Achsah (the wife of Othniel)
Longing for More
“Give me also springs of water.” Joshua 15:19
For further reading and study:
16 And Caleb said, “The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as a wife.” 17 Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. 18 It came about that when she came to him, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 19 Then she said, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
With a quick read through the book of Joshua, it’s easy to skip right past this story; or dismiss it altogether. After all, the entirety of Achsah’s life as recorded in scripture can be summed up with just a few verses. Yet scripture records this story three times, (listed above), and it seems like these few verses are at least worth a few moments of our time.
Achsah is the daughter of Caleb. Caleb, the one who gave a good report when the 12 spies returned from the promised land. Caleb, who chose the hardest lands to fight. Caleb, known alongside Joshua as a man of faith, who was willing to fight giants, because he believed the Lord would help. Of the millions who traversed the desert on their journey to the promised land, only two were allowed to enter: Joshua, who records this account, and Caleb, the son of Jephunnah, father of Achsah.
Caleb is a man of great faith, who saw impossible situations and “giant” problems (literally) and said, “Our God is bigger.” (see Numbers 13 and 14) Now, we’re not looking at Caleb directly, but in this case, it’s worth noticing as it seems this was something observed and “caught” by Achsah.
We first learn of Achsah with Caleb’s challenge. He is looking for someone to conquer the land of Debir, and offers a special prize to the winner (maybe he also wanted to make sure his precious daughter was well taken care of by a fellow warrior) Othniel takes the challenge and succeeds, and Caleb follows up on his promise to give Achsah as his bride. If she has any objections, we don’t hear about them and actually, she seems quite content with the arrangement (see sisters, not all arranged marriages are bad—but we’ll save that for another time. (Ahem, maybe when we talk about Ruth)
But Achsah makes two requests. First, she asks her husband to ask her father for an additional piece of land. It doesn’t say specifically how this plays out, but later, when she arrives to speak with her father, he asks her what she’d like, and she makes a second request: springs of water.
Of course, as we read through the New Testament, we learn things like, “Godliness with contentment is of great value” and “I have learned to be content in whatever state I am in.” (1 Timothy 6:6, Philippians 4:11) And these are precious truths that have brought much peace to my heart and helped me through many seasons where we couldn’t afford a great home remodel or when we moved across the state to a much smaller house and I felt like we were starting over.
We should be content with what the Lord provides or with how he arranges our lives. And yet sometimes, we get so “content” with our lives that we stop persuing. We stop pressing on to know Him more. We forget the Lord desires us to grow, and to bear fruit for his name. To live out the gospel in a way that overflows. And if we’re not careful, our “contentedness” can quickly turn to passivity.
Have you ever considered that there may be prayers the Lord wants to answer? Or things he wants to give us for our family—springs of joy, of life, of fruitfulness—that we’re missing, simply because we haven’t asked? I’m not talking about some false prosperity gospel ‘God wants you to be rich’ type of prayer. But in peaceful days, when all is going well, it’s easy to allow our hearts to settle. Our prayer life starts to wane. Our children seem content with all the world provides. Our husband shows up on Sunday, but neglects to lead the family and we say, “It is enough.” We accept things as they are. We let the “little foxes” (Song of Solomon 2:15) slip into our family. These things may not be evil, but as we start to “settle” we miss out on so much the Lord wants to do for our families.
It takes work to give ourselves to prayer. It takes discipline to pause in our day and say “Lord, I’m going to give you first place, I’m going to set aside all these things I want to do until I’ve spent a moment in your presence.” It takes time to stop what we’re doing to correct our children for the 1000th time, or to put down our phones and tend our house.
More “land” means more work—to keep, to guard, and to cultivate. We’d so often leave that extra land to someone else. Like the tribes of Reuben Gad, and Manasseh (see Numbers 32), it seems simpler to accept “this side” of the Jordan. Maybe it even seems more “humble” to accept the life we’ve been given. Or it seems too out of place to ask the creator of the universe for anything. And yet, the Lord longs to give us so much more.
Amidst the long list of men and women recorded in Hebrews 11, we find a secret about the heart of the Lord, “And without faith it is impossible to please him,” the writer of Hebrews says, “For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6, Emphasis added)
Achsah requested that her husband, “Ask for the land…” Of course, this would mean more work for her. Yet tended land produces much more fruit, houses many more people, keeps enemies away, and so much more. Like the Proverbs 31 women, Achsah didn’t seem to fear work.
And she requested of her dad, “Give me springs of water.” Throughout scripture, springs of water speak of life. “He that believes on me… out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water…” (John 7:38) Psalm 1 tells us, “a tree planted by streams of water… yields fruit.” (1:3)
But Achsah knew her father. Her father, who himself asked for land that was difficult (Joshua 14:12), who wasn’t afraid of giants or hard things—even into the end of his life. I think Caleb must have smiled with delight to hear his daughter’s request. A daughter after my own heart. A daughter who is not afraid of work. Who trusts that God will give help and carry through and bring abundance to this land. Of course, scripture doesn’t tell us this, but of all that it tells us about Caleb, I think this is a safe assumption.
Sometimes, I think we forget how the Lord delights in us. We forget how our faith is actually a blessing to him.
We think that a “humble” and “accepting” position is the highest way with the Lord. And yes, contentment is a beautiful thing. But sometimes, when you know your Father, you remember how he delights to give good gifts to his children. (Luke 11:13, James 1:16-17)
You remember that it is our simple, audacious faith that pleases him. (Like the man who drops through the roof, or the fool who embarrasses himself to call even louder, “Lord save me,” or the woman with blood who is willing to be taken as a fool—if only she can reach Jesus. And to all of these, our Lord says, “Your faith has saved you” or “This woman’s faith shall be written of everywhere.” Somehow in knowing him, in remembering his word, we begin to travail in prayer and ask for those things, those lands and streams that our Father would delight to share with us, if only we would ask.
“Ask, and it shall be given to you,” the Lord tells us. (Matthew 7:7) Again, we’re not talking about asking for fancy cars or giant houses or some selfish request. But sometimes the Lord shows you something in the word and stirs your heart to begin to ask him for something tremendous.
Maybe he shows you a prayer in scripture, “Reveal your majesty to our children” (Ps 90:16), and gives you the faith to pray larger prayers for your children. Or a verse comes alive as you’re reading, “For God is not willing that any should perish,” and you think immediately of your cousin Judah and God gives you faith to pray for his salvation. Or you feel called to host a bible study in your home, and though your home is too small, or your husband disagrees, or everything seems against it—you look to your Father in heaven, who owns all the land, who desires to share his streams of life with you and with the world, and you just begin to ask, “Lord, will you make a way?”
This is the heart of Achsah. Sisters, she knew her father’s heart. She knew his ways. She was acquainted with his character. And because she knew him, she could ask—and she could encourage her husband to ask—for so much more than what had been first given.
And like our heavenly Father, who loves to grant “far more than we can ask or imagine,” (Eph 3:20), Caleb granted her request, not just for one spring, but for both the “upper and lower springs”
“But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:6 NASB)
Other thoughts for further meditation and discussion:
- What does this story tell us about the character of God? How can we see the Father’s heart in Caleb? In Achsah?
- Are there areas where you have settled and accepted things that are less than what the Lord has for you and your family? What would it look like to ask for “more” in your life?
- What might be a righteous request, vs. an unrighteous request for “more”?
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