Before embarking on the story of Caleb, it is important to get the setting. The children of Israel have just been redeemed by the blood of the Passover Lamb, and delivered by the power of God from the bondage of Pharaoh and Egypt, a very apt and graphic picture of Satan and this world.
Hopefully every reader has come under the good of the work of Christ and has been washed in His blood, of which the Passover is a most precious type. “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:77Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7)). We need to realize too, that the Lord Jesus “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)). It is the work of the cross that has separated us from this world that is under judgment. Now, as a sanctified, or “set apart” people we are no longer under the authority of Satan, the “god” and “prince” of this world. We no longer belong to this world system. We now belong to heaven and we are under the Lordship of the One who has loved us enough to die for us, has saved from our sins, and provided a wonderful home in the Father’s house at the end of the wilderness journey. No wonder the Apostle Paul could write, “but God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:1414But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14)). Other than the fact that we are still physically here on this planet, never again will we be part of this sad, sin-sick, cursed earth, and its social, political, and religious system, which goes on in independence of God, and in indifference to His Son. We are citizens of heaven, and this world has no claim over us, just as Pharaoh and the Egyptians had no claim on, or authority over, the Israelites once they had crossed the Red Sea. They were assured of this before they even went through the waters. “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever” (Exodus 14:1313And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (Exodus 14:13)). The claims of God were met on the Passover night, and they were further delivered from the claims of the enemy the night they passed through the Red Sea. Redemption and deliverance in this aspect were complete and final.
No more on Egypt’s coast to stand,
No more a slave in Pharaoh’s land;
No more to toil at his demand,
Or beaten by the cruel hand.
Forever saved, no more to smart,
Forever freed and set apart,
Forever, for Jehovah’s heart,
And liberty to us impart.
The children of Israel never got back to Egypt as far as their position as the people of God. When they crossed the Red Sea they never set foot on Egyptian soil again. As has already been stated, never again were they under the authority of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. However, we do read, “and in their hearts [they] turned back again into Egypt” (Acts 7:3939To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, (Acts 7:39)). Just so, a believer will never be part of this world again, but we can, and perhaps often do, return in our hearts. How frequently do we find our affections more world-centered than Christ-centered? We yearn and long after the things of the world, trying to satisfy the hunger of our hearts by those things which we perhaps once indulged in, or never have, in our unsaved days partaken of, by the mercies of the Lord, yet think that they would be sweet and palatable. Like Israel, who murmured and said, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic” (Numbers 11:55We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: (Numbers 11:5)). Having been in Egypt several times I can well understand, from a natural standpoint, their hankering after those things, as they are certainly very tasty. In fact I have never eaten melons as sweet and refreshing as the melons of Egypt. However, the point is, none of it gives lasting satisfaction. The world-system offers so much that seems good and satisfying, but only leaves us depraved and with a gnawing emptiness in our soul in the end.
So, as a redeemed and delivered people, the children of Israel are about to start on the wilderness journey. We find the story of Caleb woven through some of their experiences, and carefully documented by the Spirit of God, through the instrumentality of God’s servant Moses, who was used to write the first five books of the Bible, or what is often referred to as the Pentateuch.