Nevertheless my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God.
The references to Caleb’s age enable us to determine the length of the conquest of Canaan. Caleb had received the promise of a portion in the land at Kadesh Barnea 38 years before the Israelites crossed the Jordan and entered Canaan (Numbers 14:24). Caleb was 40 years old then (Joshua 14:7). He was now 85 (Joshua 14:10). Forty-five years had elapsed, and Caleb had spent 38 of them in the wilderness. Therefore the conquest must have taken the remaining seven years.