Numbers 14:24

24 servum meum Chaleb qui plenus alio spiritu secutus est me inducam in terram hanc quam circuivit et semen eius possidebit eam

Numbers 14:24 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:24

But my servant Caleb
Who was one of the spies, and brought a good and true report of the land; and so in that, as well as in other things, approved himself to be a faithful servant of the Lord, and who had stilled the people at the beginning of their murmur, and with Joshua had attempted to quiet them afterwards; and though Joshua is not here mentioned, because, as some say, he had no children, and therefore it could not be said of him that his seed should possess the land, as is said of Caleb; or rather, because he was to be the general and commander of the people, who was to introduce them into the land of Canaan, and therefore there was no necessity of expressing him by name, yet he is afterwards mentioned, ( Numbers 14:30 Numbers 14:38 ) ;

because he had another spirit with him;
different from that of the rest of the spies, excepting Joshua; a spirit of faith, and of the fear of the Lord, of might and courage, of truth and faithfulness; believing in the promise of God, which the spies distrusted, being persuaded the land might easily be conquered, which they feared; and bringing a true report of the land, the reverse of the ill and false one they brought. For this is to be understood not of the Holy Spirit of God, nor of his work upon the hearts of good men, which is different from the spirit of the world, though Caleb was possessed of that also:

and hath followed me fully;
with full purpose of heart whithersoever he led him, or directed him, in every path of duty, and in the exercise of every grace; or "hath fulfilled after me" ^F25; obeyed his word of command, fulfilled his mind and will, by going after him, and acting according to the rules and directions he gave him:

him will I bring into the land whereinto he went;
the land of Canaan he went into to spy and search:

and his seed shall possess it;
not the whole land, but Hebron, and the parts about it, where he particularly went, and which he and his posterity afterwards enjoyed, see ( Numbers 13:22 ) ( Joshua 14:13-15 ) . The Targum of Onkelos is, "shall expel it"; the inhabitants of it; for the word signifies both to inherit and disinherit; and so Jarchi interprets it, shall disinherit the Anakim, and the people that are in it, that is, drive them out of it, as Caleb did, ( Joshua 15:13 Joshua 15:14 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (yrxa almyw) "et implevit post me", Montanus, Tigurine version, Fagius, Drusius.

Numbers 14:24 In-Context

22 attamen omnes homines qui viderunt maiestatem meam et signa quae feci in Aegypto et in solitudine et temptaverunt me iam per decem vices nec oboedierunt voci meae

23 non videbunt terram pro qua iuravi patribus eorum nec quisquam ex illis qui detraxit mihi intuebitur eam

24 servum meum Chaleb qui plenus alio spiritu secutus est me inducam in terram hanc quam circuivit et semen eius possidebit eam

25 quoniam Amalechites et Chananeus habitant in vallibus cras movete castra et revertimini in solitudinem per viam maris Rubri

26 locutusque est Dominus ad Mosen et Aaron dicens