Joshua 14:1-15

The Portion of Caleb

1-5. Introductory Section.

1. Eleazar the priest] The mention of the priest in association with the leader, to whom he is here given precedence, is one of the characteristics of the Priestly narrative.

4. The children of Joseph were two tribes, etc.] This reckoning, with the subtraction of Levi, makes a total of twelve still. Practically, however, Simeon became absorbed in Judah, and each half-tribe of Manasseh came to count as a complete tribe.

6-15. The inheritance of Caleb: see Joshua 15:18-19.

6. Thou knowest the thing, etc.] The promise to Caleb occurs in Numbers 14:24, and is referred to again in Deuteronomy 1:36. On Caleb see on Joshua 15:13.

10. These forty and five years] The notes of time given here and in Joshua 14:7 are interesting. Caleb was 40 years old at Kadesh: 45 years have intervened since then, and he is now 85. Allowing 38 years for the penal wanderings, we get 7 years as the period covered by the war of conquest up to this date.

12-15. Hebron assigned to Caleb: on Hebron see on Joshua 10:36, and on Caleb’s possession of it, Joshua 15:13. and note. On the Anakim see on Joshua 11:22.

12. RV ’it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out’: cp. Joshua 5:14 and Judges 1:20. It is a brave man’s word (cp. Joshua 14:11). Caleb welcomes the task the more for its peril, and the hard work confronting him adds value to the inheritance.

15. The name of Hebron, etc.] LXX ’Now the name of Hebron was formerly the city of Argob: this was the metropolis of the Anakim’: and similarly in Joshua 15:13; Joshua 21:11 for ’father of Anak’ LXX reads ’metropolis of Anak.’ This may be the true sense.