“I had hoped.”
“We assumed Moses would be there, Joshua. We didn’t understand that you and I would be the only men from our generation to enter Canaan.”
“There will never be another prophet like Moses. No man will ever do the miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt!”
“Until the One Moses said would come, the One who will fulfill the Law.” But Caleb knew what lay beneath Joshua’s words. “The Lord has appointed you to lead His people Israel. And lead you shall!”
Joshua put his hands over his head as though to hide from God. “I tremble at the thought.”
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, my friend.” Caleb sat down beside him. “When our time of grieving is over, God will tell you what to do. And whatever it is, I will stand with you.”
Caleb spent most of the day at the Tabernacle, close to Joshua, who was closeted in prayer. Lord, help him. Be with him as You were with Moses. Tell him what he needs to know to lead us into our inheritance.
They ate together in silence, pondering the days ahead, uncertain of how to proceed, where to start. For once, Caleb did not press his friend. He waited, knowing the day would come when the Lord would speak to Joshua as He had spoken to Moses.
Joshua rose and stood at the entrance of his tent. He stared out at Jericho looming on the other side of the Jordan, immense, fortified, a closed gate into Canaan. “Bring me two good men, Caleb.” He spoke with an assurance Caleb had not heard before. The Lord had spoken to him! “Men other than your own sons. I’m sending them in to look over the land, especially Jericho.”
“Done.”
When the young men had left on their errand, Caleb tilted his head. “What else did the Lord say to you?”
“Be strong and courageous.” Joshua smiled grimly. “He said that many times.”
“We all need to hear it.” No man was eager to be in the middle of a bloodbath.
“We must be very careful to obey all the laws Moses gave us, Caleb. We must follow everything the Lord says.”
Caleb knew Joshua meditated on the Law day and night. “Anything else?”
“The Lord promised to be with me wherever I go.”
Caleb’s spirit rose like an eagle, wings spread. “Where you are, there shall I be!”
“I need to speak with all the officers.”
Caleb sent messengers and the men came quickly, ready to do whatever Joshua told them. “Tell the people to get their supplies ready. The Lord has said that three days from now—” he pointed out the spot on the map Moses had prepared—“we cross the Jordan here. We will take possession of the land the Lord our God has given to us.”
Even the Reubenites and Gadites, who had asked to remain on the east side of the Jordan, prepared to go in and fight for their brothers. “Whatever you have commanded us, we will do, Joshua. Wherever you send us, we will go.”
Everyone worked and prepared with practiced precision. The years in the wilderness, of watching the cloud rise up, move, and settle, had trained the people to move quickly when so commanded. The defeat of the kings Sihon and Og encouraged them. Balak, king of Moab, had withdrawn now that Balaam and the five kings of Midian who had listened to his counsel were dead. Israel stood ready, eager to obey the Lord’s command to take the land.
The spies returned with good news. “The Lord will certainly give us the whole land! Rahab told us the heart of every man in Jericho is terrified of us.”
“Who is Rahab?”
“A prostitute.” She had brought them into her house and made them swear by the Lord their God that they would save her and her family from the coming destruction.
Caleb’s heart sank. Already, compromise. And then he thought of his two concubines and prayed, Let this woman, Rahab, worship and adore You, Lord, as Maacah and Ephah have.
“She protected us from the king’s men and told us the way of escape. We might not have made it out alive without her.”
Joshua asked no further questions. “Then you will see that you keep the vow you made in the name of the Lord. Gather the people tomorrow morning. I will give them the Lord’s instructions.”
As the men filed out of the tent, Caleb remained behind in case Joshua wanted to discuss plans and go over the maps again.
Joshua sat and beckoned him to do likewise. “We will cross the Jordan in two days. I didn’t want to say anything to the officers. Not yet.”
Caleb didn’t have to ask why. The river was at flood stage, and no one in Israel knew how to swim or build rafts or a bridge. “I’m sure the Lord told you how we’re to get across.”
“No, He didn’t. He only said the priests are to carry the Ark and the people are to follow a thousand feet behind.”
Feeling a quiver of alarm, Caleb wondered what they would do once they reached the floodwaters. And then he remembered and laughed. “Do not be afraid, my friend! Do not be discouraged.” He grinned. “A river is but a small matter to the God who opened a sea.”
“Gather around!” Caleb beckoned his sons and their wives and their children. They came eagerly. Ephah and Maacah were among his family members now, grafted in, warmly accepted, and held accountable to God. He told all of them of Egypt and slavery and how the Lord had sent Moses to deliver them. He told them of the plagues upon Egypt and about the miracles of protection God provided for His people. “You have heard your history from Moses’ own lips, and you have heard it from mine as well. And so you will hear it often for as long as I live. And you must tell your children and your grandchildren so they will not forget.”
Caleb reminded them of the sins committed that had brought God’s judgment upon his generation. “Sin crouches like a lion waiting to devour you. You must resist it. You must obey the Lord. Do whatever He asks of you, no matter how difficult.” He reminded them of the sins that had cost the lives of twenty-four thousand. “Your sins bring death to those you love. You must keep your eyes on the Lord. Not just tomorrow or until we have taken the land God has promised us, but always. Serve the Lord with gladness. Stand in His presence with thanksgiving! Our hope and our future are in Him.”
His sons leaned in closer, eyes ablaze, tense. They had spent their lives preparing for the day at hand.
“Tomorrow you will hear the Word of the Lord from His anointed. Joshua will tell us what we are to do. Obey him as you would obey the Lord.”
And thus they did.
The people consecrated themselves. They waited until the priests carrying the Ark were one thousand feet ahead of them and then followed. When the priests came to the Jordan River, they stepped down into it. A sound of wind came and the water rolled back, leaving dry land where water had rushed. The priests stood in the middle of the empty riverbed, holding the Ark, as men, women, children—over a million of them—crossed over. When the entire nation stood on the west bank of the Jordan, Joshua sent one man from each of the twelve tribes back, each for one river stone. He stacked them there at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.
“In the future, your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and He kept it dry until you were all across, just as He did at the Red Sea when He dried it up until we had all crossed over. He did this so that all the nations of the earth might know the power of the Lord, and that you might fear the Lord your God forever.”
“Joshua cannot have heard right, Father.”
“The Lord commanded that we all be circumcised, and so we shall. I’m ashamed I did not think to do it years ago when you were boys.”
“No one has been circumcised, not in forty years! We should wait.”
“Wait?” Caleb glowered at his sons. “When God gives a command, we obey. We don’t wait.”
“Be reasonable, Father! We’re camped within sight of Jericho. If we submit to this mutilation now, we won’t be able to defend ourselves.”
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br /> “Mutilation? You call the sign of the covenant between God and us a mutilation?” He watched the color drain from his son’s face.
“I spoke rashly. Forgive me.”
“It is God’s forgiveness you need.” He fixed his eyes upon each of his sons and grandsons. “Are you afraid of a small knife in the hands of a priest?” They all shook their heads, denying any fear.
Shobab laughed, self-deprecatingly. “Yes. I’m afraid.”
“As am I,” Caleb said.
“You?”
“Let it be a comfort to know that your father will be in line for circumcision tomorrow.”
They all began talking at once. His words had not served to calm them, but caused even more agitation.
“Father . . .” Shobab pointed feebly. “Mesha is right. What is to keep the Canaanite warriors from coming out of Jericho and slaughtering us while we mend?”
“God has been with us every day, and you can ask such a question?” Restraining his anger, Caleb spoke slowly, quietly, empathically. “The Lord is our shield and strength. He will watch over and protect us. We have nothing to fear.”
When the circumcisions were completed, Caleb retired to his tent. Racked with pain, he lay upon his pallet. When fever came upon him, he couldn’t sleep. Now that they had crossed the Jordan, the manna had stopped raining from heaven. His concubines, Ephah and Maacah, knew how to prepare meals from the provisions the land offered, but Caleb missed the manna. Gone was the sweetness God had given them.
Joshua came to see him. “Don’t get up, Caleb.”
Drained by the fever, Caleb remained upon his cushioned pallet. He chuckled bleakly. “You are blessed among men.” Joshua had been circumcised as a baby. Few among the Jews had continued the practice once they were enslaved by the Egyptians. “How are the others faring?”
“Better than you, old friend.”
Caleb grasped Joshua’s extended hand and pulled himself up. “Youth has its advantages.” Wincing, he waved Maacah away and walked . . . slowly . . . tenderly . . . outside. It was the first time in three days that he had been outside his tent. He squinted at the bright sunlight. “The Lord has given you His plan. When and how do we take Jericho?”
“Tomorrow at daybreak . . .” Joshua told him God’s plan.
Astounded, Caleb went over the plan again. “We are to be silent?”
“Yes.”
“No war cry.”
“No one is to speak.”
“And then we march around the city? Nothing more?”
“For six days. The Ark will go before us, followed by seven priests carrying shofars. On the seventh day, they will blow them and we will shout as we march around the city seven times.”
Caleb looked at the walls of Jericho. Not since leaving Egypt had he seen such a well-fortified city. “And God said the walls will collapse?”
“Yes.”
The plan was preposterous. It was ridiculous! No man in his right mind would ever have thought up such a thing. Caleb laughed in praise. “All the world will hear of this. People will talk about what God did at Jericho for thousands of years to come!”
“Then you believe it will happen?”
“Of course I believe it.” Caleb’s laughter died. “You don’t?”
“Yes, I believe. But will the men?”
Caleb understood Joshua’s trepidation. It had not been that long ago when some had gone after other gods at Peor. Twenty-four thousand had died during the plague God sent to discipline them. “They’d better.”
From the time of the Garden of Eden, the seed of rebellion had been planted deep in the hearts of men. It was there the real battle raged.
On the first day of marching, Caleb concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. He throbbed with pain and gritted his teeth, determined to make it around the city and back to his tent with his head high. On the second day, he moved less stiffly and noticed the soldiers on Jericho’s battlements staring out. On the third day, some mocked. By the fifth day, men and women were laughing and shouting blasphemies from the wall. Even children had joined in.
His sons and grandsons did not speak when they returned to camp, but their wrath showed in the way they yanked off their belts and swords. Caleb watched them, smiling secretly, thanking God. The days of suffering from the circumcision were over. Each day renewed and built their strength. And each day the Canaanites added fuel to the fire that would consume them.
Let it build. Hold that anger in. Hold it in until the last day—the day of the Lord!
When the seventh day came, Caleb was at full strength, his blood on fire. The men no longer marched with quiet reserve. They pounded their feet into the ground. Boom! Boom! Boom! Each time around the city, the tension grew. The men on the walls of Jericho stopped laughing. Seven times the army of Israel marched around the city, shofars blowing. And then they stopped and turned inward.
The blast came—long and loud. Caleb’s heart rattled; his blood raced. The air of retribution filled his lungs. He released it with a mighty shout. “For the Lord!” Thousands joined in until the sound was deafening, terrifying.
God’s promise was fulfilled before their eyes. The great walls of Jericho shook with the sounds of the shofars and their battle cries. And as the walls shook and cracked, the Israelites shouted all the louder for the Lord. The walls collapsed, stones and rampart soldiers tumbling, dust rising with the screams.
Raising his sword high, Caleb ran with Joshua, and like a tidal wave, thousands upon thousands came with them, sweeping across the plain, straight for the city. The sword in his hand had once been a scythe, and he swung it to the right and left, cutting down Canaanites like stalks of wheat. Men, women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys—nothing that breathed survived.
Panting, Caleb stood in the center of the vanquished city. “Remember your orders. All the silver, gold, bronze, and iron are sacred to the Lord and must be taken into His treasury. Destroy the rest! Burn the city! Burn everything in it!”
Jericho was still smoldering when Joshua sent spies to Ai, near Beth-aven. It lay to the east of Bethel, where Israel’s ancestor Jacob had seen the ladder into heaven and the angels going up and down. The spies returned within a short time.
“It’s not like Jericho. Not all our people will have to go up against it. Send two or three thousand men to take it. There’s no need to tire the people over the few in Ai.”
Joshua considered and then nodded. “Go and do so.” As soon as the messenger left, Caleb leaned over the maps made from their first sojourn into Canaan forty years earlier. Joshua laid out God’s plan to conquer Canaan.
“The men are returning from Ai.” The breathless messenger looked ashen. “And they’re bringing wounded and bodies!”
Caleb ran out to find his sons. Shobab was wounded. Mesha wept. “We thought it would be so easy after Jericho, but the men of Ai routed us! They chased us from the city gate as far as the stone quarries. The arrow hit Shobab while he retreated to the slopes. We ran!” He sobbed. “Ardon didn’t make it, Father. He’s dead!”
“My son? My son . . .” Caleb wept. How could this happen? How?
Joshua cried out at the news and tore his clothes. He went straight to the Tabernacle and fell facedown on the ground before the Ark of the Lord.
Caleb stood outside waiting, trembling. What had gone wrong?
The people began gathering—a dozen, a hundred, a thousand. Those who had lost sons and husbands wailed and threw dust over themselves.
Joshua came outside within moments, his face ashen. “We have violated the Lord’s covenant.”
Caleb felt cold. “When? How? Who?” Fear gripped him. What would God do to them? What plague would come upon Israel? What retribution for unfaithfulness?
“Someone has stolen things devoted to the Lord and then lied and put these things among their own possessions. Until this is settled, we can’t stand against our enemies.” Joshua’s voice kept rising. “Consecrate yourselves!” he shouted to t
he people. “Present yourselves before the Lord tomorrow, tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family. The one who is caught with the devoted things will be burned, along with everything that belongs to him!”
Caleb gestured for his sons and grandsons, their wives and his concubines to return to their camp. He studied each one of his sons and grandsons. He looked at his concubines. He hated the feeling of distrust welling within him, the wrath and frustration, the fear of knowing someone who belonged to him may have brought God’s wrath upon the entire nation. But who would dare steal from God? “God will tell us who the guilty man is. And whoever he is, he will die.” Don’t let it be one of my sons or grandsons.
No one said a word, but Caleb saw that his own feelings were reflected in their eyes. They looked at one another, questioning, wondering, afraid. Until the guilty party was found, everyone would be suspect.
No one slept that night. Not one of my sons or grandsons, Lord. Let it not be anyone from Judah.
In the morning, Eleazar the priest stood with Joshua as the tribes came forward one by one. The Reubenites passed by, then the Simeonites. Judah was halted. Caleb wanted to sink into the ground in shame. As the other tribes moved back from them, Judah came forward clan by clan. Caleb went first, followed by his sons, grandsons, and all their wives, concubines, and children. They were not stopped. But Caleb felt no great relief. Judah, oh, Judah. Leader among your brothers! Are you leader in sin as well? The Shelanite clan passed by, then the Perezites.
When the Zerahite clan came before Eleazar and Joshua, they were halted. Joshua commanded them to come forward by families.
Caleb watched Eleazar and knew the moment God revealed the guilty man: Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zimri. Caleb hung his head and wept. Achan and Ardon had played together. They had trained together, laughed together, gone out to battle together.
“It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel.” Achan spoke quickly, pacing and sweating in fear before Joshua and Eleazar, turning to his Judean brothers. “I saw a beautiful robe imported from Babylon, two hundred silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest.”
Sons of Encouragement Page 31
