"And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance." --- Joshua 14:13.
The spies that went up to view the promised land, all, except Caleb and Joshua, made a formidable report of the gigantic inhabitants of Hebron, saying, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." Caleb (answering well to his name, which signifies All-heart) stilled the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome." We are told he had another spirit with him, and followed God fully. Moses, therefore, because he wholly followed the Lord his God, was commissioned to make him a grant of all the land whereon his feet had troden, which was the mountain of Hebron.
Caleb was eighty-five years old when he reminded Joshua of this promise; he was forty when Moses sent him to spy out the land; thirty-eight years the Lord kept him in the wilderness, through the plagues of the desert, and seven years in Caanan, through the perils of war. The city of Hebron was already reduced, but the inhabitants had repaired to the fastnesses of the mountain: these he wanted to dispossess, assuring Joshua he had now the same strength of body and holy confidence in God to engage in this dangerous enterprise, as he had at forty years of age, when he was sent as a spy. Joshua blessed him, acknowledged his claim and deserts, besought God to prosper him in his undertaking, and gave him the country: thus was his fidelity and uprightness rewarded.
Reader, are you like-hearted with Caleb? Are you longing after Hebron, that is, communion with God? Are you eager to fight against your spiritual foes, those sons of Anak, lusts, passions, the devil, and the world? If so, remember the promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be;" keep up the fellowship with God, and no enemy shall be too strong for you; follow God fully; eye the captain of your salvation; fight in his name and strength, and you shall conquer every foe.
All heart, like Caleb, may I be,
Against each spiritual foe;
And like him, trusting in the Lord,
To fight and conquer go.