Apparently, Caleb lost the best part of his life in the wilderness. Those forty years of aimless wandering were, to outward appearance, thrown away. Nor was he to blame. His faith was ready to take him into the land at Kadesh Barnea. He knew God was able to give the people their promised inheritance, and he was ready in the vigor of that assurance to act at once:'' Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." But he, with Joshua, stood alone, and in vain attempted to stem the torrent of fear, unbelief, and rebellion which swept the whole congregation past this point of opportunity-opportunity never to come again to any of that unbelieving host. '' So then we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." And so he must be chained to a rebellious and unbelieving people, compelled to go up and down in a waste land, and all that time the home of his choice, fair Hebron, lay away off in that "pleasant land," which the people had despised. What did it cost him to walk those forty years in peace and patience ? He was suffering under the government of God, not for his own sin, but because he was identified with Israel and had to go through all the circumstances of trial, sorrow, and temporary cutting off which, in righteous chastening, God was bringing upon the people. Personally he was guiltless, but this enabled him the more clearly and fully to enter into the reality of it. In all this, he presents a vivid illustration of our blessed Lord as Messiah, Israel's King. In the gospel of Matthew, He had attracted the people and awakened their desire for the "kingdom of heaven;" He had shown them, as it were "spied out" for them, the holy principles of that kingdom, in the sermon on the mount; He had exhibited the "power of the coming age," Eshchol's fruit, in healing every kind of sickness and infirmity; only to find the same unbelief that existed in Caleb's day, culminating in the same rebellion and apostasy, even ascribing to Satan the works of the Holy Ghost ! How like Kadesh Barnea! and how similar in result! The people as a nation refuse to enter with Him into the blessings of the kingdom, and so from the thirteenth chapter of Matthew we see Him, Caleb-like, turn from the prospect of an immediate earthly kingdom to tread in patience the thorny path of rejection, ending in His being "cut off" as Messiah. "For the transgression of My people was He smitten." We well know, thanks be to God, that this rejection, this cutting off, only opened up the '' new and living way through His death;" but none the less real was the pressure upon His soul, the disappointment we may say, as He realized that the people Israel "could not enter in because of unbelief." But, blessed Master, if He could not enter in because of Israel's unbelief, He showed the meekness and patience of complete submission to God's chastening hand – chastening undeserved by Him, more lovely even than any earthly glory could have been. In all this He has "left us an example that we should follow His steps." In one sense, He, like Caleb, could say, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; " but how surely could He, and can all upon whom apparently adverse circumstances press, add, "Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." After the deliberate and formal refusal of the people to recognize Him, He was just as patient, just as loving. He had sorrow and tears for their unbelief, but never a thought of deserting them.

And Caleb, too, in his measure, no doubt exhibited this same patience in accompanying the people in their wanderings-to be sure it was the only thing for him to do, but he evidently did not succumb to the surrounding circumstances, for we hear him say, when at last the people under Joshua had entered the land, a new race, "And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as He said, these forty and five years . . . while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness:and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me; … for war, both to go out and to come in." (Josh. 14:10,11.) No man but one who had kept himself '' unspotted from the world " could have said that. Only of the "righteous" can it be said, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and nourishing." (Ps. 92:14.) There is no need to mention the various instances where special patience, kindness, diligence was shown. His wilderness history is an unwritten one, to be filled out by each one who will walk in his steps.

And are not our circumstances very similar to Caleb's in many ways ? To be sure there is the added factor of personal failure and the need of realizing the chastening for this, but there are certain general characteristics which can be applied to us all.

To begin with the most general:we have an inheritance which is ours, purchased and assured, but we cannot yet enter upon it. This is not because of personal or general failure, but from the necessity of the case. The demoniac of Gadara longed to accompany the Lord, who had healed him, but was bidden wait awhile and testify what had been done for him. The new-born soul longs to be with Jesus, to see and worship Him, but must wait in the wilderness till the Lord's own time. Here is need for patience, and in a twofold way is the warning needed not to be "weary in well doing." One may be homesick for heaven and let that homesickness unfit him for service here. This is so rare that one almost is tempted to wish there were more such who were crying,

"Take me to love's own country."

But there is for those who so long and become faint the need to remember that service here is that to which the master calls, and it is only a "little while." More needed however is Caleb's example for those who, shut out for the time from their home, become absorbed with their surroundings and forget "the things that are before." Did not the memory of Hebron remain in Caleb's heart as fresh during all those years as at the first ? How is it with us, dear brethren? Is it a longing to be there? a desire to depart, if need be, and be with Christ ? Are our treasures realized to be there and not here? Let Caleb teach us, who, though his feet were in the desert, had his heart in the land. " Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." (Col. 3:2.)

But we can get help and encouragement from Caleb's example for individual cases. He was yoked with a carnal set, and had to outwardly follow where they were led. We, too, are in Christendom and
must accept, in a broad sense, the position brought upon it by unbelief. We have often heard it said that it is impossible to restore a ruin, and this is true, and we go wrong if we ignore it or attempt to extricate ourselves from the consequences of this ruin. Caleb could not leave the rest of the people, neither can we separate ourselves from the professing church; we must sorrowfully bear witness to the fact that we are in confusion (and who can, with Caleb, claim personal blamelessness in contributing to this confusion?) But, though outwardly with the people, who dreams of Caleb's taking part in, or by his presence countenancing the shameful scenes of Bethpeor ? So we have not the slightest excuse for mixing ourselves with practices which, if not so gross, are as much forbidden as the sin of Peor. Specification is not needed, '' Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." We are to hold ourselves ready to help in every way and minister to God's people wherever they are, but we are most assuredly not to partake in their unscriptural practices.

But we have lessons still more individual. One of the constant complaints of God's people, if not upon their lips, in their hearts at least, is that their circumstances are so unfavorable to a full enjoyment of divine things. One is hampered by absorbing business ; another is thrown with ungodly persons in the performance of his duty, a third has, it may be, a worldly family. If matters were different how much more would they enjoy the things of God,-congenial surroundings, pleasant associates, and so forth. Caleb teaches us to have the heart wholly set upon God's things, and then walk the path of duty. It is not said that we cannot alter some of our circumstances. We surely ought where they involve us in dishonor to God. But the vast mass will remain unchanged, and it will spoil us for service if we are going to be dragged down by it. Here is our lesson -to live with God and for Him where He puts us. Nay, we may have through unfaithfulness put ourselves in positions where we must quietly learn from God and glorify Him in the position.

What is the root of it all ? To be whole-hearted for God. If the Lord has not our whole heart, the world will, wedge like, enter and spoil all. Oh, for that confidence in His love, that conviction of His all-sufficiency which will abide with us in all our path, and give us such rest of soul that we may remain, like Caleb, fresh and full of vigor !