“Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.”
My Notes
What Does Joshua 14:12 Mean?
Caleb—eighty-five years old, one of the only two spies who gave a faithful report forty-five years earlier—asks Joshua for the hardest territory in the land: the mountain where the Anakim (giants) live, with their great, fortified cities. At eighty-five, Caleb doesn't ask for easy territory. He asks for the mountain with the giants on it. The same giants that terrified ten spies and paralyzed a generation.
The phrase "give me this mountain" is one of the boldest requests in Scripture: an eighty-five-year-old man asking for the hardest assignment available. Not a retirement gift. Not a comfortable inheritance. The mountain with the giants. The territory everyone else avoided. The challenge that requires the most faith and the most fight.
Caleb's qualification—"if so be the LORD will be with me"—is the conditional that powers the request: not "if I'm strong enough" but "if the LORD will be with me." At eighty-five, Caleb knows his strength isn't in his body. It's in God's presence. The mountain isn't conquerable by an old man. It's conquerable by an old man with God. The condition isn't physical capacity. It's divine companionship.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'mountain with giants' are you being told you're too old, too weak, or too late to conquer?
- 2.Caleb asked for the hardest territory at eighty-five. Are you settling for easy assignments because you think your conquering days are over?
- 3.The qualification was 'if the LORD will be with me'—not 'if I'm strong enough.' What's the real source of your capacity?
- 4.The faith that was true at forty was still true at eighty-five. How has your faith aged—stronger or weaker?
Devotional
"Give me this mountain." Caleb is eighty-five years old. And he's asking for the territory with the giants. Not the flat, easy land. The mountain. Where the Anakim live. With their fortified cities. The challenge everyone else avoided—that's what the eighty-five-year-old wants.
Forty-five years earlier, Caleb saw these same giants—and said Israel could take them. Ten spies disagreed. The nation listened to the ten. A generation died in the wilderness. And now Caleb—the only one left from that faithful minority—asks for the very territory the faithless spies were afraid of. The mountain he believed God could conquer forty-five years ago is the mountain he's claiming now.
The conditional is everything: "if so be the LORD will be with me." Not if my body holds up. Not if my sword arm is strong. If the LORD will be with me. Caleb at eighty-five knows exactly where his strength lives: not in his aging muscles but in God's ageless presence. The mountain is conquerable—not because Caleb is young (he's not) but because God is with him (He is). The faith that was true at forty is still true at eighty-five. The variable hasn't changed.
If you're aging—if the body isn't what it was, if the energy has diminished, if the world tells you your conquering days are over—Caleb at eighty-five says: give me the mountain. Not the easy assignment. Not the retirement pasture. The mountain with the giants. The hardest challenge available. Because the strength was never in the body. It was in the God who walks beside the body. And He doesn't age. He doesn't weaken. He doesn't retire. Give me the mountain.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day,.... The mountainous part of the country, the…
The Anakims had in the course of Joshua’s campaigns in the south been expelled from “this mountain,” i. e. the mountain…
I shall be able to drive them out - He cannot mean Hebron merely, for that had been taken before by Joshua; but in the…
Before the lot was cast into the lap for the determining of the portions of the respective tribes, the particular…
this mountain i.e. the mountain of Hebron. "The great elevation of this country above the level of the sea is most…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture