Deuteronomy 1:36
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD.
The exception for Caleb was spoken after Israel stood at the borders of Canaan and rebelled, refusing to trust God despite the good report brought back about the land. The adults of the army that came out of Egypt were barred from the promised land because they did not wholly follow God, while Caleb's faithfulness set him apart from the judgment that fell on that rebellious generation. The long delay in possessing Canaan was not chargeable to God but to the errors, impatience, rebellion, distrust, pride, and unbelief of the fathers, who were not prepared to enter because they did not bear God's character of purity, goodness, and benevolence and would not represent a people whose God is the Lord. God was more grieved by the delay than they were, for He desired to bring them into immediate possession to display His mighty power in their deliverance before all nations, and had they yielded in faith to His direction, governed by His judgments and walking in His ordinances, they would long before have been settled in Canaan as a prosperous, holy, happy people instead of dishonoring God and detracting from His glory in the sight of surrounding nations. The record proves that God's promises are upon condition of obedience.
Caleb was excluded from that judgment because he wholly followed the Lord; he would see and enter the land, and the very land he had explored and trodden upon would be given to him and to his children and descendants as an inheritance. He alone among that evil generation, apart from Joshua, entered Canaan, so that his entrance stands in contrast to Israel's unbelief that brought the judgment on the rest.
The verse belongs among words to be read in full and heeded as admonition by later generations, by those upon whom the ends of the world are come, calling people to heed God's guidance rather than cling to their own judgment. Wholly following the Lord means following His guidance fully and being molded after His similitude, not following only up to the point that agrees with own judgment and then holding fast to own ideas and opinions. Everything must be viewed in the light of the example of Christ, copying His self-denial and self-sacrifice, living not to please self, learning the word of the Lord and obeying His voice, and meeting the Lord's standard of perfection of character rather than feeble human standards.