Midrasz do Liczb 13:21

13 (Numb. 13:21) “So they went up and explored the land”: How?¹⁸ Sot. 35a. When they entered a town, a pestilence afflicted the nobility; and the people of the town were busy with their burial so when they entered, no mortal saw them. For this reason they said (in vs. 32), “The land through which we passed [… is a land that eats up its inhabitants].” It was through the [very] miracles which the Holy One, blessed be He, did for them that they spread slander. (Numb. 13:22) “And they went up to the Negeb and they came to Hevron, and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai were there,” who were extremely strong, as stated (Deut. 9:2), “whom you have known and about whom you have heard.” (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.¹⁹ 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.”