Notice carefully that right from the very beginning of the Nation of Israel, God makes full provision for a Gentile to enter the Nation. A Gentile enters through the covenant of circumcision, as a sign that he has accepted the whole of God's covenant. As a full member, he then has exactly the same rights and obligations as a native-born Jew, and from then on is treated by God as a full member of His family, provided that the circumcision was a true circumcision of the heart. He is then assigned to one of the twelve tribes, and becomes grafted into the root of Abraham. This would explain the manner of Caleb's 1 Chronicles 4 entry, and the lack of mention of his ancestry. When a Gentile joins the Family of Israel, his ancestry is Israel.
At the time of God's covenant with Abram, God made it clear to Abram that the sins of the people of Canaan- in particular the Amorites- had not yet reached the point where God was ready to act in judgement of them. All nations are given time to repent of their wickedness, and although God foreknew that the Amorites would not repent, he nonetheless gave them time, in order to prove that his judgement at the hands of Joshua was a just one. This is the context, one of ripeness for judgement, in which Joshua, Caleb, and the other ten went to spy out the land. It is also the clear explanation of Joshua's later conquest of the land; a conquest in which Caleb fully participated.
A Midrash refers to Caleb being devoted to the Lord and to Moses, splitting from the other scouts to tour Hebron on his own and visit the graves of the Patriarchs.
In the aftermath of the conquest, Caleb asks Joshua to give him a mountain in property within the land of Judah, and Joshua blesses him as a sign of God's blessing and approval, giving him Hebron (Joshua 14). Since Hebron itself was one of the Cities of Refuge to be ruled by the Levites, it is later explained that Caleb actually was given the outskirts (Joshua 21:11-13). Caleb promised his daughter Achsah in marriage to him who will conquer the land of Debir from the giants. This was eventually accomplished by Othniel Ben Kenaz, Caleb's nephew (Judges 1:13), who became Caleb's son-in-law as well (Joshua 15:16,17).
God promised Abram that " I'll bless those who bless you, but I'll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed."(Genesis 12:3) Caleb is a truly wonderful example of a "Righteous Gentile" in the eyes of God. He saw and understood clearly that the blessing of God is with the people of Israel, and with his father Jephunneh he left his own people to become a part of God's people. In doing so he laid up blessing for his household forever.
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