Let’s talk about Caleb. His name means ferocious dog in Hebrew, Though he left Egypt with Moses, He was not a jew. I’ll start by saying some of the following is speculative, because we don’t have all the information, but the information we do have, leads to something like this being accurate. During Joseph’s time, there was a great drought, a lot of the people groups other than the Jews were suffering from this drought, so they like the Jews went to Egypt. And having more in common with the Jewish people than the Egyptians, these cultures somewhat merged having cultural similarities.

It is said in scripture that Caleb is of the tribe of Judah, but his father is said to be a Kenizzite and a descendant of Esau, Related to the Edomites. Which would mean that Calebs family history was one a of a people group who often found themselves at odds with Israel, and often they were defeated by the Jews even though they outnumbered the Jews and had better armies. This is because the Jewish people had the favor of the Lord.

When the Jewish people left Egypt, which had been devastated by the 10 plagues, Caleb, and presumably many of his people, went with them. Caleb may have been adopted, which might be why he is listed as of the tribe of Judah, or he may have just traveled with them, either way, this is how he is described when we hear of him.

When Moses sends the 12 spies into the promised land to scout it out, they all report favorably about the land but all but two are against going in. Because the people are big and strong. Caleb has a unique perspective here, the Jewish people always tend to forget that God does things, and that He has caused them to win against all odds over and over again. But Caleb, He knows from his families stories that the Jewish people, who by all natural means should lose almost every skirmish, almost always win because God is with them. So he says “we should go in and take it” Because he knows that the enemies of The Jews lose. The others disagree and they spend 38-40 years wandering in the desert. But Caleb and Joshua eventually get to go in to the promised land.