CALEB
Caleb
Caleb was in the Exodus with Moses, Aaron and Joshua. He was one of the twelve spies sent to scout the land of Canaan. He gave an honest report, as did Joshua, and was granted entrance to the promised land later. When Israel entered Canaan forty years later, Caleb was granted by Joshua, the area around the city of Hebron, for his faithfulness.
Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him a son named Hur. Caleb promised the hand of his daughter Achsah in marriage to any Israelite who would conquer Debir, and Othniel won the battle. Caleb is found in the Books of Joshua, Judges, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles.
Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, noted for his faith in God when the Hebrew nation refuses to enter the “promised land” of Canaan.
When the Hebrews came to the outskirts of Canaan, the land they believed had been promised them by God, after having fled slavery in Egypt, Moses (the Hebrew leader) sent twelve scouts (or spies, meraglim
in Hebrew) into Canaan to report on what was there–one spy
representing each of the twelve (landed) tribes. Ten of the scouts
returned to say that the land would be impossible to claim, and that
giants lived there who would crush the Hebrew army. Only two, Joshua
(from the tribe of Ephraim) and Caleb (representing Judah), returned
and said that God would be able to deliver Canaan into the hands of the
Hebrew nation.
The Bible records that, because of the testimony of the ten scouts,
the Hebrews chose not to enter Canaan: for this disobedience, God
caused them to wander in the desert for forty years before being
allowed to enter Canaan and conquer it as their home. It is said that
the only adult Hebrews allowed to survive these forty years and enter
Canaan were Joshua and Caleb, as a reward for their faith in God. This
story is recorded in the Book of Numbers.
He is mentioned again later, being more than 80 years old, talking
about his thankfulness for God’s blessings. (Joshua 14:6-11) The city
of Hebron and its surrounding territory was assigned to him. He then declared that the one who conquered Debir (Kiriath-Sepher) should be given his daughter Achsah as a wife. The one winning this prize was his nephew Othniel, who later became the first judge after Joshua (Joshua 15:13-19).
As outlined in The Jewish Encyclopedia, Caleb exists on several levels. At the most basic level, “Caleb” signifies “dog” and may be the eponymous ancestor of the Calebite clan. At this level, his second “wife” Ephrath (I Chronicles ii. 19 and 50; iv. 4) may simply be a personification of the ancient Canaanite city of that name, awarded to the clan.
Tradition places Caleb’s tomb near that of Joshua who, according to Joshua 24:30, is buried in Timnat Serah ( also known as Timnath-heres). The similarly named Palestinian village of Kifl Hares, located northwest of Ariel in the Samarian region of the West Bank, now encircles both tombs.
Caleb
(1) Caleb, Son of Jephone, The Cenezite. – The representative of the tribe of Juda among the spies sent from Cades to explore Chanaan. On their return he and Josue
combated the exaggerated reports of the other spies and endeavored to
reassure the people, but without success, and in the mutiny which broke
out they nearly fell victims to the popular fury. In reward for thier
conduct they were exempted from the decree condemning the adult population to die in the desert (Numbers 13:14; Deuteronomy 1:19-36). Caleb was appointed one of the commissioners to divide the Promised Land among the tribes (Numbers 34:19). On the strength of the Divine promise made to him at Cades at the time of the mutiny (Numbers 14:24), he asked and obtained as his portion the district of Hebron (Joshua 14:6 sq.); the city itself was, however, assigned to the priests (Joshua 21:11-13).
Though he was then in his eighty-fifth year, he still possessed the
full vigour of manhood, and took the field to conquer the territory
alloted to him (Joshua 14:7 sq.; 15:13 sq.). We last hear of him in connection with the marriage of his daughter Axa to his brother Othoniel (Joshua 15:16-19; Judges 1:12-15). It may be remarked that probably neither “brother” nor “daughter” is to be taken in the strict sense. Caleb is praised by the son of Sirach with the great men of Israel (Sirach 46:9 sq.), and Mathathias numbers him among the Israelites distinguished for their zeal and faith (1 Maccabees 2:56). Although a prominent figure in Hebrew history, Caleb seems not to have been an Israelite by birth, but to have become a member of the Chosen People by adoption into the Tribe of Juda. This is intimated by Joshua 15:13, where Caleb is distinguished from the sons of Juda, by the designation Cenezite (háqqenizzi), which is a gentilitial form, and by the absence of Cenez and Jephone from the genealogical lists of Juda in 1 Chronicles 2. A Cenez appears among the grandchildren of Esau (Genesis 36:11, 15, 42), and a tribe of Cenezites, no doubt descendants of this Cenez, is mentioned in Genesis 15:19. Caleb probably was connected with this tribe. Admission to full tribal membership of strangers who embraced the Hebrew religion and customs was not foreign to Hebrew practice, and the Edomites, children of Abraham and Isaac, would be readily received because of their racial affinity. (Cf. Deuteronomy 23:7-8, where, however, admission is restricted to the third generation.)
(2) Caleb, Son of Hesron.– A descendant of Juda (1 Chronicles 2:18, 42 sq.), also called Calubi [Heb., Kelûbái
(ib., ii, 9)]. He is only mentioned in the genealogical tables of I
Par., ii, where his descendants by different wives are enumerated. Many
identify thisCaleb with the son of Jephone, who, in the view stated above, would be merely the legal son of Hesron through adoption into his family. The reason for this identification is that both had a daughter named Achsa (written Axa in the Vulgate, Joshua 15:16-17; Judges 1:12-13). But, to touch only one difficulty, the son of Jephone could not have been the great-grandfather of Beseleel, who was a skilled artificer when Caleb was barely forty years old (cf. Joshua 14:7). To get rid of the difficulty, as Hummelauer does (Com. in Num., 202), by making Uri and Beseleel adopted sons of Hur, or by rejecting I, Par., ii, 20, is too arbitrary a solution to commend itself.
(3) A man of Juda, the brother of Sua and father of Mahir, whose name according to the Hebrew text is Kelûb (1 Chronicles 4:11).
(4) The name of a clan of the tribe of Juda, derived from Caleb, the son of Jephone, and his Cenezite followers–the Celebites. As said above [under (1)], they were not of Israelitic origin. They settled in the territory around Hebron (Joshua 14:12-14),
chiefly to the south, it would seem. They must have reached as far
south as the Negeb (the “south” or “south country” in D. V.), sinceCaleb gave land in the Negeb to his daughter Axa for dowry ( Joshua 15:19; Judith 1:15; cf. Heb. text), and a district of the Negeb was called the Negeb of Caleb (”south of Caleb”, D. V., 1 Samuel 30:14). In David’s time we find the Calebite Nabal, the husband of Abigail, dwelling in Maon and having possessions in Carmel, now el-Kurmul, ten miles south of Hebron. The statement that Caleb
is a totem name, derived from the tribe’s totem, the dog, and therefore
equivalent to “dog-tribe”, rests on no better foundation than the
questionable etymological connection of Caleb with Kéléb, “dog”.
(5) The Negeb of Caleb (1 Samuel 30:14).– One of the districts of the Negeb, or “south country”, a region extending from the “mountain” or “hill country” of Juda to the Desert of Sin. The Negeb of Caleb is said to be the district in which lay Ziph, Maon, Carmel (el-Kurmul), and Jota; in Jos., xv, 55, however, these cities are included in “the mountain”. [See Palmer, Desert of the Exodus (New York, 1872), 238, 358 sq.]
(6) Caleb-Ephrata.– The name of a place, according to the Masoretic text (1 Chronicles 2:24); but there is little or no doubt that, with the Vulgate and Septuagint, we should read “Caleb went in to Ephrata” (his wife), instead of “in Caleb-Ephrata”.
