“So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.
~ Joshua 14:14
Hi James and Ellen,
Who is your favorite Bible character? Caleb is one of your grandpaa’s favorite guys in the Bible. Caleb was one of the twelve spies who were selected by Moses to spy out a land area – which was the land of Canaan, which was the land area that God was giving to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . when the twelve spies returned from their foray into Canaan’s land area, ten of the guys said no way to going into Canaan because they were scared of the giants who they had spotted living in the land area of Canaan while Caleb was absolutely adamant that God would help His specially chosen guys in eradicating the guys, gals and kids who were living in Canaan’s land area. The opinions of Caleb and Joshua were ignored; the opinions of the other ten spies were accepted by God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Because God’s specially chosen guys and gals accepted the melted heart fears of ten spineless spies, God had His specially chosen guys and gals – who were the Israelite people group guys and gals, be wilderness vagabonds for forty years. Because God’s specially chosen guys and gals accepted the qualms of ten cowardly spies, God would have every guy among His specially chosen guys who was twenty years old and older – except for Caleb and Joshua, die during the forty year exile in a barren, hot desert that He had His specially chosen guys and gals endure. Your grandpaa does not know what Caleb – whose name means dog or snappish, did during the forty years that the Israelite people groups guys and gals meandered in the Arabah region. Joshua ended up becoming Moses’ right hand guy. Joshua 14 gives some insights into Caleb’s life. When Joshua scribed his Joshua Book, Caleb was already eighty-five years old. Caleb was a faithful servant leader for forty-five years among God’s specially chosen guys and gals– with forty of those years wandering about a wilderness region with a whining, bemoaning mass of probably well over two million guys, gals and kids and then another five years being a frontline soldier in the Israelite people group army that was made up of guys from each of the twelve Israelite people group tribal clans. Caleb seems to have understood why God wanted the enemy people groups of guys, gals and kids purged from Canaan’s land area – the land area that God was giving to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . which means seeing to it that every guy, gal and kid who was in each Canaan land area people group were killed.
When Jack Davids – who your dad knows as Uncle Jack, thought that he needed to follow through and do what the South America Mission home office leadership was wanting him to do – which was to return to Peru with his wife – Nellie, to be South America Mission’s Peru Field Director, a Bolivia South America Mission field team missionary couple – Ben and Joy Stones, came up with the idea of the Bolivia South America Mission field team missionaries meeting real early – like at five in the morning, a few days before Jack and Nellie were to go to Peru at the front of the house which they had built and where they were living to serenade them and to spend some time with them. Jack and Nellie had been missionaries for years in Peru before they moved to Bolivia – where Jack had been asked to be the field missionary team’s Field Director. Ben and Joy – along with your grandmaa and grandpaa and the other field team missionaries who went to the house where Jack and Nellie were living to help them bring closure to their time in Bolivia, sang a few songs and your grandpaa gave a short devotional before everyone began eating the food that had taken by everyone to the house were Jim and Nellie were living. Your grandpaa in his devotional used Caleb’s life as a parallel to what Jack was going to do – as Jack was getting close to being able to retire. Your grandpaa really did admire Jack that he would honor the desire of the South American Mission home office leadership that he return to Peru to be the Field Director there even though it meant leaving a very nice house that he and Nellie had built and the grandkids who his son James – who lived and worked in Santa Cruz, had. Your grandpaa really believed that just as God had fulfilled His promise to bless Caleb by giving him land in Canaan’s land area – that Caleb had to conquer first, that God would bless Jack and Nellie in their return to Peru because of their wholehearted desire to be obedient to God’s leading. Verse 14 says, “So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.” Your grandpaa was really encouraged afterwards by Jack when Jack told your grandpaa how much the short devotional that your grandpaa gave – comparing him to Caleb, had meant to him. Your grandpaa would be asked to replace Jack as the Field Director for the Bolivia South America Mission field missionary team when Jack left to go to Peru.
Are you wholehearted followers of God? One of the reasons that your grandpaa really likes Caleb is that he pictures Caleb as being a rugged, hardheaded risktaker – who your grandpaa thinks that other guys sometimes think who your grandpaa is. Your grandpaa pictures Joshua being more of a yes kind of a guy versus Caleb being more of a black and white kind of guy. Your grandpaa pictures Caleb being the kind of guy who he would like to have as his leader. Recently – during internship, a grizzled old missionary veteran saw your grandpaa sitting on the split wood fence at Bear Trap Ranch. When Dan saw your grandpaa sitting on one of the fence rails, he told everyone to quick take a photo of your grandpaa sitting on the fence because they might never get the opportunity again to take a photo of your grandpaa sitting on a fence. Just as Caleb held to his convictions, it is something that your grandpaa does.
Joshua 14 (721)