Doubtless ye shall not come into the land,.... The land of Canaan; or "if ye shall come" ; that is, I swear ye shall not, so the Targum of Jonathan:[concerning] which I sware to make you dwell therein; not them personally, but the people and nation of which they were, and to which they belonged, the seed and posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the oath was made:save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun; who brought a good report of the land.
Caleb is mentioned first, as Aben Ezra thinks, because he first appeased and quieted the people; but in Nu 14:38 Joshua stands first, so that nothing is to be inferred from hence; these were the only two of the spies that went into the land of Canaan, Nu 13:4; and the only two of the Israelites that were numbered, from twenty years old and upwards, Nu 14:29; those of the tribe of Levi, not being in that account, must be remembered to be excepted also.