Numbers 32:12

12 save Caleb the son of Jephonne, who was set apart, and Joshua the son of Naue, for they closely followed after the Lord.

Numbers 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 32:12

Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the
son of Nun
See ( Numbers 14:30 ) , whether Caleb or Jephunneh is called the Kenezite is not so easy to determine; the latter rather seems to be most correct, for that Caleb should be called so from Kenaz the father of Othniel, who is said to be Caleb's brother seems not to be agreeable; since it is not likely that they were his own brothers, or Caleb would not have given his daughter to him; besides Jephunneh and not Kenaz is always said to be the father of Caleb, unless his father can be thought to have two names; it is most likely that Jephunneh, and so Caleb, might be called the Kenezite, from an ancestor of theirs of that name: Jarchi says, Caleb was the son-in-law of Kenaz, and Caleb's mother bore unto him Othniel:

for they have wholly followed the Lord;
here what was said of Caleb, ( Numbers 14:24 ) is said both of him and Joshua; (See Gill on Numbers 14:24).

Numbers 32:12 In-Context

10 And the Lord was very angry in that day, and sware, saying,

11 Surely these men who came up out of Egypt from twenty years old and upward, who know good and evil, shall not see the land which I sware to Abraam and Isaac and Jacob, for they have not closely followed after me:

12 save Caleb the son of Jephonne, who was set apart, and Joshua the son of Naue, for they closely followed after the Lord.

13 And the Lord was very angry with Israel; and for forty years he caused them to wander in the wilderness, until all the generation which did evil in the sight of the Lord was extinct.

14 Behold, ye are risen up in the room of your fathers, a combination of sinful men, to increase yet farther the fierce wrath of the Lord against Israel.