“The descendants of Y’hudah approached Y’hoshua in Gilgal, and Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi said to him, “You know what Adonai told Moshe the man of God about me and you in Kadesh-Barnea.”-Joshua 14:6
Today I want to focus our attention on verse 6 because it contains some info that’s quite interesting.
It says that…
…Caleb was the son of Jephunneh who was a Kennizite.
When we examine the facts behind Caleb’s background, what we’ll find is actually quite amazing.
So what are these facts?
Well check ’em out below.
I’ve broken them down for you in a nice and easy to digest manner.
FACT #1:
Caleb’s biological father was Jephunneh and he hailed from the tribe of Judah.
FACT #2:
Jephunneh passed away resulting in Caleb’s mother remarrying a dude named Kenaz (that’s where we get the word “Kenazites” from). So here we see that because of this union, Caleb received a stepfather (Kenaz).
FACT #3:
Kenaz (Caleb’s stepfather) was NOT Hebrew. He descended from the Edomites.
“Okay, so what’s the big deal about all of this?”…
…you’re asking?
Well homie, think about it.
Here we have Caleb who while being a member of the tribe of Judah is also closely connected to the Edomites through his stepfather.
And this bro is asking Joshua to hand over his land inheritance.
So the point is this and this is something I’ve mentioned before by the way.
There ain’t no such thing as some kind of genealogical purity among the Israelites.
It just doesn’t exist.
Heck, there wasn’t even any pure blood line among the earliest Hebrews going all the way back to Abraham.
And let’s not forget that Abraham was a gentile because the Hebrew line starts with Jacob.
Man, I could just go on and on about this topic.
Consider that God’s first children Adam and Eve were also gentiles, not to mention Noach.
Folks, I think this is something the Lord intended from the very beginning.
God made it clear to Abraham that any foreigner who wanted to join His chosen people should be welcomed.
Of course, they should be welcomed only under the caveat that they discard worship of their pagan gods and pledge allegiance ONLY to the one true God of Abraham.
Also, consider this.
In Israel’s early developing years (again started by Jacob), the vast majority of people that Jacob took with him to Egypt as Israelites were actually NOT Israelites.
Let me say that one more time for the thick-headed out there.
Most of the people that Jacob took with him to Egypt were those foreigners he had captured from the Shechem raid.
That’s right man.
Caleb is just one example of many that demonstrate one’s racial background doesn’t mean diddly squat to Hashem.
From the very beginning, it has always been one’s INDIVIDUAL faith and trust in Hashem that determines whether one is part of God’s people or not and not which blood line one stems from.
Heck, Rahab herself, via one quick momentary decision, was grafted into Israel to the point where the Messiah himself would be born from her bloodline.
And when I visited Israel, I encountered Jews of every color from practically every nation all speaking diverse languages.
It was a melting pot of gargantuan proportions!
It ain’t your blood or the color of your skin man!
It’s the God to whom you’ve declared allegiance to in this lifetime that counts.
It’s really the only thing that matters.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free,
nor is there male and female,
for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua.”
-Galatians 3:28
Leave a Reply