Joshua 14:6-15·~1 min

Caleb Requests Hebron

Caleb reminds Joshua of the word spoken at Kadesh-barnea and recounts how he gave an honest report when the others spread fear. Because he wholly followed the LORD, Moses swore that the land he walked on would become his inheritance.

T⁶hen the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me. ⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report. ⁸Although my brothers who went with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, I remained loyal to the LORD my God. ⁹On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’

Caleb says the LORD has preserved his life for forty-five years and that his strength remains for battle. On that basis he asks for the hill country with its Anakim cities, trusting the LORD to help him drive them out.

¹⁰Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old, ¹¹still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, so it is now for war, for going out, and for coming in. ¹²Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day, for you yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps with the LORD’s help I will drive them out, as the LORD has spoken.”

Joshua blesses Caleb and gives him Hebron, which remains his inheritance because he wholly followed the LORD. The chapter closes by noting Hebron’s earlier name and the rest that follows this grant.

¹³Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. ¹⁴Therefore Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁵(Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba, after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.)

Section summaryCaleb approaches Joshua and recalls the promise tied to his faithful report at Kadesh-barnea, contrasting his loyalty with the fear of the other spies. At eighty-five, he asks for the very hill country once marked by Anakim strongholds, and Joshua gives him Hebron as the inheritance promised to one who wholly followed the LORD.

Role in the chapterThis section turns the general land division into a lived fulfillment of an old promise. Caleb’s request shows how the conquest is still joined to faith, memory, and the steady keeping of the LORD’s word across many years.