Just Who Is This Caleb? Torah Portion: Bamidbar 13:1-33 Parasha: Shelach Lecha
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Just who is this Caleb? Torah Portion: Bamidbar 13:1-33 Parasha: Shelach Lecha As we know names in scripture really have meaning in Hebrew. So, “Caleb” in English is a compound word in Hebrew. Consisting of two joined Hebrew words. which means; all, every, or can mean (כָּל ) The first part is a Kaf and a Lamed (לֵב ) whole. The second part of his name is spelled with a Lamed and a Vet which of course means heart in Hebrew. So, his name has the meaning of “Wholehearted”. It’s very interesting that so many of the people in scripture have names that they live up to. My own Hebrew name of Reuven means “Look a son”. I’m pretty sure I might be able to pull that one off. Well, let’s turn to our portion in B’midbar/Numbers 13, which is the first chapter for Parashah Sh’lach L’kha (Send on your behalf or send for you). 13 HASHEM said to Moshe, 2 “Send men on your behalf to reconnoiter the land of Kena‘an, which I am giving to the people of Isra’el. From each ancestral tribe send someone who is a leader in his tribe.” 3 Moshe dispatched them from the Pa’ran Desert as HASHEM had ordered; all of them were leading men among the people of Isra’el. 4 Here are their names: from the tribe of Re’uven, Shamua the son of Zakur; 5 from the tribe of Shim‘on, Shafat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Y’hudah, Kalev the son of Y’funeh; 7 from the tribe of Yissakhar, Yig’al the son of Yosef; 8 from the tribe of Efrayim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Binyamin, Palti the son of Rafu; 10 from the tribe of Z’vulun, Gadi’el the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Yosef, that is, from the tribe of M’nasheh, Gadi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, ‘Ammi’el the son of G’malli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, S’tur the son of Mikha’el; 14 from the tribe of Naftali, Nachbi the son of Vofsi; and 15 from the tribe of Gad, Ge’u’el the son of Makhi. This is where we first encounter Caleb/ Kalev and it describes him as a leader from the tribe of Judah/ Yehudah. This is very interesting because if we cheat a little and look forward to B’midbar/ Numbers 32 verse 8 we read where Moshe is speaking. 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land. 9 For when they went up to the Eshkol Valley and saw the land, they disheartened the people of Isra’el, so that they wouldn’t enter the land HASHEM had given them. 10 HASHEM’s anger blazed up on that day; and he swore, 11 ‘None of the people aged twenty or more who came out of Egypt will see the land I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov; because they haven’t followed me unreservedly — 12 except Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi and Y’hoshua the son of Nun, because they have followed HASHEM unreservedly.’ Here Kalev/ Caleb is mentioned again but specifies that he is the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi. Who are the K’nizi or Kenites as we would say in English? We can find a few references. The first being in B’resheet/ Genesis 15 beginning in verse 18. 18 That day HASHEM made a covenant with Avram: “I have given this land to your descendants — from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River — 19 the territory of the Keni, the K’nizi, the Kadmoni, 20 the Hitti, the P’rizi, the Refa’im, 21 the Emori, the Kena‘ani, the Girgashi and the Y’vusi.” It’s here that we see that the tribe of the K’nizi/ Kenites is mentioned along with the Hitti/ Hittites, etc. All these tribes lived in the land Hashem was covenanting to give to Avram who would later be renamed Avraham and his descendants. Obviously, we can see that the Kenites are a tribe that is distinct from what would become the children of Yisrael. In fact, another Kenite that is specifically mentioned in scripture is the father-in-law of Moshe. Although not mentioned by name in this passage, we could assume that it is Yitro/ Jethro. We read in Shoftim/ Judges 1:16 16 Next, the descendants of the Keini, Moshe’s father-in-law, went up out of the City of Date-Palms with the people of Y’hudah into the Y’hudah Desert south of ‘Arad; and they came and settled with the people. • We know Yitro/Jethro is his father-in-law when we read from the Torah as found in Shemot 3:1. Though he is introduced by a different name, that of Reuel in Shemot 2:18. It’s possible that Caleb’s mother was a native-born Israelite, but there is no evidence of that from scripture. Suffice it to say that Caleb and the descendants of the Kenites must have sojourned among the people of Yisrael to the extent that many of them got absorbed into the tribe of Yehudah/ Judah. Caleb himself becoming a leader of the tribe! Remember we know that sojourners are to be treated exactly like the native born of Yisrael. Vayikra/ Leviticus 19:33-34 Hashem says, 33 “‘If a foreigner stays with you in your land, do not do him wrong. 34 Rather, treat the foreigner staying with you like the native-born among you — you are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am HASHEM your God. Also, in B’midbar/ Numbers 15:14-16 we see; 14 If a foreigner stays with you — or whoever may be with you, through all your generations — and he wants to bring an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for HASHEM, he is to do the same as you. 15 For this community there will be the same law for you as for the foreigner living with you; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations; the foreigner is to be treated the same way before HASHEM as yourselves. 16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.’” There are many such references throughout the TaNakh as we know. These, along with large numbers of other scriptures provide the reasons we in this Kehillah have been convicted to be Torah pursuant. Whether we are native or from the nations. This “grafting in” has always been the case. When the children of Yisrael left Egypt during the Exodus they went out with a mixed multitude. Sh’mot/ Exodus 12:38 says: 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds. In fact, the great Jewish sage Rashi thought, as quoted from the Jewish Theological Seminary. “And yes, only one-fifth of the people chose to follow Moses—but Rashi also tells us that they were accompanied by a “mixed multitude,” as mentioned in Exodus 12:38. That multitude consisted of people of different ethnic origins who decided to follow the Israelites and who eventually became part of the nation of Israel and received the commandments at Sinai.” There are many specific examples in scripture of those from the nations who chose to sojourn with the people of Yisrael. Some of which are Ruth (who ended up in the lineage of Yeshua), Rehab, Uriah the Hittite, Cornelius, Titus, and of course all the believers from the nations that came to faith after our Mashiach Yeshua fulfilled His mission. As Romans 1:16 states 16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News, since it is God’s powerful means of bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile. So back to Caleb in this Shabbat’s portion. When the leaders reported back to Moshe after the 40 days of conducting their reconnaissance, they said in verses 27 to 33. “We entered the land where you sent us, and indeed it does flow with milk and honey — here is its fruit! 28 However the people living in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the ‘Anakim there. 29 ‘Amalek lives in the area of the Negev; the Hitti, the Y’vusi and the Emori live in the hills; and the Kena‘ani live by the sea and alongside the Yarden.” 30 Kalev silenced the people around Moshe and said, “We ought to go up immediately and take possession of it; there is no question that we can conquer it.” 31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people, because they are stronger than we are”; 32 and they spread a negative report about the land they had reconnoitered for the people of Isra’el by saying, “The land we passed through in order to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there were giant! 33 We saw the N’filim, the descendants of ‘Anak, who was from the N’filim; to ourselves we looked like grasshoppers by comparison, and we looked that way to them too!” In Caleb can there be a clearer example of a true believer, who is placing all his trust in Hashem? The One Who did speak, and the universe leapt into existence? Who said He would give this land flowing with milk and honey to His people as a possession? Well, so here we are in the 21st century.