Midrash su Genesi 10:6

(Ib., ib., ib.) Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zo'am in Egypt. What does was built mean? Can it be taken literally? How is it possible that a man should build a house for his minor son, before he builds one for his grown-up son? For it is written (Gen. 10, 6) And the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizrayim, and Put, and Canaan. [Hence we see that Canaan was younger than Ham]. We must therefore say that she was fruitful, seven fold, over the city of Zo'an, and although there is no more stony place in the entire land of Israel than Hebron, this is the reason why it was devoted a cementery, and again there is no better land in the entire Asiatic region than that of Egypt, as it is said (Ib. 13, 10) Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt; and there is no better ground in the entire land of Egypt than that of Zo'an, as it is written (Is. 30, 4) For his princes were at Zo'an. Nevertheless Hebron was seven times as rich in fruit production as Zo'an. Is this a fact that Hebron contains stony ground? Behold it is written (II Sam. 15, 7) And it came to pass at the end of forty years, that Abshalom said unto the king, 'Let me go, I pray thee, and fulfill my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord at Hebron; 'which was explained by R. Ivia, and according to others by Rabba b. b. Chana that this means: "He desired to go to Hebron to bring sheep for an offering." And we are also taught in a Baraitha that rams came from Moab and sheep from Hebron [hence we see that it contained pasture plains]? From the very place we can infer that it was a stony ground, and just because it was stony, therefore it was devoted to pasture ground, which fattens sheep.

(Numb. 13:22:) “Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.” [This verse is] to make known the excellence of the Land [of Israel], that its worst soil is better than the land of Egypt.²⁷Numb. R. 16:13, cont.; see Sifre, Deut. 7:12 (37); Sot. 34b. Thus when the children of Noah took possession of the world after the flood, they first built cities, but not in the best place. Instead they chose the worst of the Land of Israel; for Hebron is the worst [place] in the Land of Israel. But Zoan is the best which is in the land of Egypt, and this [city of Hebron] preceded it by seven years. If you should say, “No, the one who built the former did not build the other”; [then I can answer,] “It was the [same] generation; it was the [same] family (according to Gen. 10:6), ‘And the sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.’” Now they arose and built the one before the other. (Numb. 13:22:) “Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.” One man built them, and from the leftovers of the first, he built the second. (Numb. 13:23:) “Then they came to the Wadi Eshcol.” They did not want to take any of the fruits from the Land of Israel. If Caleb had not drawn his sword, gone down in front of them, and said to them, “If you do not take [some], then either you kill me or I will kill you,” they would not have taken [anything].²⁸Numb. R. 16:14; Sot. 34a, according to which neither Joshua nor Caleb were carrying anything. It is therefore stated (to Caleb in Josh. 14:9), “Surely the land on which your foot has trod shall be a portion for you.” (Numb. 13:23:) “And they bore it by pole with two.”²⁹The usual rendering of these words depicts the grape cluster resting on a pole suspended between two of the spies. There were not less than two poles, since it does not say, "two on a pole," but “by pole with two.”³⁰I.e., by pole, using two of them. Some also say three, “By pole,” [i.e.,] one [plus] “with two” for a total of three. And how heavy a load did each and every one have in hand? Go out and learn from the stones that they took from the Jordan, as stated (in Josh. 4:20), “And Joshua set up in Gilgal those twelve stones which they took from the Jordan.” What was the size of each and every one of them? A load of forty se’ah.³¹A se’ah is a measure of capacity. As a weight a se’ah usually means a se’ah of wheat. From here you can calculate that cluster of grapes. A person carries and lifts up [one] se’ah by himself. With his companion lifting [the load] up upon him, he carries two se'ah.³²Cf. Rashi, on Sot. 34a, according to whom each one could carry 40 se’ah on his shoulder. Now since a person plus a helper can carry three se’ah, with two men per pole there would be 120 se’ah of grapes per pole. Together with his companion he carries three [se'ah]. Ergo one calculates from here (the weight of the cluster). (Numb. 13:25:) “At the end of forty days then they returned from exploring the land.” But do you not find that they [only] went from south to north?³³Numb. R. 16:15. Moreover, would they have walked the whole [land] in forty days? It is simply that it was revealed to the Holy One, blessed be He, that they would come and utter slander, and that there would be decreed against that generation years of suffering (according to Numb. 14:34), “[every] day a year, you shall bear your iniquities forty years.” So the Holy One, blessed be He, caused their road to shrink (i.e., to close up) before them.

(Numb. 27:5:) “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord].” Some say that [God] made this become too hard for Moses, as there are righteous people that become [overly] proud in matters of a commandment, and [so] the Holy One, blessed be He, weakens their ability. You find that David said (in Ps. 119:54), “Your statutes were songs for me,” [meaning] they are light and customary for me like songs. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life, your end will be to err about something that [even] the schoolchildren know about.” At the time that he brought up the ark, he erred and put in on a cart, as stated (in II Sam. 6:3),” They loaded the ark of God onto a new cart.” [So God] suspended the ark in the air and the oxen became dislodged from under it. [Then] Uzzah approached to support it, but (according to II Sam. 6:7,) “God struck him down on the spot,” as an error in study is considered as wanton. Immediately (in II Sam. 6:8), “David was distressed because the Lord had inflicted a breach upon Uzzah.” [So] the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say, ‘Your statutes were songs for me?’ Did you not learn (in Numb. 7:9), ‘But to the Kohathites he did not give; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder?’” [So David] began to ponder and say (in I Chron. 15:13), “The Lord our God burst out against us, for we did not seek Him like the law.” And so too, [this happened] with Moses. Because he said (in Deut. 1:17), “But the case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it,” the Holy One, blessed be He, weakened his ability.¹⁷Numb. R. 21:12; above, Gen. 10:6; Sifre to Deut. 1:17 (17); Sanh. 8a. The matter is comparable to a moneychanger who said to his student, “If coins come to you to be exchanged, exchange them, but if pearls should come to you, bring them to me.” [When] a ring of baubles came to him, [the student] brought it to [this] teacher. [But] then the teacher went and showed it to another [money changer]. So too here. Moses said (in Deut. 1:17), “The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it.” [But] when the daughters of Zelophehad came to him, [God] made it too hard for him. (Numb. 27:5-7) “Moses brought their cause before the Lord. [And the Lord said…,] ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly,’” such is the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say (ibid.), ‘The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me?’ In the case of the judgment which you do not know, see [that even] the women know it.”