People of the Bible
Caleb
1528 BC –
Family
In the story
- Birth of Caleb · 1528 BC
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
The son of Jephunneh (Num. 13:6; 32:12; Josh. 14:6, 14). He was one of those whom Moses sent to search the land in the second year after the Exodus. He was one of the family chiefs of the tribe of Judah. He and Joshua the son of Nun were the only two of the whole number who encouraged the people to go up and possess the land, and they alone were spared when a plague broke out in which the other ten spies perished (Num. 13; 14). All the people that had been numbered, from twenty years old and upward, perished in the wilderness except these two. The last notice we have of Caleb is when (being then eighty-five years of age) he came to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, after the people had gained possession of the land, and reminded him of the promise Moses had made to him, by virtue of which he claimed a certain portion of the land of Kirjath-arba as his inheritance (Josh. 14:6-15; 15:13-15; 21:10-12; 1 Sam. 25:2, 3; 30:14). He is called a “Kenezite” in Josh. 14:6, 14. This may simply mean “son of Kenez” (Num. 32:12). Some, however, read “Jephunneh, the son of Kenez,” who was a descendant of Hezron, the son of Pharez, a grandson of Judah (1 Chr. 2:5). This Caleb may possibly be identical with (2).
From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.
Named in 30 verses
- Numbers
- 13:6, 13:30, 14:6, 14:24, 14:30, 14:38, 26:65, 32:12, 34:19
- Deuteronomy
- 1:36
- Joshua
- 14:6, 14:13, 14:14, 15:13, 15:14, 15:16, 15:17, 15:18, 21:12
- Judges
- 1:12, 1:13, 1:14, 1:15, 1:20, 3:9
- 1 Samuel
- 25:3
- 1 Chronicles
- 2:46, 2:48, 4:15, 6:56
The family, dates and events on this page come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a work in progress, and its dates follow one reconstruction of biblical chronology among several. The dictionary article above is separately in the public domain.