Commentaria in Josue
9. THE LAND WHICH THY FOOT HATH TRODDEN UPON SHALL BE THY POSSESSION.
Which land this was Moses did not explain in Numbers 14:24; but hence it is clear that it was Hebron, which Caleb approached when he surveyed the land with the other spies, when they did not dare to approach it for fear of the giants inhabiting it.
10. 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.
This place brings great light to the whole of this book; for Caleb by these words embraces the whole chronology of that time, from which it is certainly gathered that Josue made war on the Chanaanites for six years, and, they being subdued, in the seventh year divided their land among the twelve tribes of Israel. This, then, is the summary and synopsis of the deeds of Josue.
Josue, in the first year of his leadership and government, on the tenth day of the first month, led the people of Israel over the Jordan, the waters yielding, into the land of Chanaan, as we heard in chapters 3 and 4. He celebrated the Pasch in Galgal on the fourteenth day of the first month in the plain of Jericho; on the following day the people ate of the corn of the land, which done, on the next day the manna ceased, as was said in chapter 5. Hence it is plain that Josue and the Hebrews entered Chanaan immediately after the death of Moses, namely at the beginning of the forty-first year from the going out of Egypt, and, Jericho being overthrown, waged war with the other nations, and that for six years. For in the seventh year, all being subdued, Josue divided Chanaan among the Hebrews. That this is so is plain from a comparison of the history recounted in this chapter with what is narrated in Numbers 13 and Deuteronomy 2. For when Josue began this division, Caleb says to him in this verse that when he was sent with others from Cadesbarne to explore the land of Chanaan, Numbers 13, he was forty years old, and from that time to the present forty-five years had passed, and that he was now eighty-five years old. But it is certain that he was sent with the other spies in the second year from the going out of Egypt, Numbers 10 and 12, and Josue 14, and from that year to the fortieth year from the going out of Egypt, in which Moses died and Josue was appointed leader, there passed 38 years; now reckon from the 38 to the 45; you will have seven years, in which, the first six being spent in subduing by war and slaying the Chanaanites, in the seventh they divided their land, when Caleb was now 85 years old. This division of the land, then, was made in the forty-first year from the going out of Egypt, which was the seventh of Josue’s leadership, at least begun. So Theodoret here, Question 16, Abulensis on chapter 13, Question 3, and on chapter 21, Question 2, where he refutes Josephus, who defines the time of the war as five years, and Lyranus as six years. So also Masius, Magalhaes and others here. Finally, this is the common opinion of the Hebrews.
11. AS STRONG.—God preserved to Caleb in old age his former strength, both as a reward of his fidelity, that he might, vigorous and strong, possess and enjoy the promised land, for which he had stood against the murmurers; and that he might be an eyewitness of all that had been done by Moses in the desert and relate it to the younger Hebrews: for all the murmurers were punished with death by God in the desert; their sons, therefore, the young men who had not murmured, entered the promised land. To these, therefore, Caleb, an old man, testified and proclaimed the marvels which God had wrought for the fathers in the desert. So soon after Christ, St. John, St. Simeon, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Polycarp and several others were long-lived, that they might be eyewitnesses or ear-witnesses to posterity of the deeds of Christ. Like was Paul of Concordia, whose vigorous old age St. Jerome thus describes, epistle 94 to the same: “Behold, a hundred years of age roll round, and thou, ever keeping the precepts of the Lord, dost by present examples meditate on the blessedness of the future life. Thine eyes are strong in light, thy feet set sure steps, thy hearing is keen, thy teeth white, thy voice sonorous, thy body firm and full of sap; thy white hair differs from thy ruddy colour, thy strength disagrees with thy age: older age does not dissolve the tenacity of thy memory, as we see in most; cold blood does not dull the keenness of thy sharp wit; thy ploughed brow does not roughen a face drawn with wrinkles; finally no trembling hand guides the stylus wandering over the winding wax: the Lord shows in thee the vigour of our future resurrection, that we may know it is a sin that others still living are dead beforehand in the flesh; and an act of justice that thou feignest youth in another’s age.”
AS WELL TO FIGHT,—with the giants dwelling in Hebron, given me by God, that I may expel them, and storm Hebron and claim it for myself. Whence it follows:
12. GIVE ME THEREFORE THIS MOUNTAIN, WHICH THE LORD PROMISED, THOU ALSO HEARING IT, WHEREON ARE THE ENACIMS.—“This mountain,” on which are situated the cities Hebron, Dabir and Anab: for these God promised to Caleb, Numbers 14:24. For although Scripture does not name them there expressly, yet Moses declared this by word of mouth, as is plain from this place, namely that the land promised there by God to Caleb is the hill country of Hebron. The cause why God assigned this to Caleb above others was, first, the unconquered and lofty virtue and fortitude of Caleb, by which he said a little before that, at eighty-five years of age, he was as strong in mind and body as when he was forty. Second, because the hill country of Hebron was occupied by the Enacim, that is, giants, whom the other Hebrews wonderfully dreaded and would not have dared to attack, as Caleb attacked them. Third, because forty years before Caleb had entered this hill country, and surveyed it with the giants, and had told the people that it could easily be conquered through God, while the other fearful spies denied it, and by fear of the giants terrified the people from entering the promised land. God willed, therefore, to show that what Caleb had said was true, and by him to subdue the giants. So, God leading, we overcome the strongest and every arduous thing, if, relying on God, we undertake a matter confidently and courageously. For God supplies the help he has promised, and helps, strengthens and advances beginners, that they may easily accomplish what is otherwise difficult. So David laid low with a pebble that fleshly tower, as Chrysostom says, namely Goliath, because, trusting in God, he entered the duel with him with great courage. St. Antony, as St. Athanasius testifies, once saw the devil in the shape of a giant raising and hiding his head among the clouds; but recognizing his fraud, he said: In vain dost thou try to tempt me with this mass of body. Come, if thou hast any power and strength against me, put it forth: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” At this saying that gigantic phantom vanished. Such phantoms of difficulties the devil sets before each; but if, relying on God, we despise them, and on the contrary attempt them, they will go up in smoke.
WHEREON ARE THE ENACIMS,—namely giants sprung from the giant Enac: for although Josue expelled these giants from Hebron, chapter 11, verse 21, yet hence it is clear that some escaped that slaughter and fled to the Philistines, and thence, their strength restored, returned to Hebron, and settled in it as the seat of their ancestors, and therefore Caleb again expelled them.
IF SO BE.—Not that Caleb doubts the promises of God, but that he thinks modestly of himself, and fears lest by his own fault or sloth he turn away the help of God promised to him.
13. AND JOSUE BLESSED HIM,—all prosperity he wished Caleb, and especially a happy issue of the storming of the hill cities which the giants inhabited, as if to say: God prosper thee, God bless thee, God subject the giants to thee. So Abulensis. Otherwise Arias and Vatablus: He blessed him, they say, that is, he praised the courage and virtue of Caleb. But Masius: he granted (to Caleb) what he heard him ask.
14. BECAUSE HE FOLLOWED THE LORD THE GOD OF ISRAEL.—because he fulfilled after the Lord God of Israel, that is, because he followed God fully, as Israel or Jacob, his father and patriarch, had once followed him. The Septuagint: because he himself followed the commandment of the God of Israel. The same, in verse 8, translate: but I clave to the Lord my God. The sense is, as if to say: Caleb not only lived piously and holily in private, but also procured diligently and constantly, even to the last act of his life, the glory of God and the prosperity and salvation of his neighbours, namely the Hebrews, by every means possible, and altogether discharged gravely, attentively and constantly that office to which God had advanced him. So Masius.