Joshua 14-15

Joshua 14

Caleb returns to the story. He is now 85 years old and he was 40 years old when Moses sent him to scout out Canaan. Doing the math, it sounds like the conquest of Canaan and demarcation of land took 5 years.

Joshua gives Caleb and his descendants the city of Hebron. There they are to this day (as of the writing of Joshua). Caleb also requested to fight the descendants of Anak.

The people rest because they are tired of war.

Joshua 15

Much of the chapter covers the cities and regions given to the tribe of Judah. It also recounts a war that Caleb fights in the hill country, perhaps against the descendants of Anak. Given that this war occurs after the appointment of land for Judah, I guess that only the tribe of Judah is fighting in this campaign. If so, we have mini-conquests ongoing.

The chapter ends by saying that some of the Jebusites still reside in Jerusalem and that the tribe of Judah did not succeed in chasing them out of the city. This is not that surprising since the text states that the Israelite are tired of fighting, but much remains to be conquered. Still though, regional fighting continues, for example Caleb's campaign.