Sometimes we say to each other that God has great sense of humor. I do love to believe that He has good sense of humor. And I’m thankful when He displays such humor to cheer us up.
I am touched when I found number 45 mentioned in the Bible. In a place that I would not expect. And at the time when I was not looking. But simply as I was going through my regular Bible reading and pouring my interest to hear Him and understand more.
Here what I read:
“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
Joshua 14:10 (NIV)
Forty five years are the years that Caleb counted. 40 years going through wilderness, enduring the punishment for the sin that he didn’t commit. And 5 years in warfare against the Canaanites that lived on the land. Forty five years of hardships and unrest. He saw entire generation perished in the wilderness. He saw cities destroyed and a lot of deaths.
And at 85 years, he asked for more “trouble”. He asked for his share that promised by God. Here is a man of faith. Forty five years of troubles didn’t diminish his strength and vigour physically. But deeper than that, those years didn’t reduce his faith in a single bits. He is still the same faithful man as he was before.
Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”
Joshua 14:12 (NIV)
Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites. (Josh 12:15)
45 years could symbolize years of testing, or years of preparation. And afterward is the years of claiming the promise or years of the actualization. The time of the Lord. For Caleb it was 45 years.