Caleb

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Caleb

For other meanings of the word Caleb or Kalev
Kalev

Kalev, besides being a common Estonians first name, may refer to* Kalev , a character from Estonian mythology* Kalev , an Estonian sweets company...
see Caleb (disambiguation)
Caleb (disambiguation)

Caleb , Standard Hebrew Kalev, Tiberian Hebrew ) is a male given name.In the Hebrew Bible*Caleb, the son of Jephunneh is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, noted for his faith in God when the Hebrew nation refuses to enter the "promised land" of Canaan....

Caleb (Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
; Tiberian vocalization

Tiberian vocalization

Tiberian Hebrew is an extinct but very well documented oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient Hebrew language, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was given written form by Masoretes scholars in the Jewish community at Tiberias, in the early Middle Ages, beginning in the 8th century....
: ; Hebrew Academy: ) is a male given name.

the Hebrews came to the outskirts of Canaan, the land that had been promised them by God, after having fled slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
in Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
, Moses

Moses

Moses is a Hebrew Bible Hebrews religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, to whom the Mosaic authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew , he is the most important prophet in Judaism, and also an important prophet of Christianity, Islam, the Bah?'? Faith, Rastafari movement, Chrislam and many ot...
(the Hebrew leader) sent twelve messengers, scouts (or spies, meraglim in Hebrew) into Canaan to report on what was there—one spy representing each of the twelve (landed) tribes.

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Caleb (Hebrew

Hebrew language

Tiberian vocalization

Caleb son of Jephunneh

Caleb, son of Jephunneh

Jephunneh

Jephunneh is a Bible name which means "for whom a way is prepared", and may refer to:* Father of Caleb the spy, appears to have belonged to an Edomitish tribe called Kenezites, from Kenaz their founder....
, is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
, noted for his faith in God

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
when the Hebrews

Hebrews

Hebrews are an ancient people defined as descendants of biblical Patriarch Abraham , a descendent of Noah.In the Bible, the patriarch Abraham is referred to a single time as the ivri, which is the singular form of the Hebrew-language word for Hebrew ....
refused to enter the "promised land" of Canaan

Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
. When the Hebrews came to the outskirts of Canaan, the land that had been promised them by God, after having fled slavery

Slavery

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
, Moses

Moses

Giant (mythology)

The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology....
lived there who would crush the Hebrew army

Army

An army , in the broadest sense, is the land-based armed forces of a nation. It may also include other branches of the military such as an air force....
. Only two, Joshua

Joshua

Joshua, Jehoshuah or Yehoshua , born in Egypt, was a biblical Israelite leader who succeeded Moses. His story is told in the Hebrew Bible, chiefly in the books Book of Exodus, Book of Numbers and Book of Joshua....
(from the tribe of Ephraim

Ephraim

Ephraim was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph and Asenath, and the founder of the Israelites of Tribe of Ephraim; however some Biblical criticism view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation....
) and Caleb (representing Judah

Judah

Judah is the name of several Biblical and historical figures. The original Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, as recorded in Genesis 29:35....
), returned and said that God would be able to deliver Canaan into the hands of the Hebrew nation.

The Bible records that, because of the testimony of the ten scouts, the Hebrews chose not to enter Canaan: for this disobedience, God caused them to wander in the desert for forty years before being allowed to enter Canaan and conquer it as their home. The only adult Israelites allowed to survive these forty years and enter Canaan were Joshua and Caleb, as a reward for their faith in God. This is recorded in the Book of Numbers

Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers, , is the fourth book of the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Old Testament. In the Greek language Septuagint it is called Arithmoi, or Numbers....
. Caleb is called "my servant" by God in Numbers 14:24, a position of the highest honor heretofore used only for Moses.

Caleb was likely an Israelite by choice. Caleb is noted as being the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite (Numbers 32:12). The Kenizzites are listed (Genesis 15:19) as a tribe in the land promised to Abram (Abraham). Another hypothesis derives this name from Kenaz, who was presumably Caleb's stepfather (and the father of Othniel, Caleb's future son-in-law).

Notably, all references to the Kenizzite connection, which would imply a "quasi-foreign" status, were removed from the Septuagint

Septuagint

The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd century BC and 1st century BC in Alexandria....
, which adds instead a qualifier (? d?a?e?????dµ????) that means "he who goes against the current" . The Talmud

Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
(Sotah 11b) also interprets the name Jephunneh in this vein: "he (Caleb) was a son who turned —panah— from the counsel of the spies" .

A Midrash

Midrash

Midrash is a Hebrew language term referring to the not exact, but comparative method of exegesis of Biblical texts, which is one of four methods cumulatively called Pardes ....
refers to Caleb being devoted to the Lord and to Moses, splitting from the other scouts to tour Hebron

Hebron

Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to some 166,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Israelis....
on his own and visit the graves of the Patriarchs

Cave of the Patriarchs

The Cave of the Patriarchs is a series of subterranean caves located in a complex called by Muslims the Ibrahimi Mosque or Sanctuary of Abraham ....
.

In the aftermath of the conquest, Caleb asks Joshua to give him a mountain in property within the land of Judah, and Joshua gives him Hebron (Joshua 14). Since Hebron itself was one of the Cities of Refuge

Cities of Refuge

The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah at which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law....
to be ruled by the Levites, it is later explained that Caleb actually was given the outskirts (Joshua 21:11-13). Caleb promised his daughter Achsah

Achsah

Achsah - "anklet", was Caleb's only daughter . She was offered in marriage to the man who would lead an attack on the city of Debir, also called Kirjath-sepher/Kirjath-sannah....
in marriage to him who will conquer the land of Debir

Debir

A Bible name, Debir may refer to:* The most inner and sacred part of Solomon's Temple, most commonly known as "Sanctum Sanctorum"; see Most Holy Place....
from the giants. This was eventually accomplished by Othniel Ben Kenaz, Caleb's half-brother, who became Caleb's son-in-law as well.

Other people named Caleb in the Bible

In 1 Chronicles 2:18 one "Caleb son of Hezron" is mentioned. That Caleb is noteworthy for being the great-grandfather of architect

Architect

An architect is trained and licenced in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e....
Bezalel

Bezalel

In Exodus 31:1-6, Bezalel , is the chief architect of the Tabernacle. Elsewhere in the Bible the name occurs only in the genealogical lists of the Book of Chronicles, but according to cuneiform script inscriptions a variant form of the same, "?il-B?l," was borne by a king of Gaza who was a contemporary of Hezekiah and Manasseh....
. Per the context, this man was an Israelite by lineage, which (if the Kenizzite hypothesis holds) would make it implausible that he and the other Caleb are the same person (even though the Talmud argues so in Sotah 11b ).

1 Samuel 25:3 states that Nabal

Nabal

According to the Books of Samuel, Nabal , was a rich Calebite who was also described as being harsh and badly behaved. David and his band of men who had been outlawed by King Saul were living off the Wilderness of Paran and providing voluntary protection to the shepherds in the area....
, the husband of Abigail

Abigail

Abigail is a female name occurring in Bible from the Books of Samuel, and reflected in the Books of Chronicles. The name Abigal occurs on one occasion, and is thought by the vast majority of scholars to be an alternate spelling of Abigail....
before David

David

David , was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. He is depicted as a righteous king, although not without fault, as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet ....
, was "of the house of Caleb". It is not stated whether this refers to one of the two Calebs mentioned in the Bible, or another person bearing the same name.

The name Caleb

Caleb's name is spelled with the same consonants as meaning "dog

Dog

The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties....
", prompting the common conclusion that the name Caleb means "dog", but this is not necessarily the case. The most plausible origin is a transposition of the name as found other ancient Semitic languages

Semitic languages

File:Amarna Akkadian letter.pngThe Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa....
such as Phoenician and Ugaritic

Ugaritic language

The Ugaritic language, discovered by France archaeology in 1928, is known only in the form of writings found in the lost city of Ugarit, near the modern village of Ras Shamra, Syria....
, meaning "servant of the Lord" .

The name Caleb is popular in North America (see Caleb (disambiguation)

Caleb (disambiguation)

Caleb , Standard Hebrew Kalev, Tiberian Hebrew ) is a male given name.In the Hebrew Bible:*Caleb, the son of Jephunneh is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, noted for his faith in God when the Hebrew nation refuses to enter the "promised land" of Canaan....
), but it is not used in Hebrew-speaking Israel.

Footnotes/sources

1. Gary N. Knoppers

Gary N. Knoppers

Gary Neil Knoppers is a professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He has written books and articles regarding a range of Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern topics....
, I Chronicles 1 - 9
Books of Chronicles

LocationIn the masoretic text, Chronicles is part of the third part of the Tanakh, namely Ketuvim . In most printed versions it is the last book in Ketuvim ....
(New York

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
:Doubleday, 2003), p. 305; also see pp. 347-349 in the same book.

Caleb

Caleb son of Jephunneh

Other people named Caleb in the Bible

The name Caleb

Footnotes/sources

See also

External links