Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah; - Numbers 34:19

Today's Scripture Reading (December 30, 2021): Numbers 34

Many years ago, I was reading a book on leadership when I was introduced to the concept of "Leading from the Second Chair." According to this principle, we are often asked to be leaders in a situation where we also act under another leader's authority. And yet, we need to be able to get our ideas across, even in those situations. And there are definite dos and don'ts in that kind of leadership. One of the key concepts is that we need to learn to "dream within a dream." Our actions should always be in the same direction as those under whose authority we work. When we are leading from the second chair, we need to be an asset and not a liability to the dream of the organization.

Leading from the second chair also means that we need to make sure that we solve problems, not create them. Leadership comes with enough problems without critical situations arising from friendly fire. The reality of leadership is that the issues that threaten to derail us often come from within the organization, not from whatever forces might be opposing us on the outside.

I would add that when leading from the second chair, we also need to know on which hills we might be willing to die. We need to know which issues are of such importance that we will stick to what we believe even if it does cause problems within the team because we think the team is beginning to move in the wrong direction. And if we have chosen our hills or issues well, we will find that there are listening ears for what we have to say.

As Aaron dies and Moses's time on the planet grows to an end, Joshua is chosen to replace Moses and Eleazar, Aaron's son, to replace Aaron. But other leaders were needed, which included one from each tribe. And the first of those secondary leaders to be mentioned was Caleb, son of Jephunneh. And there is a good reason for his mention first in this list. If there was one person within Israel who might have challenged Joshua's leadership, it was Caleb. Only Joshua and Caleb were present with the spies who had entered Canaan decades earlier. And only Joshua and Caleb had voted to move into the land at that time.

Traditional Jewish accounts share some additional information for us. According to these accounts, Caleb was adamant while in Canaan that they should bring some samples of what was present in the land back to Israel. The ten spies who would eventually vote against the proposal to enter Canaan believed that the people should not be given any evidence of positives from the Promised Land.  The others acquiesce only after Caleb drew his sword and insisted that samples be brought back to Israel. It was part of Caleb's "dream within a dream."

However, we have no evidence that Caleb ever wanted to challenge Joshua for the nation's leadership. He was content to lead from the second chair and dream within the dream. It was something that he had become good at, and he was willing to do it again, as Israel moved into the land that Caleb had voted to enter almost four decades earlier.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 35