Basic HTML Version
Home at Last
323
of Canaan. He had endured the long wandering in the wilderness,
sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty. Yet he did
not complain, but praised the mercy of God that preserved him in the
wilderness when his fellow Israelites were claimed by death. He did
not ask for a land already conquered, but the place that, more than
all others, the spies had thought impossible to subdue. The brave
old warrior wanted to give the people an example that would honor
God and encourage the tribes to conquer the land that the earlier
generation had considered unconquerable.
Trusting in God to be with him, he “drove out the three sons of
Anak.” Then, having secured the land for himself and his family, he
did not settle down to enjoy his inheritance but pushed on to further
conquests for the benefit of the nation and the glory of God.
[256]
The cowards and rebels had perished in the wilderness, but the
righteous spies ate the grapes of Eshcol
Those who did not believe
had seen their fears fulfilled—they had declared it impossible to
inherit Canaan, and they did not possess it. But those who trusted
in the strength of their Almighty Helper entered the beautiful land.
Through faith the ancient faithful ones “subdued kingdoms, ... es-
caped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
“This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” (
He-
brews 11:33, 34
;
1 John 5:4
).
Another claim revealed a spirit very different from Caleb’s. The
children of Joseph, the tribe of Ephraim with the half tribe of Man-
asseh, demanded a double amount of territory. The area designated
for them was the richest in the land, including the fertile plain of
Sharon, but many of the main towns in the valley were still held by
the Canaanites, and the tribes didn’t want the struggle and danger
of conquering their inheritance, and wanted an additional portion in
territory that was already conquered. The tribe of Ephraim was one
of the largest in Israel, as well as the one to which Joshua himself
belonged. “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to
inherit,” they said, “since we are a great people?”
Eshcol was the place where, 40 years before, the spies had cut a cluster of grapes
that they carried on a pole between two men. See
Numbers
13:23
.
