Before you conclude from the cover that Uplook has gone to the dogs, give me a chance to explain. We have recently added a new four-legged member to the household, a tricolor Bassett hound named Rey-Mar Kayla Victoria. For those interested, the name Rey-Mar comes from the breeder. Victoria comes from an attempt to add a little refinement to the beast. And Kayla? Kayla is Caleb (meaning “dog”) in the feminine gender, with phoneticized spelling, children’s version. It is Kayla to which she answers.
I had a dog when I was a boy. Major’s pedigree was kindly listed as “unknown.” But he didn’t seem to mind, and treated us royally just the same. A faithful mutt–that’s what he was. I had objected to the idea of a dog for our kids, though. You know, the expense; house-training; walking it in the rain; complications when you wanted to travel. All adult problems. The family was not impressed. All they thought about was soft fur, wagging tails, and big, brown, sad eyes. It was an argument as lopsided as a hounddog’s smile.
Having the pup around brought back some happy memories. I was especially reminded of the chief attribute of a dog. How faithful they are! Even the hand that disciplines gets a loving lick. Try if you will, it is well-nigh impossible to alienate their affections.
Which brings me back to Caleb. What a man he was. Is it true he was not an Israelite? His father was a Kenezite (Josh. 14:14). Is this the same people referred to five hundred years before as the Kenizzites who dwelt in Canaan (Gen. 15:19)? And what does Joshua 15:13 mean: “unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah”? And why would they call him Caleb, the common name for a Gentile?
Whatever the case, if he would be called a dog, then he would be as faithful as one. With single-focused devotion, Caleb followed his Master. Of the 74,600 able-bodied men of Judah, he was the one chosen to represent his tribe, not at official functions (Num. 7:12), but as part of the first Mossad team to spy out Israel’s enemies. Caleb was one among thousands.
It is estimated that over two million Israelites stood under the hot sun on the edge of the Wilderness of Zin to hear the report of the ten concerning the land. Only Joshua and Caleb were willing to remain faithful to Jehovah in the face of mounting pressure. With their clothes torn in mourning, they cried against the rebellion, but to no avail. The people prepared to stone them. It seems only the appearing of the Lord in glory saved the lives of the two (Num. 14:10). Two against two million. Caleb was one in a million.
Thirty-eight years rolled their course across the shifting sands of the Sinai. And strewn across the desert in a hundred graveyards lay the corpses of Caleb’s peers. If my calculations are correct, they averaged about eighty-eight funerals per day! Every time they pulled up stakes, they left behind another memorial plot. Why? They did not take God’s Word seriously.
But not Caleb. With Joshua he entered the land, striding ahead in the vanguard of Judah, sweeping the monstrous sons of Anak from the hills about Hebron. At eighty-five years of age, still following hard after his Master, he could give testimony at Gilgal that he was still strong of limb and ready to do exploits for God, “to go out, and come in.” Mission accomplished, sir. And he wasn’t bitter for his thirty-eight desert years for others’ sin. What blessed confidence in God (see Josh. 14:6-15). And what sweet defiance of the enemy.
Caleb knew what God had said. He would live it to the full. And he would remind the people of God, too. “Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said . . .” (Josh. 14:6). There was no place for compromise when it came to the Word of the Lord. He knew that the failure of the people (though they had statistics on their side) could be directly attributed to their unwillingness to take God at His Word.
We need not guess how Caleb lived out his days. His family shared his convictions–his daughter wanted all that God had for her (Jud. 1:15). His territory was one of the few areas that had rest from war. His city became a priestly city, where the servants of God were refreshed, and a refuge city where those fleeing the avenger found safety.
If you think that Caleb’s blessing came by backing down, bowing out, or bending to popular opinion, you’re barking up the wrong tree.