Sons of Encouragement

by Francine Rivers

  The Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Hivites joined forces at the Waters of Merom.

  “They have a huge army!” The scout’s eyes were dark with worry. “And thousands of horses and chariots. There are too many for us . . .”

  “How many is too many for the Lord, Parnach?” Caleb drew the tent flap back. “You’re dismissed.”

  The young man flushed and departed quickly.

  “Perhaps we should rethink our battle plan,” said Joshua.

  Our battle plan? Joshua looked tired. So were they all. They had been fighting for months, taking one city after another, putting thousands to the sword. “We never fight by our battle plan, Joshua. You know that better than any man. Inquire of the Lord. He will tell you again what we must do.”

  “How many times must the Lord say to me, ‘Have no fear’ before I have no fear?”

  Caleb frowned. “You are not a coward, Joshua.”

  Joshua gave a grim laugh. “The Lord knows differently.”

  “If you are a coward, so are we all. Not a man among us is without fear, my friend. Brave men do what the Lord commands despite their fear. As you have done, and so shall the Lord tell you to do again.”

  “You are the fiercest man I’ve ever known, Caleb. I’ve never seen you waver, even when cutting down women and children.”

  “Because I fear God more than men. But I am sick after every battle.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Ask Maacah. Ask Ephrah.” Killing women and children was a difficult thing to do. “I must remind myself continually of what I saw during those forty days we traveled through this land as scouts. Remember their festivals, the debauchery, the perversion, the way they sacrificed their children to their gods? Even the children acted out what they saw their parents doing. We told them the stories of our God, how He destroyed Egypt with plagues, how He provides for His people. Have they changed? When we went into Jericho, what did we find but altars like those we saw all over Canaan. Rahab said the people were afraid of us, but do they fear God? No! Forty years, Joshua. The Lord is merciful to those who repent and cry out to Him. Have these people done that?”

  Caleb clenched his fist. “I have to remind myself of these things every time I draw my sword. I have to remind myself of what God requires of me. We all must remind ourselves that God is on our side. As long as we obey His Word, He will protect us and give us the victory. As long as we obey.”

  “That preys upon my mind. How long will our people obey? We have seen that their hearts are easily seduced.”

  “And that is precisely why the Lord told us to get rid of these people, to be a scourge and cleanse the land of them. We erred with the Gibeonites, Joshua. We must never make that mistake again.”

  Joshua’s eyes shone. “We won’t. Not as long as I live. I will inquire of the Lord and we will follow Him.”

  Caleb smiled.

  “There is momentum in these battles, Caleb, like a great stone rolling down a mountain. The Canaanites, Amorites, and all the rest flee before us because God hardened their hearts. Their opportunity to repent has passed. And God is using us to carry out His judgment against them.”

  “Yes, Joshua, but we must not forget that we could share the same fate if we ever turn our backs on the Lord.”

  God had told them He would bring the curses to bear upon them and they would be cut down by the sword and scattered across the face of the earth.

  “For the Lord!” Caleb led Judah’s charge into battle at the Waters of Merom. Joshua was at the head of Israel’s divisions. The army of Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Hivites fell before the ferocity as the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel. The allies split, retreating.

  Caleb cut down all those who stood against him. His arm swung to the right and then the left, hacking through any Amorite or Hittite who came at him. He saw others run. “Pursue them!” he shouted and the Hebrews went after them.

  Bodies lay all along the way to Greater Sidon, to Misrephoth-maim and to the Valley of Mizpah on the east. Hamstrung horses screamed. Chariots burned. One by one, cities fell. The Israelites followed the command to leave no survivors. They left the uninhabited dwellings and cities on their mounds and moved on to Hazor and King Jabin, the man who had gathered the other nations against Israel. And the city fell.

  “Here he is!” Caleb threw King Jabin at Joshua’s feet. When the Amorite king tried to rise, Caleb put his foot on his back.

  “We wait—” Joshua drew his sword—“until every man, woman, and child in his domain has reaped the Lord’s wrath.”

  When the city was silent, Joshua drew his sword. “For the Lord.” He sliced through Jabin with one powerful sweep of the blade. Caleb stood near enough to be splattered by the blood as the Amorite king died.

  The men cheered in victory.

  “Hazor has well-built walls, fine dwellings, and cisterns.”

  Caleb knew what they were thinking. After years of living in tents, how easy it would be to move into those houses and live in comfort. Hadn’t he been tempted by the same things? But there were other things to consider. “There is an altar to Baal at the center and an Asherah pole. I did not enter a single household where there was not some kind of idol.”

  The officer from Simeon glared at Caleb. “We can put everything through fire as we have before.”

  Cattle lowed and sheep bleated as they were herded toward the valley. Israel’s flocks and herds were growing with every battle they fought. Even in their dreams, they had not imagined the wealth God had given them.

  Caleb thought of the blood on the altar in the center of Hazor. “What does the Lord say about this city?”

  Joshua walked away from them. When one of the men started to follow, Caleb blocked him. “Let him inquire of the Lord.”

  The commanders all talked at once. What they wanted was clear.

  Caleb stilled his impatience. “Jabin gathered the nations against us.”

  “Jabin is dead!”

  “Yes, I know he is dead. And Hazor stands as a monument to his rebellion.”

  “We’ll rename the city. We can burn all the idols and smash the Asherah pole and the altars of Baal.”

  “Should we bring our children to live in a city founded upon sin?”

  “You would tear down every one of these towns, Caleb. You are a destroyer!”

  “I saw what they did on those altars. In forty years, I have not forgotten.”

  “We didn’t see it, Caleb. We aren’t plagued by such memories. We can—”

  “Be silent!” Caleb commanded. Joshua was returning. “What does the Lord want done, Joshua?”

  Joshua came toward them, wrath in his eyes. “Burn it. The Lord says burn it. Leave nothing standing!”

  Caleb called out the order. Men ran to obey, tearing down the gates and setting a torch to them. The crackle of flames filled the air along with billowing smoke. Caleb strode through the city, making certain the dwellings were set on fire. He shouted to several men and ordered them to help him topple an Asherah pole. The stench of burning flesh filled his nostrils until he was nauseated.

  As he went out, he drew in fresh air and thanked God for leading them away from temptation. Hazor had been a place of death long before God’s wrath brought the Israelites to the gates of the city.

  Caleb cleaned the blood from his sword, then began the slow work of sharpening it. How many men had he killed in the last three years? How many more would he have to kill before God’s enemies were removed from Canaan? He ran the stone along the blade in one long smooth stroke. He had met with Joshua last night and come away grim with resolve.

  “The Lord has told me there are still large areas of land to be taken over,” Joshua had said.

  “What areas?”

  “All the regions of the Philistines and Gershurites; from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north.”

  “Gaza and Ashdod?”

  “Yes, and Ash
kelon and Gath as well. From the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek where the Amorites still live, the area of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath.”

  The years stretched before Caleb. Would he ever plow the soil or plant seed again? Would he watch his crops grow? He couldn’t speak.

  Joshua pointed as he spoke.

  “The Lord Himself will drive the Sidonians out of the mountain regions from Lebanan to Misrephoth-maim. This land will be allocated as an inheritance and divided among the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh.”

  Even as the fighting continued, the Israelites took possession of Canaan, dividing up the land according to the boundaries set by the Lord. The Reubenites and Gadites had received their inheritance, their clans and families establishing themselves in the area taken from Sihon and Og. The tribe of Reuben held the towns of the plateau and the area once ruled by Amorites at Heshbon. The boundary was the Jordan River.

  Gad received all the towns of Gilead and half the Ammonite country as far as Aroer near Rabbah. Their territory ran up to the end of the Sea of Galilee. Manasseh’s territory included Bashan and all the settlements of Jair. Sixty towns!

  God assigned the other inheritances, and the areas were marked out on a map. Judah’s allotment was in the heart of Canaan, including the mountain where Abraham had taken Isaac and made ready to offer him to the Lord in obedience to God’s command, but the Lord had called out to him to withhold his hand from the boy and provided the offering Himself.

  “Are you all right, Caleb?”

  “I’m growing old.”

  Joshua’s face softened. “Our day will come, my friend.”

  “Will it?” Caleb bowed his head in shame. Who was he to question God? Forgive me, Lord. It’s only that . . . He stopped the thought. Forgive me! He fought against the despair filling him. He had spent forty years wandering in the wilderness because of the faithlessness of his generation. And now he was spending his last years fighting a war and allotting the land to the sons of the very men whose sin had kept him out of the Promised Land all those years. The Lord would keep His promises, but that did not mean all would be as Caleb had hoped.

  Canaan was a land of mountains and valleys, pasturelands and rippling streams. Blossoms scented the air and hummed with the bees that made honey, as cattle and sheep and goats on a thousand hills grazed and grew fat, providing milk and meat in plenty. The olive trees were loaded with their fruit, as were the apricot, pomegranate, and palm trees. Grapevines spread plentifully across the ground, bearing clusters enough to feed an entire family. The land of milk and honey!

  Everything the Lord had said came true. The richness of Canaan made Caleb’s head spin with dreams and longings he knew he must not dwell upon, for the Lord had not released him from his call to stand at Joshua’s side. He must continue to wage war against the idol worshipers who had polluted the paradise God had created.

  He must not question.

  But sometimes the ache in his heart seemed past enduring. Lord, Lord, help me!

  “The Lord will keep His promise, Caleb.”

  “He already has. The Lord promised that I would enter Canaan. And He has kept that promise.” He looked away so that Joshua would not see the moisture growing in his eyes. Dropping his chin, he cleared his throat softly and waited a moment more before he could trust his voice. “God did not say I would return to farming.”

  FIVE

  “When do we get our land, Father? How long do we have to fight and place others first before we get our own inheritance?”

  Caleb had struggled with these same questions over the past year. It wouldn’t do to join in his sons’ yearning. Joshua had not released him yet. “Our opportunity will come.”

  “When?”

  “When Joshua says it is time.”

  “Joshua will never say it’s time, Father. He needs you!”

  “Do not speak as a fool. Joshua doesn’t need me. The Lord is with him.”

  “He will never release you, Father. Not until you ask him to let you go.”

  Was that what they thought? “Joshua and I stood together against the unfaithful generation. We stand together now. He speaks for the Lord.” Frowning, he watched his son Hur pour himself another cup of wine. Perhaps it was too much wine that roused their impatience this day. “My sons . . .” Caleb spoke gently, hoping to snuff out the sparks that could so easily take flame. “We may be twelve tribes, but remember, we are all sons of Jacob. We must work together to take the land. Together, we are strong in the Lord. Divided, we weaken.”

  “Yes.” A young voice spoke boldly. “We must wait upon the Lord.”

  “Hush, Hebron!” Jesher glowered. “Who are you to remind us of the Lord?”

  Hebron’s face reddened, but he was wise enough not to pursue the argument. Caleb studied his young grandson. At least one among these young lions had a heart for God. “Hebron speaks wisely.”

  “Hebron speaks as a boy with his whole life ahead of him.” Jesher’s eyes flashed. “What of you, Father?”

  “Ah. So you cry out for my sake?” He mocked them. “Is it a cave you hope to claim? A place to put my bones?”

  “We have waited long enough!” The others called out agreement.

  “Manasseh, the Reubenites, and the Gadites haven’t cleared their land of the enemy. When they do—”

  “When they do?” Mesha rose, impatient. “They never will.”

  Caleb’s face went hot. “Do not speak ill of your brothers.” As each year passed, his own impatience grew. He did not need his sons to fan the blaze of sin.

  “I speak the truth, Father, and well you know it.”

  His other sons joined in the argument. “Those tribes are not eager to aid us.”

  “They gave their word,” Caleb reminded them in a hard voice. “And God will hold them to it.”

  “They long to return to their flocks and herds on the east side of the Jordan.”

  “If Moses hadn’t made them take an oath, they wouldn’t be helping us now. And they took that oath because they knew they’d all die if they didn’t.”

  “They’re half-minded, looking east rather than fully committed to the battle before us.”

  “Judah is like a lion, and you are the greatest lion of all, Father. Why must we be the last tribe to receive an inheritance?”

  “Enough!” His sons fell silent before his anger. Caleb clenched his teeth, and breathed out slowly before speaking again. “You call me a lion, and so I must rule this pride. Listen. All of you!” He waited for their full attention and spoke slowly, fervently. “We must encourage the others to fulfill the Word of the Lord. We must clear the land of every pagan. If we fail in this, the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, and all the rest will be stumbling blocks for generations to come!”

  “We will drive them from our land, Father. We will kill them!”

  “It is these other tribes who do not seem intent on getting the work done.” Mesha leaned toward Caleb, eyes hot. “If we wait, we will have nothing!”

  Caleb grabbed Mesha by the throat. Mesha grabbed his wrist, but could not break free. Caleb dug his fingers in until Mesha’s eyes rolled back, then let him go. Mesha rasped, coughed.

  “If you ever speak rebellion against the Lord again, I’ll kill you.” Caleb turned his face from Mesha and looked at each of his sons, one at a time. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ll spare my own household!”

  There was silence in the tent. No one moved. Not even the women standing by, ready to serve.

  Shobab, ever the peacemaker, spread his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “We ask only that you pray about it, Father. Your heart is pure before the Lord.”

  “Pure?” Caleb sneered. “No man has a pure heart.” Not even Joshua could boast such a thing. Caleb exhaled slowly. They were so quick to battle. Should any man take pleasure in shedding the blood of an enemy? No! Did God take pleasure in killing? Nev
er! Caleb could not help wondering if there would come another day when Israel would be an enemy of God and the judgment would come upon them. These sons of his had only been in the Promised Land four years, and already the bones left in the wilderness were forgotten.

  I will not forget, Lord!

  He would not allow himself to believe he was impervious to sin, that it could not draw him into deceit and bring him down as it had brought down other men better than he. Moses, for one.

  “I have prayed, Shobab. I continue to pray. I see what you all see, and long for our land as much as—if not more than—you do. But we must wait upon the Lord! We must do all according to God’s plan and not our own. If we go after what we want now, we are even less than these brothers you speak against. Without the Lord on our side, we have no hope or future.”

  Caleb felt compassion within his anger. Some of these sons were now older than he had been when he first set foot in Canaan forty-four years ago. They saw the land as he had then, a fulfillment of God’s promise, a place of milk and honey. But it was also a place that ran deep with the corruption of the people who had dwelt upon it. The land must be cleansed first, and then it would become what God meant it to be: a land and people ruled by the God of heaven and earth. And all the nations of the earth would see the difference between His ways and those of men.

  These sons, so much like him, thought only of land and houses, a place to rest. Surely God’s plan was greater than to sit beneath an olive tree and enjoy the fruit of the land. Caleb was convinced God’s plan was greater than any man could imagine. Judah was like a pride of lions. And Caleb must be the strongest lion among them. He must do battle against them for their sake.

  “I did not wander for forty years in the wilderness and oversee your training so that we would become like a pack of wolves, thinking only of ourselves!” Caleb raised his fist. “We shall lead the other tribes as God bids us lead them. Let them see Judah wait. Let them see Judah fight so that others might claim their inheritance first.”