Caleb
"Give me this mountain," he said at 85, still trusting God.
Old Testament · c. 13th century BC · Numbers, Joshua · Also known as Son of Jephunneh
About Caleb
Caleb, from the tribe of Judah, was one of twelve spies Moses sent into Canaan. Ten came back afraid of giants; Caleb said, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." With Joshua, he urged the people to trust God, and they wanted to stone them. God said Caleb "had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully," and he alone with Joshua of that generation entered the land. At eighty-five, still strong, he asked for the hill country of Hebron, where the giants lived, and took it.
The Anakim, "giants" in older translations, were tall inhabitants of Canaan, especially around Hebron. Because of their unbelief, that generation of Israel wandered forty years in the wilderness; only Caleb and Joshua entered the land.
The story
Well able to overcome it
The spies brought back a cluster of grapes so big two men carried it on a pole, but ten said the people were giants: "we were in our own sight as grasshoppers." "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it."
Numbers 13:23-33
Another spirit
The people wept and wanted to go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb said, "the LORD is with us: fear them not." The people wanted to stone them. God said that generation would not enter the land, "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land."
Numbers 14:1-24
Give me this mountain
Forty-five years later, Caleb came to Joshua: "lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me… Now therefore give me this mountain." Joshua blessed him and gave him Hebron, "because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel."
Joshua 14:6-14
Springs of water
Caleb drove out the Anakim from Hebron, and gave his daughter Achsah in marriage to Othniel, who captured Debir. When Achsah asked her father, "Give me a blessing… give me also springs of water," Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.
Joshua 15:13-19
Key moments
- Sent as a spy: From the tribe of Judah. (Numbers 13:6)
- "Well able to overcome it": Against the ten. (Numbers 13:30)
- "Followed me fully": God’s promise to him. (Numbers 14:24)
- Claims Hebron at 85: "Give me this mountain." (Joshua 14:12)
Questions about Caleb
In meetBible these answers are given in Caleb’s voice. They are written by hand and checked against Scripture.
Weren’t you afraid of the giants?
Scripture doesn’t record my feelings. It records what I said when the others called themselves grasshoppers: "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." Joshua and I told the people, "the LORD is with us: fear them not." Our confidence was in what God had promised, not in our size.
What does "followed the LORD fully" mean?
God said I "had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully." When I asked for Hebron, I said, "I wholly followed the LORD my God," and Joshua gave it to me "because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel." In context it means trusting and obeying God completely, even when everyone else turned back.
How were you still strong at 85?
I said, "the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years… and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me." Scripture credits God with keeping me, and doesn’t give any other secret.
Connected people
Read it yourself
Start with Numbers 13–14; Joshua 14.