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Joshua 14

Joshua 14 places Caleb’s long-awaited inheritance within Israel’s division of the land, tracing both to YHWH’s word through Moses.

Israel’s leaders are distributing land in Canaan by lot, following YHWH’s command through Moses. Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal heads oversee the allotments, while the Levites receive cities and pasture lands rather than a tribal territory. At Gilgal, Caleb approaches Joshua with a promise made forty-five years earlier. Now eighty-five, he asks for the hill country around Hebron, where the Anakim and fortified cities remain. Joshua blesses him and grants the inheritance.

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1These are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed to them,
2by the lot of their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe.
3For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them.
4For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. They gave no portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property.
6Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea.
7I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart.
8Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
9Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’
10“Now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today.
11As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in.
12Now therefore give me this hill country, of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the LORD said.”
13Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
14Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel wholeheartedly.
15Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. Then the land had rest from war.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Joshua 14:6Caleb grounds his request in YHWH’s earlier word, calling Joshua to remember their shared experience at Kadesh Barnea.
Joshua 14:10Caleb credits YHWH with preserving his life through forty-five years between the promise and this request.
Joshua 14:9Moses’ oath establishes the promised inheritance for Caleb and his descendants, connecting that gift with Caleb’s faithfulness to God.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers and Deuteronomy recount the scouting of Canaan and the promise of land to Caleb, the earlier events behind his request to Joshua. Judges continues the account of Caleb’s possession of Hebron, including the removal of the Anakim mentioned here.

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After reading the whole chapter

What stands out in Caleb’s account of the forty-five years between the promise and his request?

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How does Caleb’s request hold together confidence in God’s word and the danger still ahead?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 14

How old was Caleb in Joshua 14?

Caleb says he is eighty-five years old. He was forty when Moses sent him to scout the land, and forty-five years have passed since the promise. He credits YHWH with keeping him alive and says his strength for war remains as it was then.

Why did Caleb ask for Hebron?

Caleb asks for the hill country on the basis of YHWH’s promise through Moses that the land he explored would belong to him and his descendants. Hebron is the inheritance Joshua grants. Caleb knows the Anakim and fortified cities remain there, and he looks to YHWH for help.

Why did the Levites receive no land inheritance in Joshua 14?

The chapter presents the Levites’ lack of a tribal territory as part of the arrangement commanded through Moses. They still receive cities to live in and pasture lands for their livestock and property. Joshua 14 describes this provision without explaining the broader reason for their distinct place among Israel’s tribes.

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Joshua · 24 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).