Give Me This Hill

Now the people of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.’ “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.

Verse 12 - Caleb is pretty bold - “Now give me this hill country” - King James “Give me this mountain!”

What prompted him to be so bold? What motivated Caleb to make such a request?

Remember God’s Promise

Forty-five years earlier Caleb had already visited the Promised Land

God made a promise back then and Caleb remembers and reminds Joshua about it (vv 6-7)

Caleb Remembers God’s Promise to Him:

++The Spy

++Great God - little giants

++Stand on the Promises

++The Spy

Caleb one of twelve spies forty-five years earlier - He represented the tribe of Judah (Number 13:14)

Joshua, now the leader, was one of those spies, too - representing the tribe of Ephraim

A land flowing with milk and honey

Caleb saw Hebron - where Abram met God and built an altar - later on it is where Sarah - Abraham’s wife died

God promised him a part of the Promised Land

++Great God - little giants

But Caleb had to wait for the promise to be fulfilled

Ten spies saw giants in the land and a little God

Caleb had a great God and saw little giants in the land

Problem conscious vs power conscious

++Stand on the Promises

Caleb doesn’t forget God’s promises

Caleb wasn’t part of the grumbling crowd that wandered for forty years

On his way to something better all through his life - remembers God’s promises

Remember Our Commitment

Caleb reminded Joshua - “I followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.” (vv 8-9)

Caleb Remembers His Commitment to the Lord

++Wholehearted

++Stood Apart

++First Love

++Wholehearted

Full surrender, A man of God, total dedication, committed

++Stood Apart

He stood apart from the crowd

Remember victory in Jesus?

The day you were saved?

The time of full surrender?

++First Love

Jesus shared some insight with the church at Ephesus

Revelation 2:1–7 NIV

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Caleb never lost his first love. His love of the Lord, His God.

Remember God’s Faithfulness

God kept him alive - 85 years old! Ready and raring to claim his inheritance

Caleb Remembers God’s Faithfulness to Him

Remembers God’s Faithfulness to Him

++Life

++Strength

++Care

++Life

Thank God for keeping you alive?

Except for Joshua - all others from 40+ years ago are dead

++Strength

85 years old! Not a normal senior citizen.

Ready to fight and claim his land promised by God

++Care

God had been taking care of him. “Grace hath brought me safe thus far.”

Give Me This Mountain!

Give me your best!

Give me your toughest task!

REMEMBERING should challenge us

Like President Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

—Abraham Lincoln

Memorial Day

As we remember why we have a Memorial Day weekend, may we also remember Caleb. May he inspire us. May he challenge us remember God’s promise of eternal life not just for the future but for the here and now.