Joshua 14 Summary

The chapter opens by describing how the land of Canaan was distributed by lot to the nine and a half tribes west of the Jordan, under the oversight of Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the tribal leaders, in accordance with God's command through Moses. The Levites received no territorial inheritance, since the children of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) counted as two tribes, maintaining the full number of allotments. Caleb the son of Jephunneh then approaches Joshua at Gilgal, recounting how at age forty he faithfully brought back a true report from Kadesh-barnea while the other spies caused the people to lose heart, and how Moses swore that the land Caleb had walked upon would be his inheritance. Now eighty-five years old yet still vigorous, Caleb boldly asks Joshua for the hill country of Hebron where the fearsome Anakim dwell, trusting that the LORD will enable him to drive them out; Joshua blesses him and grants him Hebron, which had formerly been called Kirjath-arba, and the land rests from war.