Commentaria in Josue
Chapter 14. Synopsis of the Chapter
The division of Chanaan by lot among the twelve tribes is prepared; whence certain things are premised, namely that the tribe of Levi must be excepted from it, and the tribe of Joseph divided into two, Ephraim and Manasses, and that to Caleb that portion of land was to be given apart from the lot which God long ago, for his merits, had assigned to him through Moses.
1. This is what the children of Israel possessed in the land of Chanaan, which Eleazar the priest and Josue the son of Nun and the chiefs of the families by the tribes of Israel gave to them, 2. dividing all by lot, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, to the nine tribes and the half tribe. 3. For to the two tribes and a half Moses had given a possession beyond the Jordan: besides the Levites, who received no land among their brethren, 4. but the children of Joseph succeeded in their place, divided into two tribes, Manasses and Ephraim: and the Levites had no other portion in the land, but cities to dwell in, and their suburbs to feed their cattle and beasts. 5. As the Lord had commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel, and they divided the land. 6. Then the children of Juda came to Josue in Galgal, and Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite spoke to him: Thou knowest what the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadesbarne. 7. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Cadesbarne to view the land, and I brought him word again as to me seemed most true. 8. But my brethren that had gone up with me discouraged the heart of the people: and yet I followed the Lord my God. 9. And Moses swore in that day, saying: The land which thy foot hath trodden upon shall be thy possession, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast followed the Lord my God. 10. The Lord therefore hath granted me life, as he promised, until this present day. It is forty-five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked through the wilderness: this day I am eighty-five years old, 11. as strong as I was at the time when I was sent to view the land: the strength of that time continueth in me until now, as well to fight as to walk. 12. Give me therefore this mountain, which the Lord promised, thou also hearing it, whereon are the Enacims, and cities great and strong: if so be the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to destroy them, as he promised me. 13. And Josue blessed him, and gave him Hebron for a possession. 14. And from that time Hebron belonged to Caleb the son of Jephone the Cenezite unto this day: because he followed the Lord the God of Israel. 15. The name of Hebron before was called Cariath-Arbe: Adam, the greatest there among the Enacims, was laid: and the land ceased from wars.
1. WHICH ELEAZAR THE PRIEST (that is, the high priest) AND JOSUE THE SON OF NUN, AND THE CHIEFS OF THE FAMILIES (that is, of the tribes) BY THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL GAVE TO THEM,—as if to say: And twelve chiefs according to the twelve tribes of Israel: for each tribe had its own chief. In Hebrew, the heads of the fathers (that is, princes) of the tribes of the children of Israel. Three presidents and executors of the division and casting of lots are therefore here set down: the first, Eleazar the high priest; the second, Josue, prince of the people; the third rank is made up of the twelve princes of the tribes, each of whom represented his own tribe and had charge of it, lest any wrong or diminution of the lot be done them, so that, the princes of the tribes being content, all the tribes might be content and acquiesce in the lot.
Moreover Eleazar is here put before Josue because he is the more worthy: for the high priest is more worthy than a prince and king.
Abulensis denies this, and thinks Josue more worthy than Eleazar; but I have shown the contrary from the very words of Scripture, Numbers 27:21.
3. BESIDES THE LEVITES, WHO RECEIVED NO LAND AMONG THEIR BRETHREN,—because the portion of the Levites was the Lord, that is, the offerings; for the offerings and a part of the victims sacrificed to God fell to the Levites.
4. BUT THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH SUCCEEDED IN THEIR PLACE, DIVIDED INTO TWO TRIBES, MANASSES AND EPHRAIM.—Masius here finds fault with the Vulgate interpreter for adding something to the Hebrew. For in the Hebrew there is only: because the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasses and Ephraim. But I answer that ours interprets this more clearly by translating: “But the children of Joseph succeeded in their place,” as if to say: Because, the tribe of Levi being set aside, there remained only eleven tribes to divide Chanaan, for this reason the tribe of Joseph was divided into two, to fill up the twelve-fold number of the tribes of Israel, and so receive two portions of the promised land, one for the tribe of Joseph, the other for the tribe of Levi, which it would have received if it had been reckoned among the twelve: but now, that being excluded, the other part of the tribe of Joseph succeeded it, and constituted the twelfth tribe, and so obtained the twelfth part of the promised land. For God willed Chanaan to be distributed to twelve tribes, and therefore to be divided into twelve portions, and by this arrangement the tribe of Joseph succeeded also to the tribe of Ruben in the right of primogeniture, which was that the first-born (such as Ruben was) should obtain a double portion of the paternal inheritance, and the other brothers a single one. From this right Ruben fell by reason of the incest committed with Bala his stepmother, and so it was given to chaste Joseph. Whence he, through his two sons, Ephraim and Manasses, constituted two tribes, and obtained a double lot of the holy land.
6. TO JOSUE IN GALGAL.—For there was the camp and station of Josue and the Hebrews; wherefore all these things were done there, and this first division of Chanaan among five tribes was made: for the later division among the seven remaining tribes was made in Silo, chapter 18, verse 1.
AND CALEB THE SON OF JEPHONE THE CENEZITE SPOKE TO HIM.—This Caleb had explored the holy land, sent by Moses with Josue and the other ten spies, and when these slandered it and stirred up the murmuring of the people, Caleb with Josue stood firm, and checked the murmur, praising the promised land and showing that by God’s help it was easy to conquer. Wherefore God, as a reward, commanded Hebron and its confines to be given to him outside the lot, Numbers 13 and 14; which therefore he himself here demands to be assigned to him by Josue. Therefore this Caleb is another from the Caleb who was the great-grandfather of Beseleel, and the immediate son of Esron, son of Phares, son of Juda, of whom 1 Paralipomenon 2:18, as I proved against R. Solomon on Exodus 31:2. Granted that this Caleb also descended from Juda and perhaps from Phares and Esron, but through intervening grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Caleb in Hebrew is the same as dog, and aptly, because he like a dog barked at the spies who disparaged the holy land and checked the murmur of the people. Again Caleb is the same as “like a heart,” because he with a generous and magnanimous heart defended the cause and faith of God against the other spies and the murmuring people.
THE SON OF JEPHONE.—Some take Jephone not as a proper name but as a common noun, signifying keen-sighted, sagacious, from panah, which signifies to look, to look into, to see through. But it is certain that Jephone is the proper name of Caleb’s father, whose etymology, however, given to one, suits Caleb exceedingly well, as one most keen-sighted and prudent.
THE CENEZITE.—Why is Caleb called a Cenezite? The Cenezites are numbered among the other peoples of Chanaan, Genesis 15:19. But it is certain that Caleb is not called a Cenezite from them: for he was himself a Hebrew by nation and race, not a Chanaanite. Again there was another Cenez begotten of Esau (whence, according to St. Jerome in the Hebrew Places, some Idumeans were called Cenezites), of whom Genesis 36:11 and 42; but it is likewise certain that Caleb is not called a Cenezite from him: for it is established that he was a Jew, and sprung from Jacob, not from Esau.
I say, then, that Caleb is called a Cenezite from his grandfather or great-grandfather, who was Cenez, and was an eminent man, and therefore communicated his name to his posterity, so that from him they were called Cenezites; that this is so we gather from the fact that this name Cenez was frequent and famous in the family of Caleb; for the brother of Caleb, who was father of the judge Othoniel, was called Cenez: and a grandson of Caleb by a son was also named Cenez, 1 Paralipomenon 4:13 and 15: and that after his grandfather or great-grandfather, an illustrious man, who was called Cenez, as it seems. Wherefore it is not probable that this Cenez was a step-father or uncle of Caleb, as some will have it. Cenez, then, begot Jephone, Jephone begot Caleb, whence Caleb was called a Cenezite. Whence Cenezite is the same as “this possession of mine” or “this nest of mine,” says Pagninus in the Hebrew Names, as if to say: Caleb was truly the grandson and heir of his grandfather Cenez, an illustrious man, and with his possession and inheritance possessed and inherited his heroic virtues: wherefore he was truly, and could be called, a Cenezite, as well as an Israelite and a son of Abraham.