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Home , Anak, Caleb

Just who is this Caleb? 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 , ‘Ammi’el the son of G’malli; 13 from the , S’tur the son of Mikha’el; 14 from the tribe of Naftali, Nachbi the son of Vofsi; and 15 from the , 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 / 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 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/ :16 16 Next, the descendants of the Keini, Moshe’s father-in-law, went up out of the 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 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 . 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 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 —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 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 — here is its fruit! 28 However the people living in the land are fierce, and the are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the ‘Anakim there. 29 ‘ lives in the area of the ; 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. This little mishpochah located in the inland northwest of America is a microcosm of the global body of . We consist of both and those from the nations. We’ve been chosen by the grace of God and called to go out into a hostile world filled with “giants” that have evil intent and tasked to take possession of souls. Let’s turn to Matityahu (Mathew) 28: 16 – 20 for a refresher of what we as modern talmidim are sent out into this hostile territory to do. 16 So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but some hesitated. 18 Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age.” Right now, it’s looking more and more like that end of the age thing. Yeah, that could be us. Caleb had the heart of a lion because he knew the One in Whom he had placed his faith. He believed that as Romans 8:31 says 31 What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? And just as we look back in time to our Messiah, Caleb was looking forward to a Redeemer Who would come. The only One Who can give everlasting life. Because of this trust Hashem rewarded him with not only living through the wandering in the desert but was allowed to enter the and finally take possession of it. As they could have done nearly 40 years earlier if the majority of Yisrael had his same faith. In fact, not even Caleb’s strength had diminished in the desert wandering and in the conquering of the land. When finally dividing the land among the tribes. We read in Y’hoshua/ 14 beginning in verse 6. 6 The descendants of Y’hudah approached Y’hoshua in Gilgal, and Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi said to him, “You know what HASHEM told Moshe the man of God about me and you in Kadesh-Barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moshe the servant of HASHEM sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to reconnoiter the land, and I brought back to him an honest report. 8 My brothers who went up with me discouraged the people, but I followed HASHEM my God completely. 9 On that day Moshe swore, ‘Surely the land where your foot has been will be the inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed HASHEM my God completely.’ 10 Now, look: HASHEM has kept me alive these forty-five years, as he said he would, from the time HASHEM said this to Moshe, when Isra’el was going through the desert. Today I am eighty-five years old, 11 but I am as strong today as on the day Moshe sent me — I’m as strong now as I was then, whether for war or simply for going here and there. 12 Therefore, give me this hill, the one HASHEM spoke about on that day; for on that day you heard how the ‘Anakim were there with great, fortified cities; perhaps HASHEM will be with me, and I will drive them away, as HASHEM said.”13 Y’hoshua blessed him and gave Hevron to Kalev the son of Y’funeh as his inheritance. 14 So Hevron became the inheritance of Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi, as it is to this day; because he followed HASHEM the God of Isra’el completely. 15 (Hevron was formerly called Kiryat-; this Arba was the greatest man among the ‘Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.

Also, in Y’hoshua/ Joshua 15 it says. 13 To Kalev the son of Y’funeh he gave a portion with the descendants of Y’hudah, as HASHEM had ordered Y’hoshua, namely, Kiryat-Arba (Arba was the father of the ‘Anak), also called Hevron. 14 Kalev expelled from there three descendants of ‘Anak — Sheshai, Achiman and , children of ‘Anak. So, we see a nes gadol! At age 85 Caleb was able to expel three of the N’filim. Caleb’s strength and vigor had not diminished even though he was now 85 years old. Baruch Hashem! Like Moshe who was supernaturally strengthened throughout his life in order to serve Hashem, As, we read in D’varim/ Deuteronomy 34:7 7 Moshe was 120 years old when he died, with eyes undimmed and vigor undiminished. Now in our time all these centuries later. We, who serve the same living God. The One Who changes not. Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Should there be any doubt in any of us? That as we go out, seeking to know and to do His will in our lives, that He will bless and keep us. Empowering us through the Ruach Hakodesh to go out and meet the giants in our lives. To be able to do works we never thought we could accomplish, and indeed could not in our own flesh. Make no mistake. Our great and powerful King has called you and me out of the world. He has saved us for His purpose and at exactly this time, to be a light in the darkness. As we reflect the awesome brightness found in the light of our Lord Yeshua. We need to go out without fear. It’s well worth it for us to read and remember what Shaul/ Paul proclaimed in Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 31. 31 What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare even his own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us his Son, he would not give us everything else too? 33 So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous! 34 Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died and — more than that — has been raised, is at the right hand of God and is actually pleading on our behalf! 35 Who will separate us from the love of the Messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? 36 As the Tanakh puts it,

“For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”[a] 37 No, in all these things we are super conquerors, through the one who has loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, 39 neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord. In conclusion my brothers and sisters, it is my fervent prayer that as we go out from these walls, we will go out as mighty warriors! Not relying on our own strength but relying on the One Who strengthens us! Empowered by the Ruach Hakodesh! And all of God’s people said...... Amen!