The people wailed, but some stood their ground.
“No. We want our land.”
Caleb covered his head. It was never their land. It had always been the Lord’s land. And it was the Lord who would have placed them there as He had placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Why do men always refuse to listen and act upon what the Lord says? Lord, give me the heart to hear and the courage to obey.
“Thus says the Lord, ‘How long will this wicked nation complain about Me? I have heard everything the Israelites have been saying. You will all die here in this wilderness! Because you complained against Me, none of you who are twenty years old or older and were counted in the census will enter the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb and Joshua.
“‘You said your children would be taken captive. Well, I will bring them safely into the land, and they will enjoy what you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.’”
The people drew back from Moses as he came forward, hands spread, his voice carrying over the throng. “‘Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. You will discover what it is like to have Me for an enemy.’”
Gagging violently, Palti fell to the ground in convulsions. People screamed and withdrew as Palti bit off his own tongue. People ran from Shaphat, who dropped where he stood among the elders. Igal and Gaddiel pitched over. Ammiel ran, Gaddi on his heels, but both fell as though struck by invisible arrows. Sethur and Nahbi, Geuel and Shammua died as Palti did.
Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Caleb and Joshua stood untouched by God’s judgment, for they hadn’t spread lies about the land and its people.
Caleb shook as the Lord took swift vengeance. The people scattered, but still God’s hand of judgment was upon them, and many others died that night.
In the morning, hundreds went out with their weapons to take Canaan. “Let’s go,” they said. “We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the Lord has promised us.”
“What are you doing?” Moses ran after them, Joshua with him. “God has told us to turn back to the Red Sea!”
“We’re not going back to the Sinai. The Lord said He would give us the land, and we’re going to take it.”
But Moses said, “Why are you now disobeying the Lord’s orders to return to the wilderness? It won’t work. Do not go into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you. When you face the Amalekites and Canaanites in battle, you will be slaughtered. The Lord will abandon you because you have abandoned the Lord!”
“Who are you to tell us to stay here? We’re sick of you telling us what not to do and what to do. We will take the land. God will help us.”
Caleb stood at the edge of camp, watching several of his friends head north for Canaan. They had fretted and argued all night, and finally convinced themselves they could do it. They thought there was power in their dream, power to reach out and grab what they wanted for themselves.
He had heard his brother say, “If we just believe we can do it, it will happen.”
They assumed God would give in to their desire and bless their endeavors. Faith in God would have given them everything they ever hoped to have, but faith in themselves would bring them death.
Caleb shouted after them, “When will you learn to obey the Lord?”
One of his brothers shouted back, “Come with us, Caleb. When will you learn it is not the Lord who speaks, but Moses! And who is he to tell us what to do?”
Helpless, angry, Caleb stood his ground. “Fools! All of you!” His eyes hot, Caleb dropped to his knees and hung his head. Someone gripped his shoulder.
Joshua watched the rebels. “When they are dead, the others will heed the Word of the Lord.”
Caleb gave a laugh of despair. “Do you really think so? Like begets like. Their children will be just like them.”
“Your voice is filled with hatred.”
“I hate those who hate Moses. To hate God’s prophet is to hate God Himself. I hate them with a passion almost as great as my love for God!”
“Brother . . .”
“It sears my heart,” Caleb cried out in wrath. “We were so close. So close! And their faithlessness has stripped us bare. Now, you and I must wait forty years to enter into the land God gave us. Forty years, Joshua! My sons and little ones will suffer in the desert because of them. Our wives will die without ever seeing what you and I saw.” He grasped Joshua’s garment. “And I see it in your eyes, too, my friend.”
“It chews at my soul. What must we do about it?”
Caleb gripped the robe over Joshua’s heart. “Go back.” He shut his eyes and spoke quietly, in despair. “Go back to the last place where we rejoiced over God our Savior. Go back to the Red Sea and begin again.”
And God preserve us, may we continue in faith this time.
* * *
THREE
* * *
The congregation hadn’t even traveled toward the Red Sea for a day when another rebellion broke out, this time led by Korah, a Levite who blamed Moses for the deaths of those who had gone into the Promised Land. He scorned Aaron as high priest and roused others to think likewise. Two hundred and fifty Levites stood with Korah, determined to preside over worship. Moses told them to stand at the entrances of their tents with censors of burning incense the next morning and the Lord would decide.
Struck by fire from the Holy of Holies, Korah and his rebels died horribly. The earth opened with a roar and swallowed them, along with their households. Tumbling down into the yawning jaws of Sheol, they screamed, as the jagged edges of the precipice closed over them like the teeth of a lion.
And still, it was not enough to put an end to the stubbornness of hearts baked and hardened to stone beneath the sun of Egypt’s profane and profligate gods.
“Stay away from the people.” Caleb kept his wives and children inside the tent. “Stay out of it.” He could feel the heat of rebellion building all around him, even in the tribe of Judah as people wailed and cried out through the night.
“I can’t bear it!” Ephrathah covered her ears.
The people rose up again, and accused Moses of killing God’s people. The glory of the Lord appeared and struck the camp with plague. Men and women blaspheming God and His prophet dropped dead where they stood. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, thousands upon thousands. The rebels could not run and hide, for God knew them and sought them out for destruction. Moses cried out for mercy and sent Aaron running to burn incense to atone for the people. Aaron ran to do what was asked of him, and stood between the living and the dead.
Finally, the people were silent, too afraid to open their mouths lest another plague fall upon them. Too late, they remembered what the Lord had done in Egypt. If not for Moses and Aaron, they would all be dead.
Caleb came out of hiding to help carry Judah’s dead from the camp. But he knew it wasn’t over. “I can see it in their eyes.”
Ephrathah put her arm around him in the darkness of their tent. “What do you see, my love?” She pressed into the shelter of his arm.
“Wrath. But it isn’t for those who rebelled against the Lord, but against God Himself for holding true to His word.” It was as though the muddy waters of the Nile still ran in their veins, his included, for Caleb knew sin dwelt in him. He loved these men who had become his brothers. He loved them, and yet, he hated them, too. When he heard a man grumbling close by, he could have so easily raised his hand against him and struck him down. Resentment rose, bringing with it a lust for vengeance.
My heart is a storm within me, Lord. You are my God! Let nothing stand between You and me. Sin crouches at the entrance of my heart waiting
to devour me. And I must fight against it. Oh, God, how I must fight against the fire in my blood! Their faithlessness kept me and my sons from Canaan. Help me not to hate these people. Help me to stand firm beneath the cooling spring of Your living water so that I may obey Your every command whether I understand or not.
But the grumbling persisted, low, an undercurrent that still pulled at the souls of some, sucking the hope from God’s promises.
Bowing his head, Caleb gripped the hoe he used to dig graves until his fingers hurt.
Help me, Lord. Oh, God, help me not to give in to my wrath.
The multitude followed the Lord and Moses back to the Red Sea, and then the wandering began. No one knew how long they would remain in one place. Caleb kept his eyes on the cloud, for when it rose, so too did he and his family members. “Rise up. The Lord is on the move. Rise up!”
Jerioth bore another son. Caleb named him for the place where God allowed them to camp. When Ephrathah bore a son, Caleb lifted him high before the cloud of the Lord. “His name will be Hur.”
Hezron stood bent over his staff. “Another name not of our family.” The years were heavy upon him, and the grief of sons lost spawned bitterness and hatred.
Caleb did not weaken. “Hur and Aaron held Moses’ arms up while Joshua went out against Amalek. So shall my son support those who are chosen of God to lead the people.” He held the babe against his heart. “My sons shall choose honor over shame.”
“May they grow strong in faith like you, but have Moses’ compassion.” The old man walked away.
Caleb kept his sons close, even in the midst of Judah, not wanting them to mingle among those who still looked back toward Egypt and sighed.
Zimri sought him out. “We need you in the council of elders.”
“To what purpose?” They had never listened to him before.
“Your enemies have died, my friend, many in the plague.”
Caleb lifted his head. “And should I mourn them?”
“You heard their screams just as I did. I lost sons that day. Have you no pity for me or those the Lord killed?”
“It was their own faithlessness that brought them down.”
“Dreams too long delayed in coming.”
Even Zimri was blind. “It was not a dream! The land was there as God promised, ripe as the grapes and pomegranates Joshua and I brought back to you. And your fear hardened your heart against the Lord.”
“My sons, my sons. Only Carmi and his son are left.”
Caleb saw the appeal in the old man’s eyes, but would not give in to it. “Faithless still, Zimri. You make excuses for blasphemers. You have heard the Law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might. You and the others still hold fast to flesh and blood.”
“You resent us so much?”
“I resent the years of waste.”
Zimri looked at the young men playing games. His mouth drew tight. “You will go in to that which we have been denied.”
“Yes. When I’m eighty. When my infant sons are as old as I am now. Mesha and Mareshah will be older still!”
Zimri hung his head.
Caleb turned away, but Zimri grasped his arm. “We need you.” He looked up, his eyes moist. “My grandsons need you.”
So Caleb went to the council of elders. “You want to hear what I have to say? So be it. Stop talking among yourselves and listen to the Lord God who brought you out of Egypt. It is too late to look back on what could have been. We must look forward to the promise God has given us. Yes. You will all die! But your sons will go into Canaan—if they learn to obey the Lord. When you come together, judge cases wisely according to the Law. When you gather, speak of the miracles you saw in Egypt. Speak of the opening of the Red Sea; speak of the water that came forth from the rock. Give thanks over the manna you receive from God’s hand each morning. Give thanks for the pillar of fire that protects us by night. Confess to your sons and daughters that it is by our own sins that we wander in this desert. It is because we did not trust in the Lord that they must live as nomads! Let them see us humble ourselves before the Lord so that they will learn He is the Lord our God! We failed to obey. We must teach our sons to succeed.”
Silent, the men looked to Zimri and he spoke for them all. “We agree, Caleb. Only promise you will lead them.”
Caleb looked around the circle. Still, after everything, they failed to understand. “No. I will not. For the Lord our God will lead them!”
The men sent their sons to Caleb, who pressed them hard. He walked down their ranks.
“We no longer have fields to plow and plant, nor crops to harvest, for the Lord has given us all we need. You do not have to toil in the sun making bricks as your fathers did before you. But you will not spend your days in idleness! The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His Name!”
“The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His Name!” his sons called out. The others joined in.
“Again. And mean it!”
They shouted.
“We will all learn to be warriors as well.” He set courses for them to run to make their bodies strong and fast. He planned games to test their agility and strength. He drilled them and drilled them. The older men watched and died as their sons trained.
Caleb’s sons and the others with them were sprouting up like ripe stalks of wheat. But Caleb wanted them strong and unwavering. “You will not bend with every wind that blows down upon us. There were cedars in Canaan, towers of strength. So shall we be. We will stand firm in the power of the Lord our God!”
Whenever the Lord settled the people in a place with wood, Caleb sent out his sons to gather it and build up the fires. The clang of metal against metal and hiss of steam was heard around his camp as he beat his plowshares into swords and his pruning hooks into spears. Through trial and error, the young men learned to wield the weapons and hit the mark with bow and arrow. The shepherds among them taught others how to use the sling and stones.
“Keep your eyes on the Lord,” Caleb taught them. “Be ready to set out the moment the cloud lifts from the Tabernacle.” He taught the boys and young men to run at the first blast of the shofar, rewarding those who were first to have their camps ready for the journey to the next site.
“Rise up! Rise up, O Israel! The Lord is on the move!” And so they all learned to do, not reluctantly but swiftly, pulling down tents, rolling, packing, setting out to wherever God led them.
One of Caleb’s sons was always on watch. For he wanted Judah close on Moses’ and Aaron’s heels, within sight of Joshua who would one day lead.
Caleb and Joshua often worshiped together and then went to a high place that gave them an overview of the camp. Thousands of tents spread out over the desert plain beneath a canopy of cloud. Smoke rose from cook fires. Children ran between the tents; old men gathered at entrances while women served. Where Judah camped, young men sparred and raced against one another. In the distance, shepherds moved flocks of sheep and herds of cattle closer for the night.
The air began to change. Caleb held his breath and watched the transformation of cooling cloud to swirling pillar of flame. It never ceased to amaze him. “Shadowed by day, warmed by night. Our Lord is ever merciful.”
Joshua made a sound of agreement. “You are training Judah’s sons to become fierce warriors.”
Caleb could detect neither approval nor reprimand in Joshua’s statement. “All the sons of Jacob should train to be warriors.”
“I’ve been praying on the matter.”
“And what does the Lord say?”
“He speaks to Moses, not to me.” Caleb felt Joshua’s restlessness and knew he had more to say. After a long moment, Joshua glanced at him. “Nothing has been said one way or the other, which gives me great cause to wonder.”
“About what?”
“Whether it is right to train for battle.”
“When the Lord sends us into Canaan, Joshua, we must know how to fight. Do you think it a sin to train soldiers?” r />
“The Lord said the land is ours.”
“Yes. The victory is already decided, but our work has yet to be done. Do you think the Lord would have us recline on mats and sleep for the next forty years?”
“Our work is to believe, Caleb.”
“Yes, Joshua, but faith is proven by action. The ten scouts who went with us into Canaan believed in God, but they refused to act upon their faith by leading their brothers into Canaan.” He sneered. “Perhaps they would have had the courage had God crushed the walls of the fortified cities and obliterated the people before extending the invitation to us to occupy the land.”
“You have no compassion for them.”
Caleb clenched his teeth.
“They suffered for their lack of faith, Caleb.”
“Their lack of faith could grow within our ranks. Inactivity breeds rebellion. We must do something. What better than to prepare for the battle ahead?”
“You speak as though we are soldiers or charioteers. We are slaves.”
“We were slaves. Now we are free men with God’s promise of a future and a hope. The children born to us in the wilderness will never have known the yoke of Egypt. They will be born beneath the canopy of God. They will walk in His presence every day of their lives. Perhaps it is for us who spent most of our lives bowing down to others to learn to be like our children. If I am bound to anyone as slave, it is to the Lord our God. You must not weaken, Joshua. You must not allow yourself to look back, but up.” He pointed to the pillar of fire. “And out to what is before us.” He pointed north to Canaan.
“It is the wandering that wears upon me.”
“As it wears upon us all. But it is a training ground, too.” Caleb looked toward the horizon. Would God rise up tomorrow and lead them somewhere else? Only the Lord could lead them through this wasteland and bring them to water. “We may believe we wander aimlessly, my friend, but I am convinced God has a plan. I must believe or I would despair. We were judged and now we live with the consequences of our sins, but surely this isn’t all about punishment. Every day we keep our eyes upon Him, we are learning to move when He moves.”