So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
So they ... searched the land - they advanced from south to north, reconnoitring the whole land.
The wilderness of Zin - a long level plain, or deep valley of sand, the monotony of which is relieved by a few tamarisk and rethem trees, and which, under the names of el-Ghor and el-Arabah, forms the continuation of the Jordan valley, extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah.
Rehob - or Beth-rehob, was a city and district situated, according to some, eastward of Sidon, and, according to others, is the same as el-Hule, an extensive and fertile champaign country, at the foot of Antilibanus, a few leagues below Peneas.
As men come to Hamath - or, "the entering in of Hamath" (2 Kings 14:25), now the valley of Baalbek, a mountain-pass or opening in the northern frontier, which formed the extreme limit in that direction of the inheritance of Israel. The existence of Hamath is proved from the hieratic papyri of the period ('Cambridge Essays,' 1858, p. 268). From the mention of these places, the route of the scouts appears to have been along the course of the Jordan in their advance, and their return was by the western border, through the territories of the Sidonians and Philistines.
Verse 22. And came unto Hebron, х wayaabo' (H935)] - and he came, namely, Caleb (cf. Joshua 14:9; Joshua 14:12; Joshua 14:14). For the spies seem to have divided the labour of surveying the land, or perhaps to have gone in pairs. This district was explored by Caleb. Hebron was situated in the heart of the mountains of Judah, in the southern extremity of Palestine The town of Hebron consists of number of sheikhdoms distinct from each other, standing at the foot of one of those hills that form a bowl round and enclose it. "The children of Anak," mentioned in this verse, seem to have been also chiefs of townships; and this coincidence of polity, existing in ages so distant from each other, is remarkable (Vere Monro).
Ahiman - brother of a gift (Gesenius).
Sheshai - referring to his stature, which measured six cubits (Bochart, 'Geog, Sac.,' p. 362).
Talmai - full of furrows (Gesenius).
The children of Anak. The name Phoenicians was only a softened pronunciation of Beni-Anak, according to Bochart, who makes many interesting conjectures as to the import of the names given to the three sons mentioned here. х Haa-`Anaaq (H6061) means long-necked.] According to Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 5:, ch.
ii., sec. 3), human bones of a gigantic size were occasionally dug up in the neighhourhood of Hebron, even in his day. Mr. Bonomi, at a meeting of the Syro-Egyptian Society, May, 1856, gave a design from the interior of the great temple of Abu Simbel, representing the king contending with two men of large stature, light complexion, scanty beard, and having a remarkable load of hair pendant from the side of the head; as also other representations of the same people met with st the royal tombs of Biban-el-Moluk, at Medina Tabu, at Karnak, and in the picture of the royal tomb opened by Belzoni, and which he read as signifying 'Tanmahu,' or, by elision, "Talmai," the name given to one of the tribes of the children of Anak.
Hebron (Kirjath-arba, Genesis 23:2; Genesis 35:27) was one of the oldest cities in the world. Zoan (the Tanis of the Greeks) was situated on one of the eastern branches of the Nile, near the lake Menzala, and the early royal residence of the Pharaohs, and boasted a higher antiquity than any other city in Egypt. Its name, which signifies flat and level, is descriptive of its situation in the low grounds of the Delta. It is called also Avaris; the ancient Egyptian was Ha-awar, of which the Hebrew or Semitic name Zoan is a literal translation. The date of its foundation has not been ascertained by the researches of any Egyptologer among the ancient monuments; and until such a discovery shall be made, there is no means of determining the precise antiquity of Hebron but this succinct notice.
Verse 23. The brook of Eshcol - i:e., 'the torrent of the cluster.' Its situation was a little to the southwest of Hebron. The valley and its sloping hills are still covered with vineyards, the character of whose fruit corresponds to its ancient celebrity.
One cluster of grapes. The grapes reared in this locality are still as magnificent as formerly: they are said by one to be equal in size to prunes, and compares by another to a man's thumb. One cluster sometimes weight ten or twelve pounds. The mode of carrying the cluster cut down by the spies, though lent necessary from its weight, was evidently adopted to preserve it entire, as a specimen of the productions of the promised land; and the impression made by the sight of it would be all the greater that the Israelites were familiar only with the scanty vines and small grapes of Egypt.