I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions … - Joshua 14:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 5, 2015): Joshua 14

Isaac Asimov once commented that “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” The sentiment seems to be a constant theme through many political observers and participants, from Winston Churchill’s “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter” to the French Novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s comment that he had never voted in his life – “I have always known and understood that the idiots are in a majority so it's certain they will win.” The sentiment might also explain much of modern politics. We don’t really care about the politicians that are best, we want the one that gives the best sound bites and promises to make us feel good in the future. Nothing else really matters, so why waste your time on specifics.

Caleb is one of the two leaders of Israel over the entire time of the desert wanderings who would enter into the Promised Land (the other was Joshua.) And it is fairly evident that Caleb held the same opinions about politics as Asimov, Churchill and Céline. Moses had sent him into Canaan to explore the land. He saw both the bounty that the land had to offer and the challenges that it presented. And the report that he gave was from his convictions. The land was good and his God was big enough to overcome the problems. But on that day the “idiots” had prevailed. For everyone except for Joshua and Caleb, God was not big enough to overcome the problems. Caleb probably believed that the ignorance about God among the leaders trumped Caleb’s and Joshua’s knowledge of God. And the result had been forty years of struggle in the desert.

Now Caleb was older, but his convictions still hadn’t changed. His God was still big enough for whatever came next. Caleb might be older, but he was ready to do what he had been convicted was right forty years earlier. It was finally time to allow his God to shine as his tribe, the Tribe of Judah, went in to take the land.

Caleb was sure that no problem was too big for his God. And he was probably glad that the decision had been finally taken away from the voters.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 15