Deuteronomy 1:36

save Heb. zûlathî, in the Hex. only here, Deuteronomy 4:12 and Joshua 11:13.

Caleb the son of Jephunneh In the O. T. Kaleb probably meaning dog(as from a tribal totem, W. R. Smith, Kinship, 200, 219), though other meanings have been suggested 1 [110] is the name both of an individual and of a tribe, as among other Semites; Nabatean Kalba (Cooke, N. Sem. Inscr.237); Arab. Kilâb (Wellh. Reste, 176 f., 217) and el-Kleib, a small tribe, (Musil, Ar. Petr.iii. 120 f.). In JE frequently Kaleb alone (Numbers 13:30; Numbers 14:24; Joshua 15:14; Joshua 15:16 f.); those passages in JE in which he is called son of Yephunneh2 [111] are usually regarded as editorial, but it would be rash to say that the name of his father was not already found in JE by the deuteronomists. In D and P Kaleb the son of Yephunneh(Numbers 13:6; Numbers 14:6; Numbers 32:12; Numbers 34:19). According to J, Joshua 15:17 (Judges 1:13) Kaleb was the brother of Ḳçnaz (the sons of Ḳçnaz were Edomite, Genesis 36:11; Genesis 36:15; Genesis 36:42) and is called the Kenizzite in secondary passages of JE, Joshua 14:6; Joshua 14:13 f., which also explain along with Joshua 15:13 how Joshua gave him Ḥebron in fulfilment of Moses" promise to him. In David's time the clan was still distinct from Judah or at least the memory of its original distinction was then preserved, 1 Samuel 30:14. Yet according to P, Numbers 13:6; Numbers 14:6; Numbers 34:19, Kaleb the spy was already of the tribe of Judah, and so the tribe or its ancestor is reckoned by the genealogies, 1 Chronicles 2:9 1 Chronicles 2:18 ff., 1 Chronicles 2:42 ff., 1 Chronicles 4:15. This history of the name proves that the tradition held Kaleb the spy and Kaleb the ancestor of the tribe to have been the same. Yet it is possible that there was more than one possessor of so general a name; in connection with which, notice that neither in E, Numbers 13 f., nor in D is Kaleb described as a Kenizzite or indeed as anything but an Israelite.

[110] Sayce (Early Hist. of Hebr.265) points out that in the Tell-el-Amarna letters awl later Assyr. despatches kalbu, -dog," is used of the king's officers; but surely this is a term of humility; Hommel (Geogr. u. Gesch. d. alt. Orients) identifies Kaleb with Kalabu (Kalibu) -priests."

[111] He (God?) is turned: cp. Palmyrene Ithpani, Cooke, p. 276.

to him will I give the land … and to his children J E Numbers 14:24, his seed shall possess it.

that he hath trodden upon JE, Numbers 14:24, whereinto he went. -D in harmony with its more elevated style uses the choicer and more expressive word, Deuteronomy 11:24 f.; Joshua 1:3; Joshua 14:9 " (Driver).

because Heb. ya-an asher, JE. in consequence of, -eḳeb.

hath wholly followed the Lord Heb. hath fulfilled after Jehovah. Jehovah, being the speaker, we expect rather after me, as in Numbers 14:24; and so doubtless it was originally here "aḥarai, the last letter of which has been mistaken by a scribe for the initial of Jehovah. Sam. and LXX, after Jehovah.

Further Note to Deuteronomy 1:36. Because Moses has just been described as seeking to turn the people from their sin, 29 ff., and it is therefore unreasonable to include him in their punishment; because Deuteronomy 1:37 needlessly anticipate Deuteronomy 3:26; Deuteronomy 3:28 and Deuteronomy 4:21; and because Deuteronomy 1:39 in whole or part follows suitably on Deuteronomy 1:36; therefore Deuteronomy 1:37 are taken by many (Dillm., W. R. Smith, Steuern., Berth, etc.) as a later addition to the text. And indeed the beginning of Deuteronomy 1:39 shows that the original has been disturbed by an editorial hand (see below). Steuern. would also omit Deuteronomy 1:36 on the ground that Kaleb has not been previously mentioned in this survey. But Kaleb is mentioned in JE on which this survey otherwise depends. In whatever way these textual questions may be decided, the parallel passages Deuteronomy 3:26 ff. and Deuteronomy 4:21 confirm the fact of a D tradition or statement that Jehovah was angry with Moses for the people's sake. This can only mean, their guilt was great enough to include the very leader who had done his best to dissuade them from their disaffection! Now neither JE nor P gives any hint of so remarkable a judgement. On the contrary, P accounts for the exclusion of Moses by his own sin in striking the rock at Ḳadesh 37 years after this disaffection of Israel, Numbers 21:10 ff; Numbers 27:13 f.; Deuteronomy 32:50 f. The most reasonable explanation of such discrepancies is that they are discrepancies not of fact but or opinion. The earliest tradition, JE, merely held the facts that Kaleb survived and that Moses died on the eve of the possession of the Promised Land. The problem, which arose from this contrast of fortune, the deuteronomic writers solved by the statement that Moses was included in the guilt of the people when, startled by the report of the spies, they refused to invade Canaan from the S. in the second year of the wandering; and this agrees with the deuteronomic principle of the ethical solidarity of Israel. But the later priestly writer or writers, under the influence of the idea, first emphasized in the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jeremiah 31:29 f., Ezekiel 18), that every man died because of his own sin, found a solution for the problem in Moses" own guilt in presumptuously striking the rock at Ḳadesh, 37 years later. In this double engagement, from two different standpoints, with so difficult a problem, note the strong evidence that the survival of Kaleb and the death of Moses before Israel's entrance to the Land were regarded as irremoveable elements of the early tradition.