The Fold of Christ

Caleb the Jew… Caleb the Gentile 

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The Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years.  During this time the people of Jacob had grown to a very large nation of people.  In fact, they became so large until the Egyptians saw this as a threat to their society. They enslaved the Israelite people, as their numbers grew too large, and Pharos would not have his country be removed by a foreign people.  

 

As the Hebrew slaves slipped deeper into their captivity, they cried out to Yah for redemption for the deliverer to come.  Moses was at the Hand of Yah, who confronted Pharos and led the people of Israel to the wilderness. 

 

As you can imagine the people of Israel before being enslaved, had a lot of dealing with the Egyptian people and I’m sure many relationships followed.  Israel became a nation of different people, still believing in the One True Elohim and many were added to the Israelite family.

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      Exodus 12:38
      A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds a             great deal of livestock.

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When deliverance was finally given to Israel, they left Egypt.  The mixed multitude of people, who went up with them, were a group not only of the blood line, but also those of marriage and converts.  And some Gentiles followed Israel as they left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness.

Yah had specially instructed Moses to make provisions for the strangers living among them to keep and partake the Passover. They had to become a part of the tribe to take part in Passover or any practices the Israelite believed in.

 

      Exodus 12:48
      And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover       to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come           near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no                     uncircumcised person shall eat it.

 

In their pursuit of the “Promised Land” we see the 12 men of the different tribes of Israel being selected to search out the land of Canaan to see what was there.

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Numbers 13:1-6

1.  And Yah spoke to Moses, saying, 

2.  “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them.”

3. So, Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of Yah, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. 

4. Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. 

5.  from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

6.  from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

 

We see that Caleb is noted as a son of Jephunneh out of the tribe of Judah.  Joshua and Caleb were the only two spies who brought back good report after their return from their findings. 

 

       Numbers 13:25 
       And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. 

       In Numbers 32:12 we see Caleb named as a Kenizzite.  The Kenizzite              people were descendance of Kenaz who were from the linage of                 Esau.

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       Numbers 32:12
       Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son        of Nun, for they have solely followed the LORD.

 

       Numbers 34:19
       These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the            son of Jephunneh;
 
       Joshua 14:6
       Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the            son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word                    which Yah said to Moses the man of Elohim concerning you and me          in Kadesh Barnea.

 

As we can see, Caleb was from the tribe of Judah, but he was also the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite.  We know that the Kenizzite were descendances of Esau from Genesis 36.

 

       Genesis 36:10-11
       These were the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the                wife of Esau, and Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. And the        sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

 

Kenaz was one of the grandsons of Esau. The descendants of Kenaz were known as the Kenizzites.  Being accepted into Israel and because of his faithfulness to Yah, Caleb received respected and was adopted into the tribes of Israel.  We also see that an inheritance was given to Caleb in the land of promise given by Yah.

 

        Joshua 15:13
        Now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the                 children of Judah, according to the commandment of the LORD to             Joshua, namely, Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of         Anak).

 

        Joshua 21:12
        But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son             of Jephunneh as his possession.

 

Caleb was noted as a faithful man unto Yahweh, he also led his family members to faithfully follow the Elohim of Israel. The scriptures speak of the younger brother of Caleb in several places.

 

        Judges 3:9
        9 And when the children of Israel cried unto Elohim, Yahweh raised             up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even                 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 

        10 And the Spirit of the Yahweh came upon him, and he judged                     Israel, and went out to war: and Yahweh delivered Chushan-                         rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand                         prevailed against Chushan-rishathaimut the fields of the city and its         villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

 

Caleb and Joshua were the only adults who survived forty years in the wilderness.  The younger brother of Caleb should be less than the age of twenty at the time of passing the death sentence on the rebellious and unbelieving people.

 

Numbers 14:28-31

1. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says Elohim, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: 

2. The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 

3. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 

4. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

 

Caleb became an important member and leader of the tribe of Judah as he was called to be one of the spies, representing his tribe. 

Reading the scriptures, we see that Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, was a Gentile by blood line, being from Abraham but not from the line of Jacob, who took up the faith in Yahweh. He had become a part of the tribe of Judah during the time of slavery in Egypt and before Yah gave them the Torah at Mount Sinai. Caleb was truly a remarkable man of faith and courage. He had also inspired his younger brother and other family members to follow in his footsteps by trusting and obeying Yahweh. He is a wonderful example for us to follow, as we are adopted into Yah's family. We have also become the sons of Abraham. 

 

        Galatians 3:7
        Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of                           Abraham.

 

        Galatians 3:29
        And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs                     according to the promise.

 

Understanding Yeshua’s death and resurrection opened the gate for all to become a part of the promise given to Abraham, is the most important when believing that ALL are now one people.  No Jew... No Gentile only the chosen people of the Most High.

 

I hope this information blesses your heart.