CALEB (kaTeb), (Heb. kazz'-/abe', dog).
1. Son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah. He was sent with Joshua and others to explore the land of Canaan, and in consequence of his joining with Joshua in opposing the discourag ing accounts brought back by the other spies, they were both specially exempted from the decree of death which was pronounced on the generation to which they belonged (Num. xiii :6; xiv;6, 24. 38). When the land of Canaan had been in vaded and partly conquered, Caleb was privileged to choose Kirjatharba, or Hebron, and its neigh borhood, for his possession (Josh. xiv:6-15). He accordingly went and wrested it from the native inhabitants, and thence proceeded to Debir, which was taken for him by his nephew, Othniel, who, as his reward, received in marriage the hand of Caleb's daughter (see AcitsAit), with a valuable dower (Josh. xv:13-19). Caleb is usually sup posed to have outlived Joshua (B. C. t600).
2. According to 1 Chron. ii:18, 19, 42, 49, so, the son of Hezron, son of Pharez, son of Judah, and the father of Hur by Ephrath, and conse quently grandfather of Caleb the spy. But from
the manifest corruptions of the text and the evi dent confusion between the two Calebs at verse 49. and from the non-appearance of this elder Caleb anywhere except in this genealogy drawn up in Hezekiah's reign, it is impossible to speak with confidence of his relations or even of his existence (B. C. 1530-143o).
3. Caleb-Ephrath. According to the text of Chron. ii :24, the name of the place where Hez ron died, but the reading of Jerome's Hebrew Bible, "Caleb came in unto Ephrath" is probably the true one, as no such place is elsewhere heard of. Ephrath nr Ephratah, was a second wife, married after Hezron's death (B. C. 1836).
4. "The south of Caleb" is that portion of the Negeb occupied by Caleb and his descendants 0 Sam. xxx :W. It is probably to be identified with the extensive basin between Hebron and the an cient Carmel of Judah, where Caleb's descendant Nabal dwelt.
(kaleb (Heb. -4%, kaw-labe' efraw'Maw), only in r Citron. ii:24. (See CALEB 31.