CALEB – MORE THAN AN OVERCOMER

This is the story of Caleb. After 40 years in the wilderness. It was only Joshua and Caleb who entered the Promised Land from the old generation. They are both faithful men who overcome many obstacles to please God and fulfill destiny. Caleb is a true role model of faith, one who is more than an overcomer. He is mentioned six times in Scripture that he “wholly followed the LORD”. When all God’s people disobeyed God, and refuse to enter the Promised Land, this is what God said: “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it” (Nu14:24). God calls Caleb “My Servant”. Caleb has a close relationship with God, being humble, faithful and dedicated to God. Amid a crooked generation, Caleb has “a different spirit”. It was a lifestyle of spirituality, love, faith, patience, strength and courage. He followed God “fully”, without fear or doubt. He loved God with all his heart, mind, and soul. He is an example to all believers in Christ. God promised that Caleb will enter the Promised Land and occupy the mountain he stepped on at the beginning. His descendants will inherit it. Eventually, being 85 years old, Caleb conquered the giants and took over the great city of Hebron, as God has promised him. His faith led him to his inheritance! The city of Hebron was the first capital of Isreal before it moved to Jerusalem. Glory!

Caleb was born as a slave in Egypt. His name means Bold or Dog. Caleb is “the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite”. The Kenizzites were not Jews. They descended from Esau. That is why the Jews may have called Caleb “Dog”. It seems that the Kenizzites went to Egypt before the Exodus and joined the tribe of Judah. They shared in their slavery. They eventually became assimilated into the tribe of Judah. Lesson: Caleb overcame a very difficult background. From the hated Esau, his family became a part of the tribe of Judah, meaning Praise, from whom Jesus came as a Man. He also overcame the slave mentality to become a free man, a champion. Caleb married a Jewish woman called Azubah and they had three sons. Caleb was a family man. In Christ, we are redeemed from the slavery of sin to be under Grace.

God’s people arrived at the Kadesh Barnea, by the border of the Promised Land. God used Moses to command His people to cross over “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deut 1:21). But the people became afraid, doubted God’s Word and refused to enter. They asked Moses to send spies to see the land and bring them a report. The sending of the spies to the Promised Land was a sign of unbelief. Moses appointed 12 spies: one from each tribe. Caleb represented the tribe of Judah. Joshua represented the tribe of Ephraim. After 40 days, the spies came back carrying fruits from the land. Ten spies brought a negative report. They said that the land is good but that they cannot overcome the giants. But Joshua and Caleb brought a good report of faith. “Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (Nu 13:30). All the people believed the negative report and started weeping. They planned to go back to Egypt and stone Moses, Joshua and Caleb to death. God became angry. He punished His people. He sent them back to the wilderness for the next 40 years until all of them die there. Only Joshua and Caleb will possess the land (Nu 14:26-30). Amid doubt, fear, discouragement, grumbling and rebellion, Caleb kept his faith. The rebellious men wanted to go back. They only saw giants. But Caleb wanted to go forward. By faith, he only saw opportunities. He walked by faith and not by sight!

Please think of the price of rebellion: 600,000 men beside women and children left Egypt (Exo 12:37). Except for Joshua and Caleb, all these men died in the wilderness. There are 14,610 days in 40 years. That makes about 41 burials every day!!! Joshua and Caleb suffered in the wilderness even though they were obedient to God. They had to endure the grumbling of others, and the daily burials. As supporters of Moses, they had to endure the opposition of Moses’ enemies. As a man of faith, Caleb had to endure the unbelief of the foolish people who refused to learn from their mistakes. How did he keep his faith? Although his body was in the wilderness, so to speak, his heart and mind and soul were in Canaan. Caleb knew that regardless of the circumstances in the wilderness, he will enter and take over the inheritance God has promised him. He was free from the fear death. His attention was focused forward, on the promised inheritance to come. Caleb trusted that God would not fail him. Caleb was like Apostle Paul: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:1,2).

Lesson: we sometimes must suffer for the sins of others, but God does not forget us. At 85, Caleb is asking Joshua to give him the mountain he stepped on 45 years ago, when he spied on the land. He was still strong both in faith and in his body (Josh 14:6-15; 15:13-19). By faith, Caleb fought and overcame the giants on his land. Lesson: unbelief looks at the giants. Faith looks at God and defeats the giants. By faith, Caleb overcame the natural weakness of body and mind that comes with old age. Othniel, Caleb’s nephew and son in law becomes the first judge in Isreal. He carries on the family legacy of faith and courage (Judg 3:7-11). Our walk of faith inspires others to trust God!

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1Jn 5:4,5). Caleb is a type of a believer in Christ who is more than an overcomer. He was redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb. By faith, he overcame his family background, his old life in the world when he was a slave in Egypt, the doubt of the people in the wilderness, and the weakness of old age. By faith, he obtained an inheritance for himself and for his descendants. Lesson: Spiritual age is always much more important than chronological age and we have no excuse for not serving God. The overcomers inherit God’s promises!

The resurrected Christ said: “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev 21:6-8). Worship the Lord!