פּירוש אויף במדבר 26:65

“Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun” [26:65]. Even though Joshua was much more important than Caleb, the verse writes Caleb first, before Joshua. This is because Caleb stood up first by the spies, when they spoke evil against God and against the land. Caleb made them be silent for the honor of the Holy One. Therefore, the Holy One honored him and wrote him first in the Torah; since the Holy One repays each person, measure for measure.¹⁷Bahya, Numbers, 26:65.

כי אם כלב בן יפונה, “except for Calev son of Yefuneh.” The reason the Torah (Hashem) mentioned Calev’s name first is that G’d Himself always mentions his name before that of Joshua (Numbers 13,30) seeing the Torah had reported Calev as being the first one to speak up against the other spies and had displayed more jealousy on behalf of the Lord than had his companion Joshua. Furthermore, G’d had described Calev as עבדי, “My servant,” the highest type of compliment accorded to mortals. Moses, on the other hand, always mentioned Joshua first to indicate that Joshua possessed more wisdom (Ibn Ezra).
The words: “for not a one had remained except for Calev and Joshua,” which are almost impossible to understand, have been interpreted by our sages in Tanchuma Pinchas 7 as stressing the word איש; of the men of military age none survived; many women did survive. The verse teaches that the decree that the generation of the Exodus had to die in the desert applied only to men, not to women. Our sages in the above-mentioned Tanchuma state that “the men hated the land of Israel, not the women.” It was the men who had demanded to appoint a leader to take the people back to Egypt (Numbers 14,4). The women, by contrast, (the daughters of Tzelofchod) demanded to be given a share in the Holy Land. [We have pointed out already in Genesis 46,7 that there is a clear inference that Yaakov’s womenfolk did not move to Egypt of their own free volition. The women had always displayed greater fondness of the land of Israel. Ed.]. Seeing the Jewish women were fond of the land of Israel, the Torah wrote the chapter about the claim of the daughters of Tzelofchod at this juncture.

And not one man of them remained: Our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said, but this is not [the case] with a woman, since the women were not [included] in the decree of [dying in] the desert. And that is why the section of the daughters of Zelophehad is juxtaposed to the count of the Jewish people. For the men hated the land of Israel and said, Let us appoint a head and we will return to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). Whereas the women held the land dear, as they said, Give us a holding (Numbers 27:4)