Inherit Your Inheritance
By Nick Rhoads
Today I want to share a devotional that gives hope. Staying power. Remaining true to our calling in God’s Kingdom.
How is the fact that the majority is often wrong Illustrated in Scripture?
Who gave a special inheritance to his descendants by following the Lord with his whole heart and refusing to accept the wrong conclusion of the majority? Joshua 14:14.
Numbers 13:17-20 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, ”Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land”. (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
Under the cover of darkness, a group of scouts quietly scrambled up a mountainside. These men had been handpicked by their leaders. The report that they were to bring back would determine the course of a whole nation.
The men found a place of hiding from which they could view the countryside and then waited. Soon the morning light filled the sky and the men looked out over the breathtaking landscape.
One of the men silently resolved that this mountain would become the heritage for his children and their children.
Meanwhile, the other scouts stared in disbelief at the massive walls of a nearby city and the colossal size of the giants who guarded it. “how could we possibly conquer such a stronghold?” murmured most of the men.
But two of the twelve reminded the rest, “Did not God promise to give us this land? Has He not already destroyed great armies and nations who opposed us?”
The scouts, divided in opinion, returned to their camp. The majority quickly spread their discouraging report. When the two courageous scouts gave their report and challenged the nation to trust God and obey Him, many of the people picked up stones to kill them. Minds were already made up. The people would listen to the majority opinion. The decision not to go in and conquer the land cost the nation and that generation. God put them in timeout. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Wilderness= Fear…Out of Egypt but Egypt was not out of them… The Majority Is Not Always Right
During all those years, the commitment made by that faithful scout was never forgotten. It gave him strength, vigor and purpose in life. At age 85, he again climbed that mountainside; this time with a group of mighty men who shared his vision and his faith.
This courageous man and his soldiers conquered the walled cities and the giants who lived in them. He was then given that mountain with its special significance.
Who is Caleb? He was born a slave in the hot plains of Egypt. His youth was spent serving the whims of a capricious tyrant. He was 38 years old when the Lord miraculously delivered His people out of the hands of the Egyptians. Caleb saw the power of God in opening the red sea and then closing it back over the enemy army. He observed the holiness of God at Sinai when the law was given. He also observed the reluctance of his kinsmen to obey the Lord. He was embarrassed by their petty complaints, grieved with their rebellion against Moses, and dismayed at their desire to return to Egypt. Caleb knew the greatest danger he faced was within his own people’s unbelieving hearts. God had already demonstrated His ability to defeat the powerful Egyptians. He could certainly defeat the Canaanites!!!
- Why was the hill country of Hebron so significant to Caleb?
It was at Hebron that Abraham built an altar immediately after the promise (inheritance of the land) was given. See Genesis 13:14-18
It was on this very mountain that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried. (See Genesis 49:30-33); 50:13.
There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah. Jacob’s buried at Machpelah… For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre , which Abraham had bought.
They had received God’s promise of this land, and Caleb, by refusing to agree with a mistaken majority, helped to fulfill that promise.
As a man of faith, this mountain reminded him of the faith of his fathers who feared the Lord. This was to be his home, and he wanted to demonstrate the power of God to his family by possessing it.
- What was the secret of Caleb’s success?
Caleb was successful in conquering the most feared men in the land, Anakim of Hebron. He was an example to the leaders of the other tribes to do the same. But even though they tried to occupy their territories, many were unable to penetrate the stronger cities. A lengthy list of cities which the Israelites failed to occupy is given in Judges 1:19-36.
Caleb’s secret is given as follows, “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel” (Joshua 14:14).
Caleb himself asserted with a clear conscience,”…I wholly followed the Lord my God”(Joshua:14:8).
Moses also said of Caleb, … “Thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God”(Joshua14:9).
And God Himself, the perfect discerner of hearts, said, “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land where into he went, and his seed shall possess it”(Numbers 14:23)
- What were Caleb’s lasting contributions?
Caleb gave to his family some of the best land in the country. More importantly, he gave a land free from the wicked Canaanites, who later became such a snare to many of the Israelites.
Joshua sadly declared before his death, “Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you” (Joshua23:13).
Another contribution was Caleb’s being an example to follow. Because Caleb both challenged his family to obedience and demonstrated obedience himself, Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, conquered the fortified city of Debir near Hebron.
Later, when the Israelites cried to the Lord for help, it was Othniel whom the Lord used to deliver the nation from the Mesopotamians. Othniel became the first Judge after Joshua, and the nation had 40 years of peace. (See Judges 3:8-11).
