1And these are what the Israelites took in estate in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the patriarchal heads of the Israelite tribes gave them in estate, 2in the portion of their estate, as the LORD had charged through Moses for the nine and a half tribes. 3For Moses had given an estate to the two and a half tribes across the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no estate in their midst. 4For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. And they gave no share in the land to the Levites except for towns to dwell in and their pastures for their livestock and their possessions. 5As the LORD had charged Moses, so did the Israelites do, and they divided up the land. 6And the Judahites came forward to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You yourself know the word that the LORD spoke to Moses man of God about me and about you in Kadesh-Barnea. 7I was forty years old when Moses servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him back word just as I thought. 8But my brothers who came up with me made the people’s heart faint, yet I followed after the LORD my God. 9And Moses vowed on that day, saying, ‘The land on which your foot trod shall surely be yours in estate, and your sons’, for all time, for you have followed after the LORD my God.’ 10And now, look, the LORD has kept me alive, as He had spoken, forty-five years since the LORDspoke this word to Moses while Israel went in the wilderness. And now, look, I am eighty-five years old. 11I am still today as strong as the day Moses sent me. As my vigor then is my vigor now, for battle and for command. 12And now, give me this mountain, as the LORD spoke on that day, for you yourself heard on that day that there were giants there and great fortified towns. Perhaps the LORD will be with me and I shall dispossess them as the LORD has spoken.” 13And Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh in estate. 14Therefore has Hebron been in estate to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day because he followed after the LORD God of Israel. 15And the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-Arba—he was the biggest person among the giants. And the land was at rest from war.
CHAPTER 14 NOTES
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1. in the land of Canaan. As the next two verses make clear, this phrase indicates the land west of the Jordan.
4. except for towns to dwell in. These towns were a practical concession to the Levites from the other tribes and not inalienable territory.
6. And the Judahites came forward. Although what is in question is the inheritance of Caleb, head of one of the clans of Judah, it is also regarded as a tribal issue because he is part of the tribe.
You yourself know. Caleb uses the emphatic form in which the personal pronoun is added before the conjugated verb, because Joshua was there with him, joining him in the positive minority report against the fearful assessment of the other ten spies.
7. brought him back word. This phrase is used in the spy narrative in Numbers 13:26.
just as I thought. That is, honestly. The literal sense is “as it was with my heart.”
8. made the people’s heart faint. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “made the people’s heart melt,” but in English that phrase unfortunately suggests gushing sentiment. The same idiom is used in the recapitulation of the story of the spies in Deuteronomy 1:28.
I followed after the LORD my God. The literal sense of the idiom is “I filled after.” The clear meaning is to carry out implicitly the will or command of someone. The same expression is used in the original story of the spies in Numbers 14:24.
10. I am eighty-five years old. The Talmudic sages, calculating that the incident of the spies took place two years into the forty years of Wilderness wandering, conclude from this that the conquest of the land took seven years.
11. As my vigor then is my vigor now, for battle and for command. The region around Hebron still requires conquering, as Caleb’s words in verse 12 show. The idiom rendered as “command” is literally “to go out and to come back,” and it means to lead troops in battle.
12. you yourself heard on that day that there were giants there. The narrative context makes clear that the Hebrew ʿanaqim is not in this instance a gentilic (“Anakites”) but means “giants,” the adversaries of daunting proportions before whom the ten fearful spies felt themselves to be like grasshoppers.
14. Therefore. As often elsewhere the Hebrew ʿal-ken introduces an etiological explanation.
15. Kiriath-Arba. The Hebrew name means “city of four”—perhaps, as many scholars have inferred, because it was divided into four neighborhoods. But here “Arba” is construed as a man’s name—the largest of the indigenous giants.