THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
Why did Caleb request Hebron? Filled with devotion, Caleb chose that city above all others because it was the resting place of the most courageous Patriarchs. This indicates that after a seven-year battle, the Israelites apportioned the land among themselves. Caleb stated, “Forty years was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to explore the land. And now the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, ‘This is the fifty-fifth year, from the time the Lord spoke to Moses’” (Num. 14:7, 10). Following God's judgment on the six hundred thousand, the Israelites wandered for thirty-eight years in the wilderness. Thus, there are still seven years remaining until forty-five.
Read more (139 words)
This was also foretold by the Lord through the prophet Moses: “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, after seven years you shall read this law before all the people” (Deuteronomy 31:10). It is notable that the author refers to Jerusalem as Jebus and mentions that it was allocated to Benjamin (Hab. 18:28). Simeon, with his father's insight, received his inheritance in various locations by lot. It states that “his inheritance was in the midst of the lot of the children of Judah” (Hab. 19:1). After listing the cities, the writer remarked, “This is the inheritance of the tribes of the children of Simeon; for the children of Judah had a larger portion, and the inheritance of the children of Simeon was in the midst of their lot” (Num. 19:8-9).