Caleb's faithfulness and its reward.
The history of Caleb seems to have a special fascination for the sacred historian. We read of him here, and in the next chapter, and in 1:1-36. Whether this were due to his bravery, his sincerity, his hale and hearty old age, or (see note on 1:6) his foreign extraction, coupled with his zeal for his adopted country and tribe, or from the combination of all these, it is not necessary to decide. Sufficient to remark
I. THE BRAVE MAN WINS RESPECT. This is sure to be the case in the long run. He may be accused of rashness, want of judgment, intemperance of language or of purpose; but in the end he secures the confidence and attachment of all. The lesson is especially needed in the present age. One of its most marked characteristics is moral cowardice (as even John Stuart Mill has remarked). Men are incapable, for the most part, of incurring the disapprobation of the set in which they live. Politicians vote with their party for measures of which they disapprove. People in society dare not raise theft voices against what passes current in their own coterie; they yield to practices, admit persons to their intimacy of which and whom, in their own better judgment, they disapprove. They dare not brave the unfavourable verdict of theft acquaintance. Yet if they did they would lose nothing by it. Even the careless and thoughtless respect fearlessness, and delight to honour the man who dares to say what he thinks. They may condemn at first, but in the end they come round to a sounder judgment. History continually repeats itself. The history of Caleb is the history of every man who is honest in setting himself above the prevailing opinions of the day. His report was unpopular at first. The people sympathised with the cowardly ten. But events demonstrated the correctness of his view, and he became a popular hero. His tribe came with him to support his request, and if he were not of Israelite origin this incident makes the moral still more clear.
II. WE SHOULD ALWAYS STEAK THE TRUTH. Caleb brought word according to what his heart told him. He sought neither to say what Moses would wish, nor what would be palatable to the people. What he thought, that he said. And this is one of the results of a heart devoted to God. Caleb "wholly followed" Him, and thus he had that sincerity and integrity which is the result of single mindedness. All Christians, and especially God's ministers, should learn to shun the fear or favour of man, but everywhere and always to "declare the whole counsel of God." As we have seen, we do not thereby lose the favour we have not sought. Because we have not asked for it (1 Kings 3:11), we have it. But this is not to be taken into consideration. Those who "wholly follow the Lord their God" will be men who never fail to speak according to the dictates of the regenerate heart.
III. THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT FAIL OF HIS REWARD. Moses had sworn to Caleb that he should have the land for his inheritance of which he had brought so true a report (no doubt, see notes, the spies went diverse ways). And now, after years of hardship and toil, he gained it. So has Christ promised a reward to them who seek Him. They must join their brethren in the toil; they must ever be foremost in the conflict, and they may be sure that their Joshua will give them an everlasting inheritance in the mount of God.
IV. THE REWARD THAT THE RIGHTEOUS SEEKS. Observe that Caleb does not seek a rich nor easy inheritance, but one full of danger. The Anakim, defeated over and over again, still lurked in the inaccessible recesses of the hill country, and their giant strength, protected as it was by the fortifications of these mountain fastnesses, made it a task of the utmost danger to dislodge them. This task the gallant old warrior asks for himself. "Let me," he says, "inherit the stronghold of the Anakim. Let me have the city of their chief" (see notes). Such a man was St. Paul. tits reward was the having preached the gospel without charge (1 Corinthians 9:18). He desires no other. And so the true Christian, he who "wholly follows" Christ, will desire as his reward the privilege only of being allowed to do and dare all for Him.
V. THERE IS A REWARD FOR THE GODLY IN THIS WORLD. Even the laws of the physical universe have provided a reward for virtue. A temperate life secures a hearty old age. The spectacle of Caleb, as ready for war at eighty-five as he had been forty-five years previously, may be a rare one now with our luxurious habits. But the principle holds good that men who live hard, work hard, and abstain from all over indulgence in their appetites, will as a rule preserve their physical vigour to an advanced age. This is a gospel which may not be very palatable to the sons of luxury, but it is true nevertheless. Common sense and Christianity are ever really allied, however much a narrow view of the former may seem to conflict with the latter. Luxury, sloth, excessive indulgence even in permitted pleasures, are fatal to the body as to the soul. Even the weakly may retain their energies to old age by care and self restraint. The strongest man will sink into an early grave who deems such things unnecessary. So true is it that "Godliness has the promise of the life that now is" as well as of "that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
VI. THE TRUE SECRET OF SUCCESS. Caleb (see Joshua 15:14-17) did not fail in his dangerous undertaking. But it was because he said, "if the Lord be with me." So is it always in our undertakings. He that is sure he shall resist temptation, because he is confident in himself, will find his confidence raft him in the day of trial. He who trusts in the Lord only, will emerge a conqueror from the struggle. In all things our support and trust must be in Him. It' we purpose a thing in our hearts it must be "if the Lord will" (James 4:13-15). If we have done anything by His help we must say, "Not unto us, O Lord, hut unto Thy name be the praise" (Psalms 115:1). Had Caleb relied upon his unabated strength, or on his undaunted courage, he would have fared as Israel before Ai. But since he relied on the Lord his God, the three sons of Anak could net stand before him; the stronghold of Debir must needs open its gates to his daughter's suitor.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE