Joshuachapter 14
15 verses · Joshua, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · History
And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.
Introduction
Joshua, by tradition, History, Joshua Overview.
This chapter turns to the land west of the Jordan and to the way it will be shared. It stands in the book that tradition credits to Joshua. Its first hearers were families whose fields came to them by lot, and they trusted the lot as the LORD's own choice. Before any tribe's border is drawn, one old man stands up to speak for himself. Listen for the forty-five years between a promise and its keeping, and for what he says about his own strength. Listen also for the reason the text gives for his reward. The chapter closes on a line about rest that the book has used before.
Context
- Who
- Families waiting to hear which piece of country was theirs
- What
- The rule for dividing the western land by lot, and Caleb's request for the hill country of Hebron that Moses had promised him.
- Where
- Gilgal in the Jordan valley, where the tribes gathered, and Hebron in the hill country of Judah.
- When
- Forty-five years after Caleb spied out the land from Kadesh-barnea, when he was eighty-five years old, about 1400 BC on the traditional dating.
- Why
- To show the division done by lot as the LORD commanded, and to honour the man who followed the LORD wholeheartedly.
Historical context
The book carries no superscription naming its writer, and it reports Joshua writing at least part of it at 24:26. The Babylonian Talmud at Bava Batra 14b to 15a assigns the whole book to him, while Martin Noth read it as the second volume of an exilic Deuteronomistic History.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Eleazar the priest, Joshua and the tribal heads supervise the division, so the chapter records an act of three offices together. Land was divided by lot, which removed human favouritism from the most contested decision a nation can make. It also meant no tribe could claim its territory as the reward of its own influence.
Joseph counted as two tribes through Ephraim and Manasseh, and Levi received towns to live in with pasture for their livestock rather than a share of land, which keeps the territorial portions at twelve. Caleb's speech supplies the timeline a reader needs, since he was forty when Moses sent him from Kadesh-barnea and is now eighty five.
Those forty five years fit the thirty eight remaining wilderness years plus roughly seven years of campaigning, which is one reason the conquest is usually reckoned at about seven years. What Caleb asks for is the hill country around Hebron, the place the Anakim held and the place that frightened the other ten scouts into their report. The terrain is high, rocky and fortified, and he asks for it at eighty five.
Significance
Caleb is the living argument of the book. He is the man who wholly followed the LORD, standing at the age his generation never reached, collecting on a promise made forty five years earlier.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For first hearers dividing land, that was the model set in front of them. He asks for the mountain with the giants on it, and says perhaps the LORD will be with me and I shall drive them out.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The chapter turns from lists to a man, and Rashi's reading turns with it. Caleb says he brought back word as it was in his heart, and Rashi hears a distinction in the wording. The report was as it was in his heart "But not as it was in my mouth, for the spies were united in their scheme and Caleiv was afraid to tell them that he would not say as they would" (Rashi on Joshua 14:7:1, the Metsudah Publications translation of 1997, CC-BY). On Rashi's reading Caleb hid his mind while he stood among the other spies and contradicted them only once he was back before Moses, and that is what the Torah means by a different spirit in him.
Rashi treats the number in the tenth verse as a fixed point for the whole chronology. Forty five years stand between the sending of the spies and this speech, and he divides them: the spies went out in the second year after Egypt, thirty eight years of wandering followed, and "seven years to conquer the land, which add up to forty five years" (Rashi on Joshua 14:10:1). The length of the conquest is read out of the arithmetic rather than stated by the text.
Two shorter notes carry the chapter's bookkeeping and its closing name. At the fourth verse Rashi explains why the land is divided twelve ways when Levi takes no portion, since Ephraim and Manasseh are counted as two tribes in Levi's place by Jacob's own word over Joseph's sons (Rashi on Joshua 14:4:1). At the fifteenth he gives two readings of the old name of Hebron, the city of four. The first counts the giants, since "The father of Achimon, Sheishai, and Talmai was Arba" (Rashi on Joshua 14:15:1). The second, which he brings as another explanation, counts four couples buried there, Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. A Christian reader should notice that the second reading is carried in the text of the commentary as a tradition received rather than as a claim argued from the verse.
Radak, Malbim and Metzudat David comment through the whole chapter, and the corpus carries their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand here cited and unquoted. Radak runs from Joshua 14:4:1 to 14:13:1 at eight places, Metzudat David from 14:1:1 to 14:14:1 at eight, and Malbim at 14:2:1, 14:5:1 and 14:6:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. They gather where Caleb speaks. On the sixth verse, where he comes forward as a Kenizzite, the corpus carries Bereshit Rabbah 49:8 and 93:6, Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 8:1, Midrash Lekach Tov on Genesis 44:18:1 and on Numbers 13:17:1 and 15:17:1, and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 44:17:46 and 47:27:6.
On the seventh verse, the report Caleb brought back, it carries Bamidbar Rabbah 16:19, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) at Sanhedrin 8:1 and Zevachim 14:3, Jerusalem Talmud Yevamot 10:7:8, Midrash Aggadah on Numbers 13:6:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 10:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Sh'lach 19:1, and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 23:1. On the ninth, the oath of Moses that the land his foot trod would be his, it carries Bamidbar Rabbah 16:9 and 16:14, Midrash Tanchuma, Sh'lach 8:1, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Sh'lach 9:1 and 15:1, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 742:15.
The forty five years of the tenth verse draw the chronological sources, Seder Olam Rabbah 11:2 beside Arakhin 13a:6 and 13a:7, Sanhedrin 69b:19, Zevachim 118b:15, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nazir 4:2 and Ein Yaakov, Zevakhim 14:8. Caleb's strength at the eleventh verse carries Midrash Tanchuma, Beha'alotcha 10:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Beha'alotcha 18:1; the grant of Hebron at the thirteenth, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 787:17; and the fourteenth, Sotah 34b:8. The last verse, on Arba the greatest man among the giants, carries Aggadat Bereshit 50:2, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:3, Bereshit Rabbah 14:6, Bereshit Rabbati at Parashat Chayei Sarah 19 and Parashat Vayera 9, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16:1:7, and Kohelet Rabbah 3:11:2. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joshua 14:1:1 to 14:15:1, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997, CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Joshua 14:4:1 to 14:13:1, eight refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Joshua 14:1:1 to 14:14:1, eight refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Joshua 14:2:1, 14:5:1 and 14:6:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joshua/14.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The lot begins on the west side of Jordan
Joshua 14:1-2
The three parties who divide the land were named seven years earlier at Numbers 34:17-18: Eleazar, Joshua and one leader from each tribe. Eleazar stands before Joshua here, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the order from the method: the lot is an appeal to God, so the priest handles it. The lot was commanded at Numbers 26:55, so no man could steer the borders toward his own tribe.
Joshua 14:1
“And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan,.... Of which an exact account is given in the following chapters, particularly in the Jos 15:1, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for an inheritance unto them; namely, ten princes, one of each tribe, who, with Eleazar and Joshua, were appointed of the Lord by name to do this business, even seven years ago, before their entrance into the land of Canaan, Num 34:17.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Joshua 14:1
“In everything pertaining to civil government, and even the division of the land, Joshua was the acknowledged chief. But in a matter to be determined by lot, a solemn appeal was made to God, and hence Eleazar, as high priest, is named before Joshua.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Albert Barnes notes that the manner of casting is never described. He reasons that the lot fixed each tribe's general position and left its size to be set by its numbers, as Numbers 26:54 required. The casting also came in stages, with the last seven tribes drawn at Shiloh in Joshua 18:10.
Joshua 14:2
“In allusion to this we are said to obtain an inheritance in Christ ( Eph. i. 11 ), eklerothemen -- we have obtained it by lot, so the word signified; for it is obtained by a divine designation. Christ, our Joshua, gives eternal life to as many as were given him, John xvii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 14:3-5
Two arithmetic problems are answered in one breath. Levi is taken out of the count and receives cities with suburbs instead of territory, and Joseph is counted as two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, which Jacob had arranged at Genesis 48:5 long before there was any land to divide. Nine and a half tribes are left to provide for west of Jordan because two and a half already have their ground east of it, and the twelve are still twelve.
Joshua 14:3
“And Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes, and an half tribe, on the other side Jordan,.... The two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, whose inheritance is described in Jos 13:8, but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them; this is frequently observed, that it might be taken notice of, to show the disinterestedness of Moses in this affair, Levi being his own tribe; and to recommend the care of the Levites to the other tribes, according to the provision God had made for them.”
Adam Clarke connects Joseph's double share with the birthright. Reuben lost it, and 1 Chronicles 5:1 says it was given to the sons of Joseph. The Levites' towns and pasturelands were ordered at Numbers 35:2, and Joshua 21 assigns them.
Joshua 14:4
“The children of Joseph were two tribes - This was ascertained by the prophetic declaration of their grandfather Jacob, Gen 48:5, Gen 48:6; and as Levi was taken out of the tribes for the service of the sanctuary, one of these sons of Joseph came in his place, and Joseph was treated as the first-born of Jacob, in the place of Reuben, who forfeited his right of primogeniture. With their suburbs for their cattle - For the meaning of this passage the reader is referred to the note on Num 35:6.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The verse sums up the division in advance. Adam Clarke notes that the work began at Gilgal and was finished at Shiloh, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown allow for a long survey. John Gill places Caleb's request, which follows, before the lots were actually drawn.
Joshua 14:5
“They divided the land - This work was begun some time before at Gilgal, and was finished some time after at Shiloh. It must have required a very considerable time to make all the geographical arrangements that were necessary for this purpose.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Caleb at eighty-five: give me this mountain
Joshua 14:6-7
Caleb comes before the lot is cast, because he is asking for no share of what the lot will assign. He calls Moses "the man of God", a title Scripture first gives him at Deuteronomy 33:1, and this verse is the next place it is said of him. He calls his report at Kadesh "an honest report", and Numbers 13:30 records what he said.
Joshua 14:6
“However, he [the Lord] said they should not come to that land which they had refused, as a penalty for their unbelief; but their children and wives, who had not murmured, and who, owing to their sex and age, were guiltless, should receive the promised inheritance of that land. So the bodies of those of twenty years old and upwards fell in the desert. The punishment of the rest was put aside. But they who had gone up with Joshua, and had thought fit to dissuade the people, died without delay of a great plague.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Duties of the Clergy 3.8.55-56patristic
Caleb calls his report honest, and John Wesley explains the claim. He spoke his real judgment while the other spies spoke from fear of the people. Matthew Henry adds that he spoke from conviction, with no wish to please Moses or to oppose his companions.
Joshua 14:7
“Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land,....”
3 more voices on this verse
Joshua 14:7
“As it was in mine heart - Neither fear nor favor influenced him on the occasion; he told what he believed to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 14:7
“As it was in mine heart - I spake my opinion sincerely, without flattery and fear, when the other spies were biased by their own fears, and the dread of the people, to speak otherwise than in their consciences they believed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 14:7
“He did not do it merely to please Moses, or to keep the people quiet, much less from a spirit of contradiction to his fellows, but from a full conviction of the truth of what he said and a firm belief of the divine promise. [2.] That herein he wholly followed the Lord his God, that is, he kept close to his duty, and sincerely aimed at the glory of God in it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 14:8-9
When Caleb says at verse 9 that he wholly followed the LORD, he is quoting a verdict God passed on him rather than inventing praise. Numbers 14:24 says he had a different spirit and "has followed Me wholeheartedly", and adds the promise of the land he walked on. Numbers 32:12 and Deuteronomy 1:36 repeat the same verdict of him.
Joshua 14:8
“Therefore it was not vain glory in him to speak it: no more than it is for those, who have God's spirit witnessing with their spirits, that they are the children of God, humbly and thankfully to tell others, for their encouragement, what God hath done for their souls.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Albert Barnes reads the oath as God's, spoken through Moses. The promise is general at Numbers 14:24, and Matthew Henry thinks it was more particular than that record shows. Adam Clarke takes the land Caleb walked on to be Hebron, which Numbers 13:22 says the spies reached.
Joshua 14:9
“This promise is his chief plea, and that on which he relies. As we find it ( Num. xiv. 24 ) it is general, him will I bring into the land whereunto he went, and his seed shall possess it; but it seems it was more particular, and Joshua knew it; both sides understood this mountain for which Caleb was now a suitor to be intended.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 14:10-11
Albert Barnes breaks the forty-five years into thirty-eight from the spies' report to the arrival at the Jordan, following Numbers 13:25 and 20:1, and seven years of war since the crossing. Those seven are the long period of Joshua 11:18. Caleb was forty when he was sent and is eighty-five now, standing outside the sentence of Numbers 14:29 while the men who left Egypt with him died in the desert.
Joshua 14:10
“Forty and five years - The word of God to Moses was spoken after the return of the spies in the autumn of the second year after the Exodus Num 13:25; subsequently, 38 years elapsed before the people reached the Jordan Num 20:1; after the passage of the Jordan seven more years had passed, when Caleb claimed Hebron, before the partition of the land among the nine tribes and a half. These seven years then correspond to the “long time” Jos 11:18 during which Joshua was making war with the Canaanites.”
John Wesley reads going out and coming in as every duty of Caleb's post, and he sets Caleb beside Psalm 90:10, which gives even eighty strong years only labor and sorrow. Adam Clarke reads the claim as an offer to fight. Caleb wants Hebron for the battle it will take, with no wish to settle into ease.
Joshua 14:11
“To go out, and to come in - To perform all the duties belonging to my place. Moses had said, that at eighty years old, even our strength is labour and sorrow. But Caleb was an exception to this rule: At eighty-five years old, his strength was still ease and joy.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 14:12-13
Caleb asks for the one piece of ground that frightened the ten, and he names its difficulties himself: the Anakim, and "great and fortified cities". Those are the descendants of Anak the spies met at Hebron in Numbers 13:22. His claim rests on the promise, and his conditional "Perhaps" is read by Adam Clarke and John Wesley as a plain confession that the help is not owed to him.
Joshua 14:12
“I shall be able to drive them out - He cannot mean Hebron merely, for that had been taken before by Joshua; but in the request of Caleb doubtless all the circumjacent country was comprised, in many parts of which the Anakim were still in considerable force. It has been conjectured that Hebron itself had again fallen under the power of its former possessors, who, taking the advantage of the absence of the Israelitish army, who were employed in other parts of the country, re-entered the city, and restored their ancient domination. But the first opinion seems best founded.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 14:12
“The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, If the Word of the Lord be my helper, that Word which is God, and in the fulness of time was made flesh, and is the captain of our salvation. [2.] But he expresses without the least doubt his assurance that if God were with him he should be able to dispossess the sons of Anak.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua and Caleb were the only spies left alive at Numbers 14:38, and now one grants the other his portion. Adam Clarke reads the blessing as praise for Caleb's courage joined to a prayer that the LORD would be with him, the hope of verse 12. Matthew Henry adds that Joshua blessed him as ruler and prophet.
Joshua 14:13
“Joshua blessed him - As the word bless often signifies to speak good or well of or to any person, (see the note on Gen 2:3), here it may mean the praise bestowed on Caleb’s intrepidity and faithfulness by Joshua, as well as a prayer to God that he might have prosperity in all things; and especially that the Lord might be with him, as himself had expressed in the preceding verse.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 14:14-15
The grant's reason is that Caleb "wholly followed the LORD". Joshua 15:14 and Judges 1:20 record him driving out the three sons of Anak afterward, so the request and the fighting are separate acts years apart. Hebron is where Abraham bought a grave in Genesis 23 and where David reigned over Judah before Jerusalem, and Joshua 21:11-12 gives the city to the priests while the fields stay Caleb's.
Joshua 14:14
“Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb - Joshua admitted his claim, recognized his right, and made a full conveyance of Hebron and its dependencies to Caleb and his posterity; and this being done in the sight of all the elders of Israel, the right was publicly acknowledged, and consequently this portion was excepted from the general determination by lot; God having long before made the cession of this place to him and to his descendants.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 14:14
“But Hebron means "union" or "marriage." Perhaps this can be expressed by Hebron because the double cave purchased by the patriarch Abraham is there, and the remains of the fathers and their wives lie there: Abraham with Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, and Jacob with Leah. Thus Caleb deserved to receive the remains of the fathers for an inheritance, because no doubt through the wisdom that was in him and by which he flourished both under Moses and under Jesus [Joshua], he had understood the nature of the union itself.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 18.3patristic
Kiriath-arba means the city of Arba, and Joshua 15:13 calls Arba the forefather of Anak. Adam Clarke notes it can also mean city of the four. Albert Barnes reads the greatest man as the founder of the Anakim's greatness, and Genesis 23:2 already uses the old name for Sarah's death.
Joshua 14:15
“Kirjath-arba--that is, the city of Arba, a warrior among the native race remarkable for strength and stature. the land had rest from war--Most of the kings having been slain and the natives dispirited, there was no general or systematic attempt to resist the progress and settlement of the Israelites.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 14:15
“A great man - literally, the great man; i. e. the renowned ancestor of the tribe, regarded as the founder of its greatness Jos 15:13.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A narrative claim set inside the record of the allotment, as Joshua classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Caleb's claim spoken to Joshua | Verses 6 to 12 are one speech, addressed to Joshua and opening on what Joshua himself heard at Kadesh-barnea. Caleb rehearses his age when he was sent, his report, the oath Moses swore, and the years since. He then asks for the hill country by name at verse 12. The published exposition note on verses 6 and 7 records that he comes before the lot is cast, because he is not asking for a share of what the lot will assign.Adam Clarke, with Matthew Henry, the published exposition note on Joshua 14:6-7, which names Commentary on the Bible and Commentary on the Whole Bible. | Joshua 14:6, Joshua 14:12 |
| Wholly followed the LORD, said three times | The verdict on Caleb is repeated as the reason for everything he receives. It stands in the Berean text of the store at verse 9 and at verse 14. The published exposition note on verses 8 and 9 records the phrase in the King James floor six times in Scripture, three of them in this chapter, at verses 8, 9 and 14. The same note records it first spoken of Caleb at Numbers 32:12 and repeated of him at Deuteronomy 1:36.Matthew Henry, with John Gill, the published exposition note on Joshua 14:8-9, which names Commentary on the Whole Bible and Exposition of the Old Testament. | Joshua 14:8, Joshua 14:9, Joshua 14:14 |
| The rule of the division stated before any portion is named | Verses 1 to 5 set out the terms of the whole allotment in five short statements. They name who distributes and state that the portions fall by lot. They record that two and a half tribes are already provided for east of the Jordan, that Joseph counts as two tribes, and that Levi receives cities and pasture. The published exposition note on verses 3 to 5 records that two arithmetic problems are answered in one breath, so that the twelve are still twelve.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, with John Gill, the published exposition note on Joshua 14:3-5, which names Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Exposition of the Old Testament. | Joshua 14:1, Joshua 14:2, Joshua 14:4 |
The historical value: the arithmetic of forty-five years
19 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 10 is the chapter's one piece of measurable chronology. Caleb says the LORD has kept him alive forty-five years since the word was spoken to Moses, and that he is eighty-five today.
Albert Barnes breaks the figure into two known stretches. He counts thirty-eight years from the report of the spies to the arrival at the Jordan, following Numbers 13:25 and Numbers 20:1. That leaves seven years of war since the crossing (Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Joshua 14:10). The published exposition note on verses 10 and 11 records the same division. It adds that those seven years are the long time of Joshua 11:18. John Wesley reaches the same split, thirty-eight years in the wilderness and seven since they came into Canaan (Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Joshua 14:10).
This is why the conquest is reckoned at about seven years. The figure is internal to the text and is drawn from Caleb's own count. It fixes no BC date by itself. The dossier's own header states that its timeline uses narrative-relative labels rather than fixed years, because a fixed conquest date depends on the fifteenth-century or thirteenth-century reading of the exodus (src/components/book/dossier-content/joshua.ts).
The same verse carries a second fact. Caleb was forty when he was sent and is eighty-five when he speaks. The published exposition note on verses 10 and 11 records that he stood outside the sentence of Numbers 14:29 for the whole of it. Every man he marched out of Egypt with died in the desert.
The Anakim and the ground Caleb asks for
Caleb asks for the one piece of country that frightened the ten other spies, and he names its two difficulties himself. The published exposition note on verses 12 and 13 records both, the Anakim on it and the cities great and fortified. Those Anakim are the sons of Anak the spies met at Hebron in Numbers 13:22, and they are the reason Numbers 13:33 reports men like grasshoppers.
The dossier tracks the same clans through the book and past it. Its theology entry "The Anakim in the Land" records Joshua 11:22, that none of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel, and that some remained in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. It then records where that leads. Generations later a champion comes out of one of those three cities, named Goliath of Gath (1 Samuel 17:4). The entry reads the seed war of Genesis 3:15 as running through the gap Joshua left (src/components/book/dossier-content/joshua.ts).
The debated point: was Hebron taken once or twice
The text records Hebron given to Caleb at verse 13, and Joshua 15:14 and Judges 1:20 record him driving out the three sons of Anak afterwards. Two readings of that sequence stand.
Adam Clarke holds that the request covered more than the town. He notes that Hebron itself had been taken before by Joshua, so the request must include the surrounding country, where the Anakim were still in considerable force. He adds the conjecture that Hebron had again fallen to its former possessors (Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Joshua 14:12).
The published exposition note on verses 14 and 15 reads the sequence as two separate acts years apart, the asking here and the fighting later. That reading cites Keil and Delitzsch with Matthew Henry. Both readings account for the same verses, and the difference is whether Hebron changed hands between the campaign and the claim. This page states no verdict.
The divine connection: the lot and the one exception
The dossier's theology entry "The Inheritance Given by Lot" states the principle the chapter turns on. The land is distributed by lot before the LORD at Shiloh (19:51), which puts the allotment outside human negotiation. No tribe argues its way to a better share. Levi receives cities and pasture rather than territory, because the priesthood's portion is the LORD himself. The entry then names the exception. Caleb is the one who asks, and he asks for the hardest ground, the hill country where the Anakim were (14:12).
The published exposition note on verses 1 and 2 states the mechanical side of the same point. The lot is meant literally and was commanded at Numbers 26:55. The borders about to be traced were therefore fixed by a means no man could steer toward his own tribe.
Caleb's own claim rests on the promise rather than on his strength. The published exposition note on verses 12 and 13 records that his sentence is conditional. It records that Adam Clarke and John Wesley both take it as a plain confession that the help is not owed to him. John Wesley calls the expression modest and pious, signifying the absolute necessity of God's help (Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Joshua 14:12).
The rest the chapter closes on
Verse 15 ends with the land having rest from war. The dossier's theology entry on rest reads the word as an end to war and a settled place. It records the same clause at Joshua 11:23, the promise of rest before the crossing at 1:13, and the LORD giving rest on every side at 21:44. It states that Hebrews later reads even this fulfillment as partial, holding out a rest still ahead (src/components/book/dossier-content/joshua.ts).
Hebron itself
The published exposition note on verses 14 and 15 records what the city already carried and what it would carry. Abraham bought a grave there at Genesis 23. David reigned over Judah there seven years and six months before he took Jerusalem. Joshua 21:11-12 later gives the city itself to the priests while the fields stay Caleb's.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, with Adam Clarke, the published exposition note on Joshua 14:1-2, which names Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Commentary on the Bible; Jerome, Against Jovinianus 2.34, 420, on Joshua 14:1; The dossier's theology section, src/components/book/dossier-content/joshua.ts, the entry "The Inheritance Given by Lot", anchored on Joshua 14:12 and 19:51 and This site's published guide to Joshua, src/components/book/guides/joshua/JoshuaGuide.tsx, movement III "Dividing the Land" at chapters 13 to 21, whose first beat covers chapters 13 and 14 and reads that Caleb claims Hebron at 85.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.