Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness: and now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
"These forty and five years ..." This and Moses' mention of his being "forty years old"  (Joshua 14:7) when Moses sent out the spies, and of his being now eighty-five years old are among the most important chronological facts given in Joshua.  Israel wandered in the wilderness only about 38 years, because the first two years of the traditional "forty years" were utilized in the giving of the Law, the construction of the tabernacle etc. The sending out of the spies evidently occurred after about two years had elapsed following the Exodus  (Numbers 10:11).[18]  Thus, thirty-eight years later when Israel entered Canaan, Caleb would have been seventy-eight years of age.  Since he gives his age here as eighty-five, that would allow seven years for the Conquest of Canaan up to this point.  As Longacre said, "This  (Joshua 14:10) is the only statement in the book that bears on the length of time the conquest was supposed to cover."[19]