Caleb & Bithiah see Joshua 14:6-12 on Caleb

Bithiah & Caleb


     Looking more at Jewish legend concerning the daughter of Pharaoh.
     Moses had numerous names given by different members of his family, but it was by the one that Thermutis gave him that he would be known. As for Thermutis, it is said that God told her “Moses was not thy child, yet thou didst treat him as such. For this I will call thee My daughter, though thou art not My daughter.” Thereafter she bore the name Bithiah, “the daughter of God.” She later married Caleb.
     Wanting Moses to receive the treatment at court that would be given to a prince, Bithiah pretended that she was with child. His beauty was such that she feared to allow him out of her sight. Another version of the legend says that she opening admitted he was not her son, but told her father than she had adopted him as her son because he was divine in form and of an excellent mind. That she had received him through the bounty of the river in a wonderful way, she had thought it proper to adopt him as her son and make him heir of the kingdom. The Pharaoh is said to have then hugged Moses close to his heart. Later, however, the child in playing took the throne from his head which was considered a bad sign and he was “identified” as possibly the child of doom. A test was to be made, giving him a choice between an onyx stone or a coal of fire. If he grabbed the stone, he was a danger, if the coal it meant he did not intend to grab the crown and would therefore live. Gabriel is said to have guided his hand away from the stone and to the coal. He put his burnt hand to his mouth, also burning it which is how he became ‘slow of speech and tongue.’
     Bithiah took great care in educating Moses.
     Much of the details above are, as stated last week, from legend and tradition. The bible simply lets us know that Moses grew up in the household of the princess. It is safe to assume he lived free, was well educated, experienced affluence and, perhaps, became a little spoiled. As a young man, his actions display such a conclusion.
      If Bithiah did marry Caleb, then she likely traveled with the Hebrews as they left Egypt.

     Caleb was not an Israelite. He was a Kennezzite. But he had some association with the Israelites. Tradition says he was in Egypt during their slavery.

     Some historians believe that the slavery of the Israelites was during a period of Egyptian history when Egyptians were not actually in control of their country. That the Hyksos from the Palestine area had invaded and were occupying the land.
     This, of course, would be why, as the book of Exodus tells us, that the Pharoah did not remember Joseph or his service to the land. It would also further explain the presence of many different people from the Canaanite area.
     One tradition says that Caleb was married to Miriam, the sister of Moses. Another tradition says he was married to Pharaoh’s daughter, the foster mother of Moses.
     Caleb would not be the only foreigner who stood as honored individuals in the Israelite faith and history. Among these would be Rahab, famed for her beauty in the city of Jericho. Tamar, an ancestress of David. Ruth, the Moabite woman who was great-grandmother to David.
     Caleb himself is believed to be an ancestor of David. He was a man who had committed himself wholeheartedly to the cause of God. His fidelity is cited in the Bible as complete.
     Before the Israelites entered Canaan, Moses sent spies into the land to check out the situation. He chose a man from each of the tribes. One of the men chosen was Caleb.
     Moses instructed the spies to check out the hill country and find out what kind of task lay ahead for their entering and inhabiting the land.
     Jewish folktales say the men who were picked as spies were the finest of their tribes, they were leaders of their people. But after they were chosen to spy out the land, they became worried that they would lose their positions of honor and leadership once the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. The tradition says that this is why they gave a bad report on the land. The Bible story doesn't give a reason.
      But Caleb had a "different spirit" about him. The spies went into the land of Canaan and after forty days they returned to Moses with their report. They brought with them a huge cluster of grapes, along with some pomegranates and figs.
    They admitted that the land was flowing with milk and honey and they showed the people the fruit they had brought.  Then they told how strong the people in Canaan were, about the fortified cities, and they told of the Amelekites who lived there, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites. Apparently this had a discouraging affect upon the people.
      But Caleb spoke up and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." The other spies said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." They said that all the people were huge.  They saw the Nephilim and compared to them they had felt like grasshoppers. The people of Israel raised a loud cry at this and wept. And they complained against Moses and Aaron saying they wished they had died in Egypt or in the wilderness. They asked why the Lord was bringing them into the land to fall by the sword.
     And once again they suggested it would be better to just go back to Egypt. As a consequence God decided that none of that generation would be allowed to go into the land of Canaan. They would have to wander in the wilderness until all had died. One exception would be Caleb because he had a different spirit and has followed the Lord wholeheartedly.
      The new generation entered the land and began to occupy it. For several years they won great battles and yet still struggled for a foothold in the Promised Land.
      In the midst of this, eighty-five year old Caleb stepped forward and reminded Joshua of a promise that had been made to him. There was a piece of land, occupied by the Anakim. Those were people who had the reputation of being giants.
      Moses had promised that land to Caleb, and now he was ready to go get it.  Caleb claimed to be equal to the task. He said he was as vigorous and strong as when he was forty-five years younger.
      What is so impressive about Caleb is his willingness to take on a difficult task despite his age and the harsh life he has led.
       
What does Caleb's "can-do spirit say to today's world?