:

3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.

4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.

5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. (Joshua 6:3-5)

As I have noted in a previous post, this is a style of preparation for war which no one would ever have seen before and which we still do not fully understand today.  Some think the Lord knocked the walls down when the people shouted.  Some think the trumpet blasts weakened the walls, some think the marching weakened the walls.  Some think a natural explanation would prove it wasn’t a miracle, but I think that doesn’t take into account the fact that the Lord was the one who gave the battle plan in the first place. 

There are diagrams online of Jericho’s archeological excavations and it shows Jericho was built on a mound with one lower wall built on a retaining wall, then a sloping-up strip of ground, then another wall.  It looked like the wall was made of mud brick.  I have read elsewhere that vibration has been used in a lab environment to loosen soils in columns and bins, so it is possible that all the vibration from marching and blowing trumpets and shouting helped destabilize the walls just enough to cause them to fall down.

Again, whether or not there is a natural explanation, the fact remains that the Lord gave them the battle plan.  This is a great story because it shows us that if the Lord gives you the plan of attack, it takes faith to carry it out, especially when it sounds like something very different from what you expect.

Something interesting I noticed when I was reading was that there was a difference between what the Lord told them to do and what they did.  When you read the Lord’s directions, it seems to say that the seven priests were to carry their trumpets all seven days but only to blow a long blast on the seventh day.  When the text tells what the Israelites did, it says the seven priests blew on the trumpets all seven days.

Why the difference?  At first this seemed like disobedience to me, but when I thought about it, I realized that when the Lord told Joshua the priest were to blow a long blast on the trumpet, He didn’t say how long was “long.”  That meant they had to think about it.  Is 20 seconds “long”?  Is a minute “long”?  Maybe to the trumpeters, but is that really long enough?  Is a day “long”?  And too they would be most anxious to follow the directions as best they could and they might worry that if the trumpeters didn’t blow long enough they wouldn’t have met the Lord’s conditions for the walls to come down.  So, I surmise they decided to have the priests blow the trumpets the full seven days just to be safe.

This shows us that the Lord may give two types of commandments—the kind that are specific and the kind that are vague where you have to try to figure out for yourself what to do.  We’ve been asked to return to the temple often.  How frequent is “often”?  We’re asked to have family home evening.  What happens in family home evening?  We’ve been asked to strengthen our families.  How is that to be done?  (Can you think of any other commandments that are vague like this?)  We know what an easy answer might be if we’re trying to do the minimum, but if we really want the blessing promised for those commandments, we might want to take a page out of Joshua’s book.

Stories of Great Faith from Caleb and His Family

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I want to share some blocks of verses that show us a number of incidents of how faithful Caleb and his family was.  If you remember, Caleb and Joshua were the two spies sent in with ten other Israelites to spy out the land of Israel.  Caleb and Joshua were confident the Israelites could drive out the inhabitants with the Lord’s help, but the other ten were scared and scared the rest of the Israelites.  As a result, the Lord decreed the Israelites would not inherit the land in that generation and they died during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. 

Okay, let’s look at Caleb’s story as the land is being finally distributed:

6 ¶Then 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 Kadesh-barnea.

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

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

9 And 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.

10 And 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.

11 As 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.

12 Now 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.

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

14 Hebron 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.  (Joshua 14:6-14)

So here we see Caleb coming to Joshua, reminding him of how he had been faithful to the Lord and Moses had promised him that he would have the land he had walked on when he had spied out the land 40 years before. 

I love verses 10 and 11.  He calls attention to the fact that the Lord had fulfilled promises in his life that he would live to inherit the land.  It was a very long time coming, but it did come, and therefore it was a very big deal.

Somehow, fulfilled promises from the Lord seem that much more precious when they take time. You may have seen this in your life, whether it is something in your patriarchal blessing that takes years to come to pass, or some other prophetic declaration that you have clung to, or a commandment you have doggedly kept in hope of someday receiving the blessing.  I have a few long-term promises I've seen fulfilled in my life and I have a few I'm still waiting on.  One promise all of us members of the church get to look forward to is the promise of eternal life.

For Caleb, no doubt seeing that promise fulfilled made it that much easier for him to exercise faith that the Lord could help him conquer the land.

Caleb is still raring to go.  He says, “Now 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.” (v12)

What a great attitude!  He’s willing to take on the Anakims (the giants) and the fortified cities because he trusts the Lord will help him.  Even at 85 years old!  (And his 85 years old is still as hale-and-hearty as his 40 years old because of how he’s been blessed.)

I think in this chapter about Caleb we are meant to learn that Caleb had this faith and obtained his inheritance because he “wholly followed the God of Israel.”  (Notice, his obedience is mentioned three times in these verses.)
 
We should recognize that phrase “Give me this Mountain,” since President Eyring used it in a conference talk recently called “Mountains to Climb"  and he also references a talk Present Kimball gave about it with the same title, “Give Me This Mountain. 

Here’s the next part of the story of Caleb:

13 ¶And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron.

14 And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak.  (Joshua 15:13-14)

The children of Anak are the Anakims referred to before.  Caleb does just what he knew he could do with the Lord’s help—he chased them away.  The big scary giants that everyone were so frightened of turn out to be cowards themselves. 

This is a useful lesson for us today.  There are tasks that look hard but which are not really as hard as they look, yet we won’t find that out until we pluck up our resolve and get started. 

Here’s the next part of Caleb’s story and it involves his daughter:

15 And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher.

16 ¶And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

17 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. (Joshua 15-17)

This sounds really strange to us—we wonder why Caleb would make this offer because it sounds like he has no consideration for his daughter’s feelings at all.

Actually, I suspect it is a sign of Caleb’s faith and probably his daughter’s faith as well.  Caleb would have strong feelings about whom his daughter would marry.  He’s a faithful man, strongly committed to following the Lord, as we have pointed out already.  He would want his daughter to marry a man with that same kind of faith.  She would want a good husband as well.  I suspect they both reasoned that if they made that promise, since the battle was in the Lord’s hands, the Lord could (and would) give the victory to the man whom Achsah should marry.  I doubt Caleb would have made that offer without getting Achsah’s okay on it too.  She had the same faith as Caleb; she learned it from him.  And that is probably why this was recorded in the scriptures; it is faith on the same level as that of Rebekah going with Abraham’s servant to marry Isaac sight unseen.

So who wins the victory?  It so happens it is a man named Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz.  This is a man so closely connected to Caleb’s family that he would have had much opportunity to see and know Caleb’s daughter Achsah and also much opportunity to observe and learn their faith.  We must conclude that Othniel loved Achsah, otherwise he would not have tried to win her.  We must also conclude that he himself had an excellent measure of faith, believing it was possible to conquer Kirjath-sepher and that the Lord would deliver it to Israel, otherwise, again he wouldn’t have tried.

So then, the story continues with Achsah going to Othniel as his bride:

18 And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?

19 Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs.   (Joshua 15:18-19)

Achsah convinced her husband-to-be to ask for land from her father and then she asks for springs for them.  She’s got a lot of influence with both Othniel and her father if she can ask them to do things and give her things.  But she didn’t get that influence with pettiness or greed or tantrumming.  She got that influence by a very long history of trustworthiness and wise decisions. 

Interestingly, the south land she was referring to (which had been given to her and Othniel) was very dry wilderness.  She didn’t complain about that land; she just wanted more resources to help her cultivate it.  She was willing to take a difficult, uninviting place and put in the hard work to make it fruitful.  Likely she had the faith that having obtained that land, the Lord could help her and her husband cultivate it.

To finish the story of Caleb’s family, we go to Judges:

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

8 ¶Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

10 And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

11 And the land had rest forty years... (Judges 3:7-11)

Because of Othniel’s faith to fight Kirjath-sepher, he had faith the Lord would help him overcome the king of Mesopotamia and he became the first of Israel’s judges after Joshua died. 

So we see that Caleb’s family had this same faith in God Caleb had, which faith gave them strength to do difficult things.  If this family ever had a family motto, it probably would have to be “I can do all things through the Lord, who strengthens me.”

I could use more of that kind of faith in my life.  Where do you want that faith in your life?