Caleb's Inheritance

Eleazar the priest, Joshua and the tribal heads distribute the land west of the Jordan by lot, "as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses." The Levites receive towns, not territory.

Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite comes to Joshua: "Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land… I wholly followed the LORD my God." "And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive… these forty and five years… and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me."

"Now therefore give me this mountain… 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." Joshua blesses him and gives him Hebron. "And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war."

Counting the years

Caleb was 40 at Kadesh and is 85 now: 45 years. Taking 38 years from Kadesh to the Zered (Deuteronomy 2:14) plus about 2 before, the conquest so far would have lasted about 7 years. This is the narrative's own internal reckoning; it does not give an absolute date.

Caleb the Kenizzite

The Kenizzites are listed in Genesis 15:19 among peoples of Canaan, and Kenaz is an Edomite clan name (Genesis 36:11). Some scholars think Caleb's clan was of southern, non-Israelite origin and joined Judah; others take "Kenizzite" as a family name within Judah. The text presents him as the model of wholehearted loyalty, whatever his ancestry.

Hebron

Hebron (Tel Rumeida) has impressive Middle Bronze Age walls and long occupation. The giant "Anakim" belong to the Bible's traditions about tall pre-Israelite peoples (Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 2:10–11); no giant remains have been found, and photographs of "giant skeletons" circulating online are known hoaxes.