Caleb's Ages and the Time of the End

The Lord provides us with some interesting time information concerning the man Caleb (one of the 12 spies to spy out the land) in the book of Joshua. First, we read that Caleb was forty years old when he was sent to spy out the land of Canaan:

Joshua 14:7 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.

We should note some dates before continuing. God used Moses to deliver Israel in the year 1447 BC. Can we know how old Caleb was in that year? Yes. Since Caleb was age 40 when he spied out the land, and since the spying of the land had to occur in the second year after Israel came out of Egypt:

Joshua 10:11 And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony.

Compared to:

Numbers 13:2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.

12 And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.

So, this means that the spies searched out the land of Canaan in the second year after coming out of Egypt in the year 1445 BC. It was in 1445 BC, then, that Caleb was 40 years old. Which means that he was age 38 in 1447 BC when God delivered Israel out of Egypt.

The Lord gives us even more time information in relationship to the Exodus regarding Caleb in:

Joshua 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

It should be pointed out that Joshua chapter 14 is discussing the inheritance of the land of Canaan. And Caleb's inheritance (Hebron) in particular. In Joshua 14:10 (see verse above) we are given enough information to know when the conquest of the land of Canaan ended, at least as far as the meting out of the inheritance was concerned.

The reference to 45 years identifies with the time period of searching out the land (in 1445 BC) until the inheritance was received by Judah and by Caleb – 45 years later in the year 1400 BC.

Further, God tells us that at that very time Caleb was 85 years old. This information allows us to know he was born in the year 1485 BC. Here are the key dates regarding Caleb:

1485 BC he is born.

1447 BC he is 38 at time Israel delivered from Egypt

1445 BC he is 40 and sent to spy out the land

1400 BC he is 85 and receives his inheritance

We find some very significant numbers used of Caleb's life that relate to events in God's end time time table.

For example, from the year 1988 AD to 2033 AD is 45 years.

From 1948 (when Israel became a nation once again) until 1988 is 40 years.

From 1948 until 2033 AD is 85 years.

It so happens, that from 1485 BC (Caleb's birth year) until 1948 AD = 3432 years

And, from 1445 BC (search out land) until 1988 = 3432 years

Also, from 1400 BC (received inheritance) until 2033 = 3432 years

In each case it is 3432 years. And 3432 years breaks down to:

2 x 11 x 12 x 13 = 3432

Each number is very important and 12/13 especially relates to the time of the world's end.

Caleb's 85 years until he receives the inheritance fits well with Israel's return to the land (1948 AD) until the year all God's elect people receive their ultimate inheritance (2033).

1948 to 2033 AD = 85 years

85 = 5 (atonement) x 17 (heaven)