CityView Magazine

16 | July/August 2017 F A I T H A A GREAT DEAL CAN BE LEARNED from reading about the triumphs and failures of others. I have long enjoyed reading biographies of important leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther. As examples, Lincoln suffered from depression, Churchill craved the attention and approval of his father, and Luther finally discovered what true righteousness was, but another interest of mine is also the study of the men and women whose lives are recorded in the scriptures, the Bible. One benefit of studying the lives of others is the discovery of examples to follow as well as failures to avoid. In these days of massive cultural change, it is important to have an anchor to help us find and maintain stability in our lives and keep us on course. Since this is "e Men's Issue," I thought it would be appropriate to ask and answer this question: What are some character traits that all men would do well to possess? Clearly the list will not be exhaustive, and these are not exclusive to men. Caleb is the character we'll consider. Caleb was born while the nation of Israel was enslaved in Egypt. He spent the first 40 years of his life as a slave, probably helping construct Egypt's great building projects of that era. In ancient cultures, people were given names that reflected the circumstances or time of their birth. As examples, Moses' name means, "to draw out," as in "he was drawn out of the water of the Nile." Peter's name means "rock." His confession of Jesus as the Messiah was the rock upon which Jesus would build his church. Do you wonder then what Caleb's name means? Caleb means "dog." In that culture, it was the father who chose the name. If we were to ask Jephunneh, Caleb's dad, "What made you choose that name for your son," I suppose he would say, "Because, when Caleb was born, as slaves, we were treated like dogs." When Caleb reached forty years of age, God powerfully and miraculously freed Israel from slavery. As the nation journeyed to the land God had promised Abraham, their forefather, twelve leaders were chosen to see what the land and its occupants were like (Numbers 13:1-33). When the twelve returned, everyone agreed the land they had seen was extremely fruitful. It must have been like going from the desert in Arizona to the lush, fertile, black-soil farmland of Iowa. e problem was ten of the twelve said the people of the land were far too big to drive out. Joshua and Caleb, the stark minority, had a different view of the situation. Caleb said, in essence, "Yes the people are big, but the God of Israel, the God of Creation, is far more powerful" (Numbers 13:30). What caused Caleb to come to such a conclusion? Hadn't he seen the same things as the others? I am convinced he believed God's promises to his ancestor Abraham (Genesis 15:7-15), specifically that God would powerfully deliver Israel from oppression and bring them into the land He had promised. As I see it modeled in Caleb's life, either you have big problems and a small God or you have a big God and small Lessons from Caleb BY DR. BILL KORVER

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