Yehoshua Chapter 14

Yehoshua_14

Yehoshua Chapter 14

This chapter opens by recapping the inheritance of the two and a half tribes on the eastern side of the Jordan River, as well as emphasizing once more that the count of “twelve” tribes does not include Levi – it treats Ephraim and Menashe, subdivisions of family of Yosef, as two tribes. The point is made that the apportionment of the land by Yehoshua, the elders and Elazar the Kohen Gadol is “as Hashem commanded Moshe”, it is just as significant and binding as that which was done by Moshe during his lifetime, and is in fulfillment of the same divine commandment.

At this point, the tribe of Yehuda, represented by the illustrious Kalev ben Yefuneh, approached Yehoshua to claim their inheritance. Kalev recounted his role as one of the spies dispatched by Moshe Rabbenu to scout the land forty-five years earlier; only he and Yehoshua returned with a positive and encouraging report and were, therefore, worthy of entering Israel. Kalev mentioned that he was only forty years old when he first visited the Holy Land as one of the spies; as he prepared to receive the reward he had earned for his faithfulness to Hashem, he had reached the age of eighty-five but was still as youthful, strong and vigorous as he had been forty five years earlier. He declared his readiness to vanquish the giants who resided in the territory destined to be his, and he proceeded to conquer the intimidating inhabitants of Hevron and settled there as he had been promised.

The Torah tells us that the spies went up to Hevron during their mission. According to the Rabbis it was Kalev alone who visited Hevron in order to pray next to the graves of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs who are buried there. While Yehoshua had Moshe Rabbenu as his mentor and source of support, Kalev had no special connection to him prior to the sin of the spies. Unlike Yehoshua whom we expect to side with Moshe Rabbenu, Kalev’s independent spirit and willingness to break ranks with the other ten spies was startling.

The Rabbis seem to suggest that he derived his courage and inner strength not from a close relationship with Moshe Rabbenu but from his meditation upon the example set by the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The Avot and Imahot had no interest in the approval of their society and made no attempt to “fit in”; they were fiercely independent and chose a path they knew to be correct, regardless of what anyone else might think. This is precisely what Kalev did in the episode of the spies and it was therefore fitting that he inherit the territory that contained the burial plot of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs whose memory inspired him to greatness.